Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Good Lawd! Why didn't y'all tell me how much my Marlin 45/70 kicks?

In my Marlin 1895 45-70 early 70's vintage I have been using a Beartooth 405 gr GC over 48 grs of 3031. It is a pretty stout load by my standards. I wanted to work up to Elmer Keith's load of 53 gr of 3031 and then read that as strong as the Marlin is that load is better left to the Winchster 1886. Mr.Keith sure could take some punishment. I recall he favored 1886 Lightweights.

Woods walker: I have used Elmer's load and exceeded it a bit with a 425 grain cast bullet in an 1886ELR repro. The load was only used for grizzly protection and I've since quit being in those places too much and dropped to a much lighter load as the heavy load just plain beat me up. In a long heavy barrel model it might be tolerable to some extent. Sighting in with that load was a serious chore.

Would you like some cheese with that whine? I like rifles with traditional length barrels. They point well and take advantage of the energy the cartridge is capable of.

i have one of these in a guide gun, and i put a decelerator pad on it pretty quick. I also played with a few of the firewall loads and tamed them back pretty quick, actually not needed. Brian pierce had a good article on loading for the 45.70 a few years ago, and i try to keep the 405grain bullet at about 1600fps, more than factory but not knock your teeth loose. I am going to buy one of the john wayne type levers, the one on the gun twists my hand when you fire it.

Chop the stock and put a good limbsaver or decelerator on it and find yourself an aftermarket lever. The gun will become your new favorite after that.