Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 45/70 hand loads in ruger/Marlin lever action

Thumper is a beast......

Not sure if this is 'hot-rodding' or not, but I did shoot 500gr PP bullets out of a Marlin 1895CB, Rx 7 is dandy, 1600FP is Stout. You certainly don't want to do many sitting at the bench.......

I have fired 57 grains of 3031 pushing a 350 Hornady RN out of 3 different Marlin 45-70s, and it has been ridiculously accurate.

I’m pretty pleased with the accuracy of my 430 grain cast bullets in my Marlin GG. Also, I thought that the felt recoil from the bench wasn’t bad at all. Yes it jumps a bit, but I expected it to…..it ain’t a Varmint rifle. I probably could have improved on the accuracy some, but this was my fist load fired from the rifle. While not great, I didn’t think that with the shortage and expense of components……I could live with it! memtb

Why take a chance? Invest in a RCBS ki wtis hammer puller and break them down and start over.
I always found 50 grains of Re7 and a 300 grain Speer JHP to be my max and really effective on deer.

I don't hot rod my 1895 for a couple reasons. Number one the rifle is really light. Number two I'm not ever going to shoot a Cape Buffalo with it. I have an 1886 that is heavy; I might shoot heavier loads in it, but I have not so far. I tried a few jacketed loads but have pretty much decided the rifle is meant for cast bullets. The Marlin has an old steel Lyman aperture sight on it.

Here's a couple loads that shot well enough in my 1895 - steel sights remember:

45-70 Marlin, 1895G, 350 grain Hornady, 55 grain IMR3031 1.7" group
45-70 Marlin, 1895G, 400 grain w/GC cast, 34.5 grain 5744, 2.18" group - favorite load so far.

I think that cast load should work well on bison.

I used the samne bullet with AA1680 powder with devastating results on deer. IIRC mine where going 2600fps even.

That's really close to an absurd statement, considering, I suppose, what you want to call "Hot-rodding".

Yes, there is a very good reason to get the most realistic velocity possible out of a 45-70 & it's called velocity, which translates into bullet drop improvement on an already rainbow type trajectory..................unless of course you to like to restrict yourself to shorter shots or lots of ballistic gyrations.

Maybe you are happy with a 270 / 130gr at 2500 FPS when the round is easily capable of 3000 FPS? Likely not.

I've had 2 Marlin 1895's & hunting pards have had another pair.............all mid-1970's vintage rifles.

All have has a steady diet of 53 gr. of IMR-3031 & 400/405 grain bullets for many, many years & untold number of animals.

With not a single adverse event & no obvious negative effect on the rifles. And I don't recall ever really trashing any brass for not being useable or loose primer pockets...............just trashing some because of age brittleness & number of loadings getting high.

But a recoil pad does make life more enjoyable with those loads in an 1895.................

YMMV

MM

MM, guess it depends on how one defines “hot rodding”.

My point and as expressed by others, don’t overdo a good thing. The big round works well in its design range, and the 1895 isn’t the strongest .45-70.

DF

Exactly

Yeah, 2,600 fps is the Marlin Barnes load with 1680, no excessive pressure.

Deadly round.

DF