Is 2.85" the longest COL that will work through an M71 or 1886 ?
That would apply to either .50-110 WCF or .45-90, both having 2.4" cases and allowing 0.45" of FN bullet projection forward of case mouth ?
I have often seen a max of 2.88” quoted. It is harder to achieve that with the 50/110. The max OAL is also a function of the meplat width and how much work has been done to get the loaded shell through the loading gate and into the magazine. When Marlin shoehorned the 45/70 into the 336 action they had to make a few changes. One of them was to put a bulge in the mag tube opposite the loading gate. This was to allow the fat 45/70 case enough room to swing around and fit in the mag tube.
If you look at original 50/110 factory loadings, most bullets have a short nose and a narrow meplat. I’m guessing they would be around 2.7-2.75” in OAL.
I have 50/110 and a 45/90 conversions built on 1886 and 71 (Miroku) actions respectively. I try to keep OAL down to 2.80” in the 50/110 and 2.85” in the 45/90. That gives me a small margin of safety if I need crank out shells quickly. There’s no point having a levergun that has feeding issues.
