BROUGHT THE "SHOULDER BUSTER" TO THE RANGE YESTERDAY - LOTS OF FUN & A LITTLE PAIN

[chief38]

BROUGHT THE "SHOULDER BUSTER" TO THE RANGE YESTERDAY - LOTS OF FUN & A LITTLE PAIN

I have a beautiful JM Marlin 1895 Ltd in 45-70 that I bought about 23 years ago and that I don't shoot all that much anymore. Yesterday's weather was just stellar and we ventured out to our outdoor club for a day of fun. Along with others I brought my trusty Marlin 1895 Ltd. in 45-70 Gov't and 35 rounds. After 10 or 15 shots I am pretty much done, but I wanted to sight it in at 50 yards and it had been sighted in for 100 yards previously. It took me about 5-6 shots to zero it in and then I had lots of fun shooting it. At about the 18th round I started feeling my shoulder getting sore, but like a trooper I did finish out the 35 rounds. The target below is the last 3 shots I had at 50 yards standing. I did rest my left shoulder against the lane divider but I was holding the rifle freehanded.

The 405 grain bullets really pack a punch and I normally shoot 300 grain hand loads out of it but I have a bunch of heavier loads to shoot up also. The 300 grain bullets which are downloaded a bit are not too bad, but again, I wanted to shoot up a bunch of the heavier ones first. I had not shot the gun in a few years and had forgotten about the stiff recoil. With open iron sights at 50 yards I consider this to be spot on. Even at 100 yards it is super accurate but prefer shooting on the 50 yard pistol range these days. The cease fires on a 300 yard rifle range are just too long. Shooting on one of our 50 yard pistol range it is usually just my group and cease fires are not very long.

I am a Marlin lever action fan and even though I own a few Winchesters and their fit and finish is a bit better, I much prefer the Marlin's action. After I "soared up" my shoulder a bit I broke out my Marlin 39A and went through a 100 rounds of 22LR. The weather could not have been better and it was one of those days that you just want to bottle up and save for another day!

 

[colt_saa]

I am a fan of the Marlin 1895 chambered for the 45-70 cartridge.

Mine is one of the octagon barreled 26" Custom Cowboy Limited rifles and it was new about the same time when you bought yours

Years ago I stumbled on some of the Sierra 300 grain hollow points that were blems or seconds so I got them in a really great price. They made for some very soft shooting handloads in the 1895 CCL

Though I have not shot the 1895 very much.

I have put far more 45-70 ammunition downrange with my Thompson Center Contender and my Sharps Long Range

My load for the Sharps is the 535 grain Lyman Postell projectile. It's traveling from the long barrel at somewhere around 1700 FPS but I do not have my notes in front of me for an exact number.

This projectile is way too long to cycle in the Marlin 1895 action but groups very well at 800 yards (sub 2 MOA)

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a JM Guide Gun early enough to have factory porting. MY anti bear load is a hard cast 400 w/GC over IMR 3031 at 2100 fps. At 50 yards I do speed rifle offhand to see how fast I get 5 into what size group. BTW it has aa 30mm red dot so I shoot both eyes open. (this load came from Lyman #45's Marlin/1886 section)

When I last did this at dad's farm, it worked out 1.5 sec by a 1.5" group!

I won a Cowboy Action Speed Rifle Match (10 shots, offhand, and iron Sights) using My Browning 1886 in 45-70 with a 425-grain cast @ 800fps. That one time I beat the Ohio state champ. My time for 10 shots was 1.34 seconds and won by over a quarter second. Distance that day was 105 yards! Group size doesn't matter it's a 12" steel plate, but since I was first up my 1.5" group got a lot of yells!

My Shiloh Sharps 1874 does well at 200 with the Lyman Postell 535 at 200 yards with 63 grains of Goex FFg. 400 RN are more pleasant to plink with.

Worst shoulder thumper I ever shot was my Best Friend's Rugar 77 Tropical in 458 Win Mag. Factory 500 grain ammo was like 10 gauge slugs (very noticeable, but not bad) The hard-hitting ammo was 350 grain Hornady soft points at about 2750 fps Handloads from Hornady manual. I've had Rugar No.1 in 375 H&H and Bolt guns in same, along with a 450 3 1/4" NE double rifle, nothing I've ever shot was a fierce as those 458 reloads!

Ivan

 

[lihpster]

That's nice shooting! Looking at that target and thinking of those 405's, I'm reminded of a term: Accurate and effective fire.

 

[chief38]

Originally I had bought the 45-70 for long range side matches at 100 yards while shooting S.A.S.S. Cowboy matches. I did not realize when purchasing it that shooting that caliber 30 - 40 shots at a time was quite uncomfortable to say the least!

Not long afterwards I bought a Marlin lever action in 38-55. That caliber is about half the recoil and shoots dead flat at 100 yards and I can shoot 60 plus rounds at a time comfortably. It still remains one of my favorite lever action calibers and is superbly accurate as well. Marlin only did that caliber on a small run basis (in the last 30 years or so) and it became a fairly rare rifle. I have now re-sighted both of these rifles in at 50 yards where I do most of my rifle shooting now. If shooting again at 100 yards, slipping the rear sight back down the notched ramp takes a few seconds.

To shoot these two rifles today, reloading for them is a must! Not only are those calibers hard to find and in a specific configuration 38-55 ammo is rarely on LGS shelves and 45-70 isn't much better. Pricing is also ridiculous! I have learned to download them somewhat where they are still extremely accurate, still safe and not too bad recoil wise. Of course I still load up full power loads for when I need a good sore shoulder - lol. I bought my components a while ago while prices were "normal" and so feeding these rifles is fairly economical and I can make as much as I need or want.

 

[ACORN]

I have a C Sharps 1875 in .45x2.10(.45-70 ) but have always wanted a Marlin 1895 Cowboy. They look Tom Horn-ish to me. Maybe one day.
Nice shooting OP.
My buddy and I were shooting our Sharp’s at the 200 yard berm using cast 500gr gas checked Lyman’s. Through the spotting scope you could see the glint off of them as they made their way down range. IIRC we were using 2400 with a 3/4”x1/4” Dacron wad over the powder. Made about 1600fps IIRC.

 

[jimmyj]

I have a Marlin Model 1895 .45/70. Mine has the straight pistol grip. In the era of 1980s my excuse for purchasing it was "When I retire we will move to the mountains and need a bear gun" I sighted it in at 100 yards. The recoil was "WOW". My #4 son borrowed it and killed a deer with it. I did not ask for Him to return it. The recoil I can live without.

 

[Rock185]

Those 1895s are neat rifles. I shot one with stout loads. Recoil starts to become quite noticeable Also shot the Ruger #1 with even stouter loads; couldn't tell a whole lot of difference recoil wise from .458 Win. Mag in a bolt action..

 

[Rat458]

Had one before the cross bolt safety came out.
Shot it quite a bit with 405 grain loads.
Recoil was only an issue when I stepped up the loads.
Friend was going to Alaska and made him up some 500 grain hard cast heavy loads for his.
Those hurt.

 

[chief38]

My full length 1895 Ltd has the a pistol grip, octagon barrel a full length tubular magazine for max capacity of those long suckers. I believe it was the first rendition of a 45-70 they remade about 25 or 30 years ago. Since then they made them with straight stocks, guide gun length and in stainless too. They also made a model with the large "John Wayne" style big loop.

 

[M29since14]

Your post brings back fond memories of a friend who owned one of those monstrosities. He was going somewhere to shoot wild boar and wanted a certain type of load he thought he needed for that job.

Having no experience with both Marlins and .45-70s, I agreed to help him make the loads, but I didn’t want to actually do it myself. We made two boxes of them, or maybe I should say he made two boxes, and we went outside to test a few for function and see what the chronograph said.

My friend was much bigger and sturdier than I. He fired five or six rounds without notable comment and seemed well satisfied with them. Of course he offered to let me try it, which I did. Once. It did not have the recoil speed of my .378, but I thought it kicked at least as hard as my Model 70 .458 - and was more uncomfortable than either of them. That one round cured me of any idea that I might some day need a Marlin .45-70.

 

[DWalt]

I have a very early production Marlin 1895 I bought used in the late 1970s. Still like new, but I haven’t fired it for at least 15 years. Only light .45-70 loadings for me, usually with Pyrodex.

 

[TheTinMan]

I bought a mid-1990s Marlin 1895 LTD nearly 15 years go. Loaded up a ladder of hand loads like I normally would for a new-to-me rifle. After the 12th shot I decided “No more shooting off the bench with this beast!” It’s certainly accurate enough. And yes, my shoulder was a bit bruised the next day after 30+ rounds.

Fast forward to the new production Marlins after the Ruger buyout. I got an 1895 Guide Gun and love it:

I confess that I generally shoot only “Trapdoor” loads through it. I worked up a subsonic load with TrailBoss and a 400 grain Speer jacketed flat point bullet. It is highly amusing to shoot at steel but the drop at only 100 yards is big enough to make it impractical. I couldn’t find accuracy within 2 MOA either. (It’s a 1 MOA rifle with Remington Core-Lokt.)

 

[Yendor357]

The Limbsaver is your huckleberry.
I shoot Berrys 400 grainers at 1500 for fun.
The Sub-Xs shoot good for me.

 

[diyj98]

I love my Marlin 45-70. It really can’t do anything that most of my other calibers don’t do better, but it’s just fun to shoot.

 

[Yendor357]

I lit up the No. 1 this morning. Those Berry bullets shoot really well. I can do a little better with 405 grain Remington bullets, but I haven’t been able to find any for the last few years.
The Berry bullets shoot better than the Hornady FLXs hand loads BUT, if I buy the Hornady factory FLXs, they’ll outshoot my hand loads. The Leverevolution will put 3 under an inch and a half at 100.

It’s been my experience with rifles in 357, 44, and 45-70 that if the velocity is much different or the bullet weight is different, the POI will be 3+ inches off at 100.

 

[A10]

I had a Guide Gun some years back. I found the factory 405 Remingtons pleasant to shoot. I did get some Buffalo Bore 460s and 500s. Them 500s would kill on both ends of the gun! I ended up selling the guide gun but really missed having a big bore so ended up with a takedown '86. It's heavier than the Marlin was and the 350 grain Leverevolutions are right mild in that one. Haven't shot the heavies out of it yet.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I had one of the early ones but sold it years ago. My big bore levergun thumper now is actually a medium bore, I suppose - a model 71 Winchester in, of course, .348 WCF. 20 rounds off the bench with it will leave you with a sore shoulder, too, but not as bad as a Marlin .45-70 with stout loads. For you reloaders, if you haven't tried it, 5744 is great in the .45-70. I had a load with it that pushed a 335 grain cast hollow point to about 1600 fps, and the recoil impulse was a lot more comfortable than a load with 3031 or 4895 at the same velocity. A burning rate/pressure curve thing, I assume. It was a very noticeable difference.