A 1983 vintage 1895 45-70 followed me home earlier this week. Its a nice, used rifle with a Lyman receiver sight. Scrounging around in the reloading room I found a bag of 300 grain Remington JHPs and 40 or so Remington cases. I have a variety of powders and primers and plenty of load data. Not looking to hotrod it. Just hoping to save some time by starting with a load that already works well in these rifles. Does anyone have a load with that bullet that works well in their 1895?

Thanks!

Jim

Try 40 grains of 3031 for a fairly mild load.

Good load! about 1300 fps.

A few more.
33 grs. IMR 4198
38 grs. Reloder 7 both are about 1300 - 1400 fps. in my 22 inch barreled 1895.

If you want something with a little more power try 42 grs. of IMR 4198 for about 1800 fps. Accurate but it may rattle your cage, Max is about 44 grs, of 4198 but accuracy in my guns go away. The 1895 will easily handle heavier loads but the fun goes away as the velocity goes up.

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Thanks guys! That's just what I'm looking for!

If you get around to trying cast bullets, a 400 grain flat point over 42 grains of RL7 will give you 1550 fps or so, and will go all the way through an elk, from any angle. Recoil is stout, but not brutal. I don't use a scope on my GG, but if you do, get a long eye relief scope and mount it far away from your face. Some of the nastiest scope cuts I've ever seen were from hot loaded .45-70s...

Well, since you mentioned it, I do plan to use cast bullets in the future. I have a few hundred pounds of wheelweight & linotype alloy cast into ingots. I have put off buying a mold because I slugged the barrel and it measured .458 and almost all the molds I see say they cast .457 bullets. I just didn't want to fiddle with them yet since I already have the JHPs on the shelf. Any advice on a good mold in the 400 grain range that will feed and shoot well in a micro-groove Marlin?

Thanks again!

Jim

Try a Lyman 457193. It is a flatnosed 420 grain bullet that feeds really well out of every lever gun I have shot it in. 38 grains of 3031 will push it to 1335 fps, and it will absolutely smoke deer and hogs and shoot all the way through elk.

Got it on order. I also bought some new Starline brass so I'll have enough to use all the JHPs and start loading the cast bullets.

Thanks for the help!

Jim