Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Cast Bullets for 95 Marlin 45-70

Here I go with another question! I will be running cast bullets thru my rifle. Want to run gas checks, as I may want to push them fast. So, I want to run Lee moulds (cheap). Their only checked bullet (457-500F) is 500 grns. (long). Will it feed reliably through my Guide Gun? Thanks Again, memtb

Nope.

Posted this before, but here it is again . . .

405 gr cast (WW or 30:1) is hard to beat out to a couple hundred yards. Not a gas check bullet, but I use a card wad under the base as in BPCR loading technique.

As cast and recovered bullet . . .


These are from a Lyman 457193 mould, other similar designs available.

This is what I ran through my 1895CG



This picture was actually a swaged bullet.

Top 'mushroom' 450grn, bottom 500grn.

Ended up casting my own, 500gr Paper-Patched, Reloader-7 works great.

My Lyman moulds have been cheaper over the long run and for the volume of bullets cast than the Lees I've used. (Getting the first ones for $5 on an early Cabelas closeout didn't hurt either. )

If you're set on using gas checks, the RCBS 405 grain mold has a relatively short nose that cycles fine in lever actions. I've shot that one a lot in the Marlin 1895 CB...

Need to keep COL under 2.6" - that is all an unmodified 1895 action will handle.

So you can shoot any bullet you want as long as you meet the 2.6" COL. You can cut down the brass to work with weird bullets too as long as the case capacity remain unchanged.

Somewhere in internet-space is a writeup of how to modify the 1895 for a 2.7" COL, but I don't have it anymore.

It won’t feed if you crimp into the crimp groove on the bullet. The OAL will be too long. You also need to buy a Lee Factory Crimp Die. Seat the bullet to achieve an OAL of 2.55-2.57”, then use the Lee FCD to crimp on to the nose of the bullet. This would allow you to use the Lee 500gr GC in your Marlin.

It’s also worth saying that 350-400gr is all you really need for most game. The RCBS mould mentioned above is good but mine casts 0.459” and my Marlin slugs 0.4585”, so my barrel is just a whisker under the bullet diameter. It is fantastically accurate but your rifle may have a larger groove diameter. I prefer my moulds to drop slugs a few thou over my groove diameter, then size down as required. Most Marlins tend to slug a little on the large side and work well with cast bullets that measure 0.460-0.461”.

There’s a part, I think it’s called the carrier, that limits the rearward movement of the cartridge when the action is opened. This part Is the limiting factor in over-all length. As I recall the part that causes the limit can be ground/modified about .1” to allow a greater over-all length.

I have been considering having this done on my center fire Marlin lever rifles as I’d like the over-all length to be long enough to allow Keith or Thompson style cast bullets to be used.

I am not a gunsmith. Tinkerer might be a better term when it comes to lever rifles.