Originally published at: MARLIN’S “NEW” .45-70’S - Sixguns Firearm Fraternity
- …JOHN TAFFIN
At one time hyphenated cartridges were the norm. One could have
.44-40’s, .40-65’s, .38-55’s, and .45-70’s, as well as so many that
have long disappeared from the scene such as the .40-82, .45-65,
.45-125, and .50-110. The hyphen served a purpose as the first number
indicated the caliber, the second, the powder charge, in black powder
of course, and when a third number appeared such as the .45-70-500,
it indicated the bullet weight.
As we entered the new century, the advent of smokeless powder
changed the nomenclature of cartridges with the .30-06 being the .30
caliber round from 1906 and the .250-3000 Savage proudly announced
the first cartridge to attain a muzzle velocity of 3,000 fps.
Most of the old cartridges are gone now but a few are not only
still around they are also even more popular than ever. One of those
is the .45-70. Others still exist or are coming back because of the
popularity of cowboy shooting and long range black powder
silhouetting. The .45-70 exists for these reasons and also the fact
that we have yet to come up with a better cartridge for use in close
quarters against large or dangerous American game. The English have
long had their double rifles for use in Africa. Americans have the
levergun chambered in .45- 70 for use against moose, elk, and the big
bears. Properly loaded, it is also a grand black bear, feral pig, and
deer rifle.
The first rifle chambered in .45-70 became the official U.S.
service cartridge and rifle combination. That magnificent old single-
shot workhorse was the 1873 Trapdoor Springfield. One of the best
leverguns ever chambered in .45-70 was the 1886 Winchester which has
only recently been resurrected and is once again available in modern
form complete with a sliding tang safety.
Marlin jumped on the .45-70 bandwagon with the Model 1881 and
reached the apex of levergun design with the 1895. The Winchester
design featured top ejection; the Marlin, even way back before the
turn of the century, had a solid topped receiver with side ejection.
The Model 1895 would be produced by Marlin until 1917 in calibers
.38-56, .33 WCF, .40- 65, .40-82, .45-90, and of course, the
.45-70.
After World War I, Marlin turned to the more modern cartridges
such as the .30-30 and .35 Remington for their leverguns in Models
1893, 93, 36, and the present 336. The 336 Texan was a levergun I
often dreamed about as young teenager and that model in .35 Remington
with its slab- sided receiver and straight gripped stock is now a
special favorite.
In 1972 Marlin corrected the mistake of 1917 and brought back the
Model 1895 in .45-70. A myth immediately arose around the 1895 .45-70
as shooters spread the word that “It won’t shoot cast bullets!” As
with most myths there is some basis in fact with this one. Yes the
Marlin 1895 with Micro-Groove rifling designed primarily for jacketed
bullets does not shoot many cast bullet designs BUT choose the right
bullet and muzzle velocity combination and this changes.
For the Marlin 1895 .45-70 with Micro-Groove rifling I have found
this combination to be the RCBS designed 405 grain gas checked bullet
with maximum bearing surface. When driven to muzzle velocities of
1800 fps or more the accuracy is excellent and it also just happens
to be a grand choice for heavy boned large animals. It is available
to bullet casters in RCBS’s #45-405FN mould or in ready to load form
from Fusilier as their 400 grain gas checked .458″ bullet.
We just as well lay another myth to rest here and that is the same
albatross around the neck of the .444 Marlin in the Model 444. It
will generally not shoot cast bullets of standard weight, however
when loaded with 290-300 grain gas checked bullets at muzzle
velocities in the 1800+ fps range groups tighten up dramatically.
Again we have a combination that is the best available for deep
penetration in the .444 Marlin.
All this is now academic as far as current production Marlin
leverguns go. All three of “new” .45-70’s tested do not have Micro-
Groove rifling but are furnished with six grooves and lands and
Ballard type or cut rifled barrels for the best accuracy with cast
bullets. The extra added bonus is the fact that they also shoot
jacketed bullets just fine.
In the past year Marlin has brought forth not one, nor two, nor
even three, but rather four models of the 1895 .45-70. Two are
limited editions that we can hope will eventually reach production
status and the other two are current production leverguns from
Marlin. It has been my good privilege to get my shooting hands on
three of them and I have been enjoying the experience immensely. The
fourth .45-70 1895 has just been announced and it will be a 24″ full
octagon-barreled beauty with a full length magazine tube.
MARLIN MODEL 1895G, “THE GUIDE GUN”: The Marlin 1895 .45-70 has
been a popular platform for building brush guns the past few years. I
have had both Jim West of Wild West Guns in Alaska and Keith DeHart
of Texas build easy handling, fast into action short-barreled .45-70
Marlins with both being reported in GUNS. West’s creation is a 16
1/2″ barreled take down model with a satin nickel finish while
DeHart’s offering is an 18 1/2″ barreled version with slimmed down
wood for easy carrying and use. Now Marlin is offering its version of
a handy brush gun, and by this we mean a levergun that is handy to
use in the brush or tight quarters not one that will somehow
magically shoot through brush. Incidentally both of these custom
.45-70’s still have their original factory barrels, both have Micro
Groove rifling but only one is so marked on the barrel.
The Guide Gun from Marlin features an 18 1/2″ barrel with a
shortened magazine tube that is set back about 4″ from the muzzle.
This allows a capacity of four rounds in the tube plus one in the
chamber for five very potent rounds immediately at hand. The Marlin
.45-70 is gaining appreciation in Africa as a close range rifle for
use against dangerous game and the Guide Gun should be very popular
over there when loaded with full house .45-70 loads such as offered
by Garrett Cartridges. In the Guide Gun, Garrett’s .45-70 loading
with a hard cast 415 grain bullet exits the muzzle at more than 1700
fps. That is a lot of muzzle energy in a light easy to handle
carbine.
Jeff Cooper who has hunted extensively both in Africa and this
continent says of the 1895 Marlin and the Garrett loading of the
.45-70: “Randy Garrett, the custom ammunition maker from Chehalis
Washington, has really been hard at work on the .45-70 ….He is now
featuring a 415 grain hard cast lead bullet for this cartridge that
shows greater penetration than almost anything including the .375
H&H. When you remember that dangerous game is shot at short
range, it begins to appear that we have been overlooking the best
brown-bear cartridge for more than 100 years.”
The Guide Gun, as all Marlin leverguns, is equipped with a cross
bolt safety. I hear a lot of complaints from those who say this is
not traditional and wish it weren’t there. Because of liability laws
being what they are today the cross bolt safety is definitely here to
stay. I don’t need it but I feel very comfortable when those around
me have one on their leverguns and use it! I’ve even seen some rifles
with the cross bolt safety removed leaving an ugly hole. This is not
a wise move. Leave the safety in place and use it when a round is
carried in the chamber.
The first Marlin 1895’s in the resurrection of the model in the
1970’s had straight gripped stocks. This desirable feature is back
and the Guide Gun looks very trim with the lack of pistol grip. Its
looks would also be vastly improved if the magazine tube was carried
out full length or shortened to the end of the forearm giving it a
capacity of either five or three rounds.
The Guide Gun is stocked with genuine American Walnut (Remember
when this was a given on any American rifle?), and in the case of my
test gun is quite attractive with nice figure. The forearm, as on all
Marlin leverguns, is much thicker than it needs to be and could be
slimmed down considerably. A most generous and much appreciated
recoil pad is fixed to the butt stock and the front barrel band and
the butt stock both have a sling swivel should one opt to fit the
1895G with a sling. It is also drilled and tapped to receive a Marlin
Weaver scope mount base that accepts Weaver rings for ease of scope
mounting. I elected to go with iron sights.
Sights are standard Marlin levergun with a bead front and an
adjustable rear sight on an elevation ladder that folds down out of
the way if not needed. I switched from the Marlin sights as the Guide
Gun gave me a good chance to test a new sight system from Ashley
Outdoors. Ashley Emerson of Ashley Outdoors has come up with a Ghost
Ring Sight System for rifles that is perfect for use on the Guide
Gun. The very small rear sight mounts on the 1895G using the two rear
scope base holes already drilled and tapped on the top of the
Marlin’s receiver, while the front sight is tapped out of its
dovetail and replaced with an Ashley front sight, or the entire
Marlin front sight and ramp can be removed by loosening two screws
and then replaced with an Ashley Outdoors Ramp Front sight and
base.
The Ghost Ring Sight provides a large aperture rear sight that
mates up with a front sight that slopes forward to the top and is
fitted with a white stripe down the center. It is very easy to pick
up quickly and would make a great combination for big game at close
range.
To add to the Guide Gun’s desirability it is furnished with a
recoil reducing system with four holes on each side of the front
sight plus two on each side of the barrel. Do they work? While firing
all three .45-70 Marlins from the bench I found out exactly how well
the porting system did work.
With all three guns fired from the bench the difference was
remarkable. Both the standard Model 1895, now known as the 1895SS,
and the Limited Edition when used with full house loads would come up
off the bench enough for the back of my thumb to hit me in the nose.
Not enough to hurt but enough to be disconcerting to say the least.
When I fired the Guide Gun I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of
uplift as the levergun was fired especially with full house 400 grain
loads. It did not raise up off the bench and my thumb did not tap the
end of my nose. It works!
The Guide Gun is a serious hunting or back-up levergun so it was
used with hunting loads. For deer or deer-sized game, we have two
great choices, namely Winchester’s 300 grain Jacketed Hollow Point or
Federal’s version of the same. Both clock out at 1600 fps over the
Oehler Model 35P with 50 yard groups in the two-inch range using iron
sights.
For bigger game I would opt for Garrett’s 415 grain hard cast
loading. This round clocks out at 1700 fps from the Guide Gun’s short
barrel and stays well within two inches at 50 yards. My handload of
Fusilier’s 400 grain gas check over 52.0 grains of H322 yields a
muzzle velocity of 1822 fps from the Guide Gun and with the Ashley
Outdoors Ghost Ring in place stays within two inches at 50 yards.
MARLIN 1895SS: In conjunction with the Texas Historical Shootist
Society, Marlin sponsors the cowboy shooting event Trail Head each
year. I journeyed down to Texas in 1997 for the shoot and Marlin’s
introduction of the “new” .45-70. After the shoot, writers Finn
Aagard, Gary Sitton, Bart Skelton, Glen Voorhees, John Wootters, and
myself journeyed Southeast to the Shanghai Pierce Ranch to hunt wild
hogs. If the shoot was relaxing, the trip to the ranch almost ruined
me for any return to civilization. Founded by Pierce in 1885, the
ranch is now a major source of rice and also a migratory wildfowl and
bird paradise. The combination of the rice crop and wetlands are
perfect for wildfowl and also for wild hogs.
Marlin provided the .45-70 leverguns and Garrett Cartridges
supplied the ammunition for this hunt on 85,000 acres of Texas
rangeland. Randy Garrett manufacturers two loads, both serious
hunting loads. One is his 415 grain .45-70 load patterned after Elmer
Keith’s old loading of the .45-70, while the other is a 310 grain
semi-wadcutter Keith style bullet in the .44 Magnum. Both loads use
hard cast bullets and they do penetrate big game. Garrett has
recently added a 280 grain load for the .44 Magnum and will be
following it this summer with two loads using 310 grain bullets with
most of the weight in the nose for superior penetration and maximum
use of the cylinder length of Ruger’s Redhawk and Super Redhawk.
The Garrett .45-70 load handled several large hogs quite handily
for the other shooters. I had planned to use Marlin’s .45-70 and
Garrett’s load for hogs but as it got dark and time ran out the last
evening I could not see well enough to shoot the iron-sighted Marlin.
A Ruger Super Blackhawk with a 2X Leupold saved the hunt. The 310
grain .44 bullet entered the left shoulder of a big hog, exited in
front of the right ham and resulted in a large dead hog 40 paces from
where it was shot.
As stated Marlin’s standard Model 1895SS now features cut barrel
rifling for use with cast bullets. My first thought was what the
results would be when using jacketed bullets with the new barrels as
we are so ingrained to expect jacketed bullets to be just the ticket
for the Marlin .45-70. Using Hornady”s 300 grain bullet over 52.0
grains of H322, I was pleasantly surprised with a 50 yard three shot
group of three-fourth inches. Following this with Speer’s 400 grain
Jacketed Flat Point over 50.0 grains of H322 yielded 1800 fps and a
one-inch group for three shots at 50 yards with iron sights. When the
bullet was switched to the hard cast style, the 300 grain RCBS Gas
Check #45-300 FN over 52.0 grains of H322 put three shots into
one-half inch at 50 yards and did it with a muzzle velocity of 1850
fps. Fusilier’s 400 grain gas check, a dead ringer for RCBS’s #45-405
FN, also is an excellent performer when driven to 1880 fps with 52.0
grains of H322 and a 50 yard group of one-inch. If you haven’t
guessed by now, my favorite powder for the .45-70 in leverguns is
Hodgdon’s H322!
As the platform from which the Guide Gun springs, the Model 1895SS
differs in a only few aspects. Barrel length is 22″, the butt stock
features a pistol grip and a slimmer recoil pad, and there is no
porting system in place. For test-firing I removed the standard rear
sight and replaced it with a Williams Receiver Sight which will stay
in place on the 1895 for general use.
The Marlin 1895SS is an exceptionally good shooting levergun. The
only complaint I would register or change I would want is to see the
magazine tube offered full length thus making a much better looking
levergun as well as bringing the capacity up to six rounds in the
magazine and one in the chamber. O.K. So maybe I would leave the
checkering off the forearm and butt stock also!
MARLIN 1895 LTD: The only thing wrong with this .45-70 levergun is
the fact that it is a Limited Edition. Introduced in the fall of
1997, this edition is now sold out. That is the bad news. The good
news is that 1998’s version is already available and will be the same
basic gun with a full octagon instead of a half round-half octagon
barrel and the butt stock will be the pistol grip shape.
The barrel length on the Limited Edition is a very pleasing 24″
with a full magazine tube. This not only looks great but also gives a
capacity of nine .45-70 rounds. Thank You Marlin!, and no checkering
on either the forearm or the butt stock, Thank You Again!!
For testing the Marlin Limited Edition .45-70 I went with a Lyman
#66 Receiver Sight. This fully adjustable sight has been around for a
long time and is well proven to be of excellent quality. It mates up
perfectly with the bead front sight that is standard on the Marlin
.45- 70.
This is one good shooting levergun. If memory serves me right it
gave me the smallest group I have very experienced with a .45-70.
Using Hornady’s 300 grain Jacketed Hollow Point over 52 grains of
H322 resulted in a muzzle velocity of 1860 fps with a three shot
group at 50 yards of three-eighth’s of an inch! That is excellent but
before I get too excited I must tell you that my friend Fritz Dixon,
who is an NRA rep as well as a .45-70 fan, shoots his old Marlin 1895
in the .45-70 matches. Last week I watched him experiment with his
scope and loads on a wet windy cold day. The result was three cast
bullets in one and one- fourth inches, not at 50 yards, not at 100
yards, not even at 150 yards but a full 200 yards! From a levergun
with cast bullets, in the antiquated, to some, .45-70! Marlin
.45-70’s will flat out shoot.
Yes, the only problem with the Limited Edition is just that, it is
limited. At least it has already been replaced with a new Limited
Edition. If one has a chance to get one I would advise not letting it
pass by. O.K., so there is one other problem with the 1895 Limited
Edition. Like the Colt Single Action it stirs the heart, mind, soul,
and spirit. It is really difficult to stay in the later 1990’s with a
levergun in hand that does its best to take one back to the 1880’s.
The built in imagination booster is an extra bonus at no added
cost.
Marlin can be reached www.marlin-guns.com.
For a Ghost Ring Sight System and several other interesting items,
Ashley Outdoors is at www.ashleyoutdoors.com.
For serious full house .45-70 hunting loads contact Garrett
Cartridges at P.O. Box 178, Chehalis, WA 98532
MUZZLE VELOCITY/FPS
LOAD |
LIMITED |
1895SS |
1895G |
Federal 300 JHP |
1650 |
1638 |
1600 |
Winchester 300 JHP |
1772 |
1760 |
1616 |
Garrett 415 |
1749 |
1729 |
1702 |
Hornady 300 JHP/52 gr. H322 |
1748 |
1792 |
1715 |
RCBS 300 GC/52 gr. H322 |
1863 |
1851 |
1792 |
Speer 400 JFP/50 gr. H322 |
1803 |
1798 |
1745 |
Bull-X 405 CSJ/50.0 gr. H322 |
1882 |
1862 |
1812 |
Bull-X 405 CSJ/37.5 IMR3031 |
1211 |
1248 |
1238 |
Fusilier 400 GC/37.5 IMR3031 |
1290 |
1292 |
1244 |
Fusilier 400 GC/52 gr. H322 |
1932 |
1881 |
1822 |
GROUPS/THREE SHOTS AT 50 YARDS
LOAD |
LIMITED |
1895SS |
1895G |
Federal 300 JHP |
1 1/2″ |
3″ |
1 7/8″ |
Winchester 300 JHP |
2 1/8″ |
2 1/4″ |
2″ |
Garrett 415 |
1 1/2″ |
1″ |
1 3/4″ |
Hornady 300 JHP/52 gr.H322 |
3/8″ |
3/4″ |
|
RCBS 300 GC/52 gr. H322 |
1 1/8″ |
1/2″ |
|
Speer 400 JFP/50 gr. H322 |
1 1/4″ |
1″ |
|
Bull-X 405 CSJ/50.0 gr.H322 |
2 1/2″ |
1 3/8″ |
|
Bull-X 405 CSJ/37.5 IMR3031 |
2 1/2″ |
1 3/8″ |
|
Fusilier 400 GC/37.5 IMR3031 |
1 1/8″ |
1 3/8″ |
|
Fusilier 400 GC/52 gr. H322 |
1 1/8″ |
1″ |
1 3/4″* |
* Equipped with Ashley Outdoors “Ghost Ring”