Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Possibly getting a 45-70 in trade...... have questions

Your're right Montana, but the problem with the Marlin is not the barrel OD outside the receiver...it is what's left after the shank it turned down and the square threads cut AND the mag tube cutout...THEN the problem is the roughly 0.104" left over for the 45-70 case...my several Marlin square cut barrels measure 0.715" at the minimum point. The amount of metal left after all the cutting is done will still handle the ~43KCUP rating without much problem.

The Brownings aluminum "frame" is basically only to hold things together and the scope on...it doesn't really impact the strength much....the Browning barrel is screwed into a steel "lug or boss" that is installed into the aluminum frame and the bolt is locked into that boss. The Browning barrel starts out bigger and the amount of steel in the chamber walls using fine V threads, is well over 0.200" just by looking down the ejector slot...I haven't reached in and measured the actual wall thickness yet, but I will in time.

My Marlin weighs 9.5 lbs with scope and accessories....the Browning weighs 7.3 lbs bare...quite a bit of difference when recoil is walking all over you.

Actual weighing the 45-70 trimmed to 2.09" gave 80 gr H2O and the 450 M at 2.085" gave 74 gr H2O...6 gr or 7.5% difference in case volume.

No...there isn't anything wimpy about the Marlin or the 45-70 cartridge loaded to modern pressures, but I can load the Browning at least 10KCUP higher than the Marlin safely or to 300/338 WM pressures which means higher velocities and energies with the 450 M and a 500-550 gr bullet at those velocities in a 7.3# rifle will get your attention very quickly.

Yesterday I had some 500 gr cast lead bullets in the 450 M running at 1600fs with more to go if I wanted, but the 425/430 gr were a lot faster at the same case base expansion, so I will probably stick with that weight as the difference in energy was substancial.

I'm not now or ever have dissed the Marlin, but everytime I talk about the factory limits it seems to be taken negatively instead of just "how it is".

As I've said before I have a 356 Win, 444M, a 45-70 barrel due today that may end up a 450 Alaskan or get rebored/rechambered to 50 Alaskan, and I will probably do a small cal for it also...if I didn't like the Marlin I certainly wouldn't bother making it a "swap barrel" toy.

I've been doing this game for well over 50 years so very few shooters get me worked up into a lather...I like them ALL and they're just tools to do a job...

Luck

I don't doubt the strength of the lightweight BLR. It is engineered to house some potent chamberings.

That's for sure, but they don't look near as "cool" as a 1895.

Big WHOOPPSSS...Looked at the wrong case notes ...74gr for the 458 American...78gr H2O for the 450 M...my cases, my scale.

Weeelllll...I think they BOTH have their own level of coolness.

The Browning Safari comes in 338 WM and there have been some 375 and 416 Taylors done as rebores. The 458 WM has been looked and asked about several times but I can't find anything other than conjecture...one says the mag won't work, one says it works fine... ...not a whole lot of experimentation going on with the BLR in the 44 and 45 cal that I can find. I'm guessing if you want a big caliber you want a bolt gun to go along.

I have a project in the back of my mind if I can find a cheap long action BLR and information on how to remove the Browning barrel without tweaking the action or stripping out the locking lug. I'm thinking about making a tool to fit into the lug from the ejector port, to hold it while I unscrew the barrel...but that's for another day.

Working with the Horn 350 FP today...RL-7 and H322...H322 topped out at 2200fs due to powder density...couldn't get anymore in with a COAL of 2.60"...RL-7 was still trucking along at 2300fs but it too was getting a bit tight with the powder AND pressure according to Load from a Disk...base OD was 0.513", EZ extraction, no pressure signs on the primers. That load produces 4100ftlbs M.E., 2800 at 100yds, 2300 at 150...plenty good enough for most large animals I would think. A pointy bullet with a higher BC would work even better to carry the energy better.

Marlin barrel hasn't arrived yet...I'm getting antsy.

Luck