Thought i'd share a couple pics of my Marlin 1895 XLR 45-70. It wears a Wild West ghostring rear sight, Williams Firesight front sight, trigger adjusted to just under 3lbs, bead blasted, and it wears a custom leather cheekpad and custom Slimline sling. Those are 420 gr Garrett Hammerheads inside the leather loops.

looks REALLY good, the only thing ID change if I bought a MARLIN is Id have purchased the MXLR
in 450 marlin
http://www.marlinfirearms.com/firearms/xlr/1895MXLR.aspx

but I bought a BLR BROWNING, as the front locking action made me feel better about the pressures the guns got to deal with when your launching 420 hard cast at 1800 fps

http://www.browning.com/products/ca...alue=003B&cat_id=034&type_id=015

why 450 over 45/70? just curious...

Must not reload...

I have the same gun. The action has really smoothed up after I worked it a few times but it definitely needs a trigger job or a new trigger.

I RELOAD almost WEEKLY for most of the guys I hunt with and myself, the reason I prefer the marlin 450 is the BLR with its front locking action design and its box magazine , I hunted with a marlin 45/70 and handloaded 420 grain hard cast bullets for many years and still load for most of the guys that still have and hunt with those marlin rifles
the cartridges can be loaded to basically be clones balistically but the front locking lever activated bolt type action of the BLR is stronger and if Im going to load on the warm side of the pressure curve with 1750fps -1800fps loads with 420 grain bullets I prefer the extra safety margin.
BTW I purchased 500 empty cases for the 450 marlin, caliber BLR rifle, and its never seen a factory cartridge.
but I did the same thing with my 45/70 marlin when I bought it.
theres no differance ballistcally but there is in action strength, that and Ive never really liked tube mag rifles although I hunt with a marlin 44 mag carbine for hogs frequently

another one on a bear hunt with the 525 piledrivers

I do reload and I bought a 450� It is a great round. I do admit that is the equivalent of a hot 45/70.
IMO you can�t go wrong with either one. I do love the 450.

I have the XLR 45/70 but wonder if the rimless 450 might feed better. Probably goes thru the loading port easier.

yeah! the 450 marlin cartridges load easier AND you can load single rounds into an empty rifle thru the ejection port far easier, on the MARLIN with the 450 vs the 45/70 rather than working them thru the action, which comes in handy occasionaly