Afternoon with the Guide Rifle

[SJB358]

Well, I got to spend about the whole day out on the range today. Really wanted to ring out the 264WM a little bit, but I will discuss that in another topic..

I wanted to see if I could zero my back up iron sights (XS Rear - Marlin Front). My back up sight is mounted on the rail, with a Weaver type set up. Pretty slick and allows the scope to be mounted right in front of it..

Anyhow, I had some 405gr Hardcast bullets that Dave (Onesonek) sent me. They are AWESOME bullets fellers. Telling you, he does GREAT work with them and they SHOOT!.. Well, they shoot better than me at least! I picked a middle charge of 40gr of RL7, in Starline Brass with CCIBR2's for the primers.. I have no idea what speed they come out, but I would guess around 1400-1500?

I did the majority of shooting at 25 yards. Yeah, I know, not alot of distance, but I just wanted to see how close the sights were.. Turns out, they were just about right.

Here was the first group I shot.

THEN, I have had some 425gr Beartooth Pile Driver Jr's loaded for about a year and a half. I used H322 on Guy Miner's suggestion along with some load data he sent me. I have a good feeling he was snickering when he gave me this stuff.

First load up was the 50gr'er's

I felt like my block was knocked off with those three. Talk about a true handful. Almost knocked my ear muffs off! :twisted:

Well, I figured I better keep trucking, I am supposed to be tough, right?

51gr

Man, that was a close one, the lever popped open, pinched my fingers.. Still driving on though!

52gr's

Jesus, that was truly something! Can't imagine what needs that kind of killing... Do I still have more to shoot?.... 53gr's....

Holy smokes Batman... Talk about enlightening! Those things move me around!

Anyhow, they are all gone. I am not sure how fast they were going, but I think I have the only 45-70 ever made that was clocking 4,000 with those 425's! :shock: At least that is what the recoil felt like!

Well, then I shot some older loads with the 400gr Speer FN's.. Those clock right at 1850 with 46gr of IMR4198... Those actually felt nice compared to those 425's!

So then I moved the target to 50 yards, shot another group of the 405's with 40gr's of RL7... Well, it went well. They were a touch high, but still way within a deers vitals..

I took a target out to 100 yards and put a 3" orange sticker on it. Decided to see if the 405's would reach the 100 yard target with me steering. It was a little bright on the white paper in the direct sun, but it did okay.. A little sight adjustment and I think I would be in good shape

It was good fun. Gotta find a way to repay Guy for that excellent load data though! Guy must be made of solid iron to shoot many of them!

Here are a couple shots of the Guide Rifle without a scope. Pretty slick handling like that. It's getting a scope, but probably a IER 2.5x Leupold or something similar.

 

[alaska100]

great info scotty, thank you. looks like a fun day, now all you have to do is find a bear! LOL

 

[DrMike]

Hey, we all enjoy being shoved around a bit, when it is the butt end of the rifle doing the shoving. Good stuff, Scotty.

 

[35 Whelen]

Nice ,
By gosh you do a good job Scotty even with an old Marlin! You certainly dont need a scope! Wait until you see my collection of them .
You will get a kick outta them all old pre 1930 guns in pistol griped deluxes............... kinda cool old stuff. Did you get the email on the units to draw for??

 

[SJB358]

It was a good day. Fun to shoot the iron sights Once in awhile. The Marlins are surprisingly accurate with about everything it seems.

Got a tell ya, what a hammer the 45-70 with those 425's. Probably be a decent bear stopper too?

 

[velvetant]

that's some mighty fine shooting Scotty,
Gotta love something that's got a lot of hurt on both ends and shoots that well
You need to load some more and chrono them bad boys

 

[HeathSexton]

Very nice!


Try 28grs IMRsr4759 with that cast bullet for a good slow plinker/killer. The round out to the left was a clean bore fouler. The next 5 clustered up pretty good.

 

[DrMike]

I'll say they clustered very well. Fine group, Heath. That is bragging size, for sure.

 

[LD375]

Sounds like you had a good day Scotty!..Gotta love that 45-70..good shootin pal!..Lou
Nice lookin rifle too :twisted:

 

[JD338]

Scotty,

Nice shoting there buddy. Sounds like you unleashed the beast. :grin:
I am going to have to try that Pile Driver bullet load of yours (and Guy).

Heath,

That load is a keeper for sure.

JD338

 

[Elkman]

Nice, some great groups, I could almost feel your pain. Apparently you suffered no physical damage. Great day!!!

 

[CatskillCrawler]

Nice report. Hopefully you didn't knock any fillings out. Probably a wise moving shooting those stout 425 loads with no scope...

Those big cast bullets out of that little lever gun just seem right. I needs one of them.

 

[SJB358]

The 40 grain load with the 405's was pretty gentle. Looking forward to seeing what they are running for speed.

The 425's with full loads, well, I am saving those for something important. Looking at Lyman data and a few others it looks like it was humping along at 1900-2000.. Hard telling without the chrono, but man, they felt pretty tough. I would say 50gr of H322 would be a nice load, still has some thump, but it didn't feel nearly as rough as 53..

Looking forward to shooting some more of them..

 

[big rifle man]

Scotty, Am I correct in saying you have standard rifling in your barrel and not microgroove? I'm asking because normally cast bullets do not shoot well in microgroove rifling.

 

[SJB358]

Scotty, Am I correct in saying you have standard rifling in your barrel and not microgroove? I'm asking because normally cast bullets do not shoot well in microgroove rifling.

BRM, I do have the standard Ballard rifling in my Guide Rifle. I do think the Micro Groove barrels will shoot cast, you just need to size them .002" over the actual slugged diameter of the barrel. I don't know for a fact, but alot of guys on Marlin owners seem to get exceptional accuracy out of theirs doing it like this. The 425's I shot were sized at .460 and the 405's were .460" as well. Big lead out of the 45-70 is alot of fun though.. Plus, if I could get my butt in gear, I could start casting my own stuff..

 

[257 Ackley]

I really feel your pain with those stout loads buddy! I had mine out yesterday too, but was shooting a whimpy load with 350 grain cast bullets. I'm not sure there is a reason for me to try your load with those 425 grain bullets. :shock: If that load moves you around, i'm not sure I want to find out what it would do to me! :mrgreen:

 

[Guy Miner]

Scotty - you finally tried those 425 gr/H322 loads eh? :grin:

Here's the chrono data from my 22" 1895:

425 gr BTB, 50 gr H322, WW brass, CCI 200 = 1828 fps

425 gr BTB, 52 gr H322, WW brass, CCI 200 = 1941 fps

Fun stuff! I got those loads from Marshal Stanton at Beartooth. Accurate and undeniably powerful.

 

[bullet]

I just plain like that guide gun and how it is shooting, really nice, I know you are happy with that piece. :grin:

 

[SJB358]

Scotty - you finally tried those 425 gr/H322 loads eh? :grin:

Here's the chrono data from my 22" 1895:

425 gr BTB, 50 gr H322, WW brass, CCI 200 = 1828 fps

425 gr BTB, 52 gr H322, WW brass, CCI 200 = 1941 fps

Fun stuff! I got those loads from Marshal Stanton at Beartooth. Accurate and undeniably powerful.

I am pretty sure I could handle shooting the 50gr load again. Actually it was fairly mild, but once I got the 53 I was DONE!!!


Mike, I am very happy with my little Guide Rifle. It is a ton of fun and it shoots so much stuff, really well, it always puts a smile on my face, although, a somewhat pained smile yesterday!

 

[bullet]

I bet it did get a little painful, but still fun. :mrgreen: