Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers .45-70 with 18" ported barrel

Anyone have much experience with this gun? I am pretty sure it was a Marlin guide gun. It had a ring type of sight installed on the back of it. It had a ported 18" barrel. The gun was used and the shop was asking $525 for it. What kind of deal is this price and how terrible is it to shoot with the break?

I have the 444P version of this gun. The porting helps keep the barrel down for followup shots. Some say it is louder for those nbxt to the shooter, but I've never noticed a difference between the ported barrel & others.

That ring type sight is a peep sight. Common makers are Williams, Lyman, XS and Skinner. You'll need to provide more detail or do a little web surfing to find out which one.

$525 is not a bad price for a Guide Gun in very good condition. I've seen better prices, but not often and not many.

Should say 1895g on left side of barrel. Ported means it's an earlier, better model, $525 for a good one is going rate.

i went back to look at the rifle. It has a few dings in the stock but nothing too bad. It does have the Jm stamp on the left side of the barrel. The Ghost Ring sights on the rifle are Wild West Guns and retail for $145 on the net. Seems like a pretty decent buy on the rifle.

Its home with me now. I guess this will be my first big bore... nothing else in a rifle bigger than .338 for me.

Congrats on your Marlin 45-70! They are a lot of fun, and can really deliver the freight, if you load them up.

i love mine, but i also drive sane loads through it, its a beast with full loads but ill load up 50 to 100 rounds of hard cast at warm 45 Cold velocities and it becomes my wifes favorite fun gun.....

My favorite load is a 405gr cast, over 15gr Unique. it gets 1250 fps/1400 ft-lbs. Very mild to shoot. Fairly flat to 100 yards.

12gr Unique with the 405gr cast goes 1050 fps/990 ft-lbs. A real pussycat load, but still a lot of power compared to most magnum handguns.

I've tried a bunch of the lower end loads in mine with Blue Dot, AA5744, Trail Boss, Unique, and they all shoot nice with the 405 cast at home bullets. I think my 5744 load clocked at 1300 fps, and just a gentle nudge on the shoulder. They work as well in my 32" barreled Buffalo Classic.

Man you got a great deal on that guide gun!

I've had mine for 13 years. Game I've taken with it include mule deer, antelope, wolf, elk, beaver, and one charging skunk. Fun gun. I handload for it. Most commercial loads are anemic except for Cor-Bon, Buffalo Bore, and Garrett -- I've used all three -- and they can jar the spine and rattle the old bird cage. A 350 or 405 grain bullet ranging from 1750 to 1900 fps worked best for me if I am remembering my numbers correctly. I have so many rounds already loaded I haven't loaded anything for a long time.

Them is good numbers for that round.

I think those numbers are right. Heat and drought has fried my mind and the ammo and records are all stored away. The one thing about the .45-70 is the zealots are really fanatical and it's not hard to find serious reloaders with great recipes. I'm sure there are a number of them on this forum. In my opinion the mid-range powders for speed, like 4895 and Varget, produced more of a push while the faster powders gave a serious snap. Personally, I found Cor-Bon and Buffalo Bore to produce (for me) more felt recoil than Garretts. Randy occasionally sent me new ammo to test and I still have a few boxes of a 300-grain Partition round that he later decided not to market. I've been saving those for a future elk or bear hunt.

1900 is kinda towards the high end for a 405, and is a good speed for a 350. 1750 with a 405 will knock the snot out of anything around here.

I've run 300s at 2200 fps for the sole reason of duplicating my .30-30's trajectory, but it really doesn't need to go that fast, and recoil is getting pretty stout at that speed.

I've played with some hardcasts in 425 and 540 grain, and running the 425s at 1650 fps will get you some deep penetration. I've duplicated the "Garrett load" with the 540 at 1550 fps, and everybody knows what that will do. I kinda lean towards the 425 at 1650 as a more all-around load for biggish stuff. Hells bells, the 405 at 1300 will kill anything I want to go after.

If you want to try a good 300 grain bullet, give the Speer UniCor a whirl. It's an underrated bullet with very good integrity if you drive them hard.

I load a Bullet Barn 420 gr gas check at 1985 fps avg for 5 shots in my 1895g with a 18.5 " ported barrel ! And a 525 gr Bear Tooth Pile Driver at 1650 fps avg for 5 shots ! Thumper Loads !

Cheers RJ

That last load oughtta take down anything on this earth.

I used to use the 330 gr. Gould hollowpoint cast out of mine at about 1650. it was enough for deer or anything else I would have shot with the gun. Also, you could vary the alloy for the performance you wanted. A hard alloy for a shoot through trees load, and a softer one for a turn lungs to mush load. However, I shot one animal with it without hearing protection, and the blast from the ports convinced me to sell it. I had a set up similar to yours and was shooting 1" groups at 50 yds. definitely good enough.

It sures takes your shoulder out ! LOL

Heres a Good jacketed bullet hunting load - Rem 405 gr jacketed soft points at 1840 fps !

Cheers RJ

I have owned several and prefer it to the full sized 1895, seems to handle better to me when hunting.

I had one, stainless ported guide gun. Only sold it after I picked up a deal on a Brockman customized guide gun without the ports.

I also have an older 1895 with a 22 inch barrel. I've shot the same loads side by side from the 22 inch barrel, then from the 18.5 inch ported barrel. I can't tell any difference. My theory is that since the 45-70 is such a low pressure round, even with heavy loads, that the ports aren't terribly effective.

This is what's possible, with Brockman lumber, a Brockman tune up, and XS sights.