... a ... Marlin in ... .45-70 is an avenue I should look at.
There you go!
Getting my first Marlin (.375 Winchester) merely whetted my appetite for a .444 or .45-70. After a couple years of looking I found a 2 year old Marlin 1895 in .45-70 at a price I couldn't pass up. Over the next couple of years I worked up 17 different loads for it.
On the economical side there are Oregon Trail Laser Cast 300g and 350g hardcast loads over 13.5g HS-6 for 1167fps and 1097fps respectively. (See gmdr.com for similar options.) These have half the recoil of many factory .30-30 loads. My girls and I love to shoot them. At the time I developed them (2003-ish)I could reload a box of 20 for about $2.50. Great fun and small game load and very accurate. These gentle-on-the-shoulder loads will penetrate 12 one-gallon water jugs.
The next power level up is standard .45-70 loads and Cowboy Action loads, including 300g and 350g hardcast at about 1560fps. These were also very accurate, putting 3 into one ragged hole at 50 yards with a 4x scope.
On the upper end were my hunting loads using Speer 300g JHP (2247fps), Speer 350g FN (2147fps), Horndady 350g FN (2200fps), North Fork 350g FN (2181fps), Remington 405g JSP (1732fps to 1901fps depending on powder used), Cast Performance 460g WFNGC (1812fps, a load I call my "Rhino Blasters") and even a Speer 500g African Grand Slam Tungsten Solid (1554fps).
There are currently several 50-count boxes each of the cast plinkers, 350g North Fork and a 460g hardcast sitting on my ammo shelves. The North Fork get used for hunting, the plinkers for plinking and the 460g devils for breaking shoulders, detaching retinas and backyard rhinos.
I've found the Marlin 1895 to be accurate enough for 300 yard shots on game, easily printing inside 6" at that range with a 2-7x scope and multiple 300g and 350g hunting loads. The 350g North Fork FN I put into a 6x6 bull elk at 213 lasered yards obliterated sections of the near-side leg bone and a rib and shattered a far-side rib. The bull remained standing but went down before I could fire a second shot. Calculated bullet impact was at about 1600fps with over 2000fpe retained.
If I ever go up north to hunt moose or big bears (both cases doubtful), my .45-70 will be one of two rifles I consider taking, the other being my .338WM. In the meantime the .45-70 is, like my other lever guns, way more fun than my bolt or semi-auto rifles.
