thing to remember about the marlin is that even though the new ones LOOK like they have a nice vented recoil pad, the SOB is harder than a rock.......switching recoil pads does wonders. also when yah start lobbing 405 grain hard cast at critters at around 100 yards or less you dont need a ton of speed to hit them like a freight train. occasionally ill load up a bunch of real mild loads with the 405's and hand the gun off to my recoil shy wife and she will spend an afternoon trying to find a chunk of sectioned but not yet split firewood she cant put that chunk of lead through
with our soft ol' cottonwoods, it takes several feet of dried fire wood to stop one..........after awhile i get yelled at that i shoulda loaded more than 100 rounds cause she went through them all.......so if yah handload, the 45-70 can be had in any power you wish easily and cheaply.....
