Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 45 Colt lever action options?

I moved to SW Michigan recently and found that they have firearms limitations for deer hunting in this region. One can use a 45 Colt lever action but not a 45/70 due to cartridge length. I have a 45 Colt Ruger Bisley that I may use this year but I would like to get a lever action that I can scope and that will handle the same potent loads that my Bisley does.

My brother screwed up and bought a Henry Big Boy 45 Colt only to discover that it will not handle the longer cartridge length of loading the 335 grain cast bullets.

I have been doing some research but so far have not found a manufacturer that produces a good 45 Colt lever action that will handle 1.75" cartridges and can take a scope. Anyone know of such a gun?

I wouldn't say your brother screwed up with the Henry.

Just a little tunnel vision that he needs a 335 cast to kill a Michigan Whitetail.

A 270 SAA will do it every day. As will the 255 the gun was designed around. Both of these should handle MI black bear as well.

I'm not sure that any of the lever actions made for the 45 colt these days won't have some issue with a 335 seated out to max.

I got a double barrel colt that will handle them though...

That Henry will love the Hornady 45 Lever Revolution 225 flex tip.

Rufous, are you shooting the 335 in your Bisley?

Just curious.


ETA: it seems the Rossi 92 may handle longer loads, but I have no first hand.

Basing that on some searches.

For a fact a factory 240 grain WW white box .43 caliber bullet from a 16.5 inch Marlin 44 magnum will cleanly disembowel a deer shot straight on and a bit low. I miss my 44 mag carbine. I cannot imagine a lighter 45 bullet would not be similar.

For whatever reason, load data for .45 Colt rifle loads is pretty mild. Even Brian Pearce's data for his Browning Low Wall Traditional Hunter looks pretty anemic velocity-wise compare to published .44 mag loads. The Lyman #49 manual goes so far as to state that if you need magnum power, get one. The old saw about .45 Colt brass being weak has been pretty well debunked so I suspect it may be related to the thinner metal of the barrel breech, but don't know for certain. There's still plent of power for deer, of course, but the trajectory might be a bit higher.

If anyone knows the real reason, I'd appreciate hearing it.

FWIW, I've killed one deer with a 225gr HP out of a 6" S&W and one with a Federal 240gr Hydroshock from a 44/77. I see no need for a bullet as heavy as 335 grains. If I wanted good expansion and reliable penetration, I'd likely spring for some of the Swift Partition-clones.

Not sure if it makes the cut on case length, but the Rossi and maybe another one is available in .454 as well.

Encores are available in .460 and .500. If the cases are too long to be legal, just trim them a bit. Regular .45s will work in the .460 as well.

I absolutely agree that a 335 Cast bullet is not needed for Michigan white tail deer but he bought his for bear and elk as well and I would prefer not to limit myself to only being able to using shorter/lighter bullets.

I am shooting 335 and 345 casts bullets in my Bisley. I have killed 3 bear with my bisley as well as 8 other bears with my 7mm Rem or 300 Win. I prefer to err on the heavy side of things with bear.

Can the Rossi 92 be easily scoped?

Nope. Marlins are, of course, and the Encores. Taylor's also sells lever guns, including take-down models. They may or may not be made by the same Eyetalians as the Rossis. All of them are Win 92 clones. I wouldn't hesitate to have one D&T'd for a scout mount or red dot. A Skinner or Williams peep can be mounted to replace the leaf sight as well.

A guy I met at the range had the Encore Kata-whatzit Carbine with .460, .500, and .50ML barrels. He loved it. It's very handy, if balanced a bit funny. It'll "feed" anything out of its "one-shot-magazine" of course. The only trouble he had was pressure signs with normal loads in the .460, I suspect because he was loading regular XTPs instead of the magnum version recommended for .454 and .460 loads.

The Swift handgun bullets are expensive, about a buck a pop, but should feed in about anything and come in 300 and 325gr versions. I may pop for a box of the 240gr .44s to load in my Low Wall in case I see a bear during deer season.

Where did you move to?

I have some Leadheads 270 grain Keith style bullets that would work great. Will take elk and bear also. That is what I load in my Bisley.


Rossis suck! And Encores aren't far behind. Just load a good bullet in a 45 Colt or 44 mag, and call it good. I will be using a 450 Bushmaster in southern zone. My bud a Marlin 44 mag.

As you know, the whole rest of state is wide open as far as rifles go.

Your bro did just fine. Years ago, John Linebaugh told me about how his son killed a nice grizzly with same 270 Leadhead bullet out of his 45 Colt revolver. They both use said bullets. Try them, trust me.....

Ruger did make a few #1's in .460 S&W - though they are rare as hen's teeth. You could shoot .45 Colts in them if the .460 is too long for Michigan

Or use some Hornady FTX for deer......

460 is legal.....

How are them Henry rifles?

What are Taylor lever actions? I am the winemaker for a winery near Baroda. Ideally I would like to find a stainless steel lever action that can readily accept a scope and cycle/feed cartridges with the heavier bullets loaded to about 1.75" overall length.

Go to the levergun forum, there are gunsniths who modify some guns to feed longer oal.

Marlin 45 Colt Cowboy.....plenty for MI deer.....

with or w/o glass



glass on this one is Weaver 1-3x20

I found Taylors website. Sadly they do not make the 45 Colt in a stainless model that I say, only the Alaskan Takedown in 44 Mag. They make 45 Colt in other models. Maybe I can talk them into making me a 45 Colt Alaskan. Never hurts to ask. I will have to ask them about cartridge length limitations and pressure limits as well. Thanks to all for your valued input.

They formerly did make the takedown in .45. There is an older review on Gunblasts. They aren't stainless, but rather plated. The takedowns in .44 and .357 feature Skinner sights already mounted and accept a Weaver 61 base on the barrel (top ejection).


Guess in your case, the Stones were right.🤔

I have a blued Rossi 20 inch in 45 Colt. I have been impressed with the little gun. They do offer it in stainless but scoping it would involve an intermediate eye relief scope mounted forward of the receiver.

Mine is wonderfully accurate with factory 250 grain loads, heavy 300 grain WFN loads as well as 285 grain SWC's. I expected it not to feed the SWC's but gave them a try one day. Much to my surprise they fed flawlessly through my gun.

As far as the Rossi being junk, I've heard that and haven't had any of their earlier ones to compare to but mine is well made, accurate and reliable. I'm none to crazy about the safety but will remove that and plug the hole. They sell a lot of the stainless Rossi rifles up here in 44, 45 Colt and 454 Casull.

Good luck with your search.