Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cartridges that you wanted because what was written or said about them.

25-06 Bob Milek

44 Magnum Elmer Kieth

45 Colt Ross Seyfried

This says it all

I just thought of the 450 Marlin. I don't remember who was hyping it up in the pages of American Hunter back in 2000 but they convinced me I needed one. And I got one

.275 Rigby because of W.D.M. Bell and Jim Corbett

Writer of article knowing all well that the following attributes were always in place long before the 450M.

45-70 Gov = 450M
458x2 American = 450M

450M was an unnecessary addition and provided nothing new. However it is a hard hitter and the equal of the two aforementioned chambers. Drawback is always going to be proprietary brass that is no longer in demand, thereby making it somewhat obsolete. Get as much 450M brass as you can. It’s still a good cartridge on either the 1895 or Winchester 94 platforms.

during 1964 Marlin came up with a powerful lever action rifle, the 444 Marlin. in those years, the 45-70 was about extinct. i can't remember the year, but the Marlin m1895 in 45-70 came out later than the 444.

i've used both, a 45-70 Handi rifle (i had 3 of them) and a TC Encore with a 23" MGM barrel in 444.

the 45-70, i got them all cheap (1991 to 2018) and they were a good killing deer gun. i'd use jacketed and cast bullets, BUT, it wasn't for me.

in 2013 or '14, i got the 444 Marlin (TC Encore) and i fell in luv with it. i'd use 265gr Hornady FN and H4198 that goes 2300fps+ and it would smack the heck out of the deer. i used a 200gr WC and 200gr Hornady XTP for targets. then i would take out 250gr penta HP, 255gr Keith SWC, 275gr Ranch Dog, 280gr LFN GC, 280gr WFN GC and a 300gr Saeco FN GC to use on deer. at first, i was going full speed(2300+fps) on the cast bullets, but i found out that i didn't need full velocity bullets to kill deer. 1726fps in 300gr FN GC with 2400/tuft of Dacron will kill a deer if you put it behind the shoulder. cast bullets going around 1800-1900fps will kill deer. expect the 250gr penta HP, 1500fps is plenty. i've settled on a 280gr WFN GC with Reloder 7 going 1937fps. 5 shots from a bench will go into 1/2 - 3/4" at 100 yards. since i hunt in close quarters brush, a long shot is around 50 - 60 yards, it is usually 30+/- yards from me.

A friend of my Dad's was a govt trapper, professional hunter for the CCC camps of the depression, Duncan Montgomery, swore by the Savage .22 HP. Years later I found one at a price I could live with. Apparently I wasn't as good a shot as the old trapper, because I had some failures on smallish deer. The rifle was plenty accurate at the ranges I encountered deer, but anything less than a ribcage fairly precision shot was a crapshoot whether it would turn into a drama. I hate animals suffering, gave the rifle to my son, 20 yrs ago, I doubt he has shot it. Too bad, but the cartridge just doesn't have a lot of margin for shooter error. Sometimes tempted to borrow it back and try Mule Deer's tip of shooting .224 bullets in the .228 barrel...but maybe not, deer hunting is hard work where I live nowadays...long gone are the days when you would pick and choose which one to kill.

1973 was the return of the 45-70

Interesting. I have Harry Caldwell's book. He thought the .22 HP was perfect for Tigers. I always wondered how effective it actually was

I wanted an 1885 Highwall, since the 70s. Back then I hunted with a man that used the 30-06 in an 1885 Highwall. Very accurate and he killed a lot of deer with it.
4 years ago decided to get a "primitive weapon" for Louisiana's season. To qualify it must be a single shot with an exposed hamer in 35 caliber or larger.
I bought a 30-06 and sent it to Jess Rebore and he rebored it to a 5 groove 1 in 10 twist.
I litterly love that rifle and cartridge.

Wanted a 300Wby partially thanks to an article from the early 90s. Guy who got one in his early years, joined Cali blacktails, developed a flinch, and for away from it. After shooting other rounds came back to the Wby when he could handle it and hunted successfully with it.

LOL, I think that Harry Caldwell was a preacher, reverend? in China......two things occur to me, preachers never lie or I'm not that a great of a shot.

thanks.

Reading Outdoor Life during the mid 80’s as a kid I was convinced by Jim Carmichel’s articles that I needed a .280 to hunt Utah mule deer. Dad got me a push feed M70 featherweight which I still have. Later I added a M700 Mountain rifle. And the latest .280 a NULA, that just went out a few days ago after elk.


About ten years ago I bought some Warner rings and bases from EBay. When they arrived the return address had J Carmichel TN, on it. Messaging through eBay I told him since the rings came from him, they are going on a .280 mountain rifle. And thanked him for his writing. He posted a quick reply in thanks.

Yes he was. His book Blue Tiger is a great read. He talks of how the Chinese would congregate around to get a glimpse of his Tiger rifle and they all wanted to handle a 22 High Power cartridge

I might add I think the 45-70 came back because the launch of the 444 was badly botched. Marlin introduced it in a rifle with a Monte Carlo stock and a 22" barrel with slow rifling twist. And Remington introduced the ammo with only a 240 grain bullet. Nothing about the setup screamed brush rifle or large game. I think the lever action buyer of the time was still better off with the 35 Remington in an RC configuration

no, Marlin and Remington did not badly botched it.......... ;), not them.......


yes, the 1 in 38" twist and the 240gr bullet was bad. Hornady did a 265gr FN (loaded and just bullets) to correct that. there was also a 270gr Speer FN bullet too. 300gr FN GC to 350gr Ranch Dog are iffy in the slow twist. speed is king as 444 Marlin owners says. i use a 1 in 20" twist in the Encore (which Marlin did finally use). slow or fast doesn't matter and i believe it is 450 or 460gr FN GC is about the heaviest you go in a 1 in 20" twist.

i used to go here alot.

https://www.marlinowners.com/forums/

I'm banned from there bro. Permanent

22-250- because of Rick Jamison's many glowing articles back in the 80's touting it's high velocity, accuracy and varmint vaporizing capabilities. Ironically, I never purchased a 22-250. I instead became a huge 220 Swift fanboy after purchasing one in 1992 when Remington offered it in their Classic line. Now have 2 of them and will probably never own a 22-250. The Swift just works so well.

Ross for the 270 and big bores in general. Sitton for the 35WhelenAI.
300WBY because of, well, just about all of them. A few nay sayers on it, but any 30 mag that can outdo the Winchester in the same action is pretty good.
Through the gifting of a good friend that passed, I acquired a CZ 550 in 416Rigby, 350 Rem Mag in the shark fin 673, and a 458 Win Mag on a four digit BRNO.
The last group is a bit more expensive to play with, but always fun to hand to an admirer at the range.