... You might also be interested to know that a gunsmith friend of mine, whith a Pressure Trace system, just did a bunch of tests with the .450 Marlin (same case capacity as the .45-70), .458 Winchester and .458 Lott. When loaded to the same pressures, the Lott showed around 250 fps advantage over the Marlin, with the Winchester in between. That's right, the Marlin could break 2000 fps with a 500-grain bullet, the .458 2150, and the Lott 2250. ...
But at what pressure is the .450 Marlin operating at to achieve 2000 fps with a 500 gr bullet? Loaded to the same pressures as the .458 Win and the .458 Lott implies to me that all three cartridges were loaded to around 50,000-52,000 CUP (or whatever the Piezo PSI number is). A .450 Marlin cartridge loaded to that pressure would probably be fine in a bolt action or falling block, but isn't it outside the safe pressure range for a lever action rifle (Marlin or other make)?
-Bob F.
"Whose bright idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot? It's working!" -- P. J. O'Rourke
