Big Bore lever gun

[Guy Miner]

Swapped my little 18" barreled .45-70 Marlin Guide Gun for the full size 1895 Marlin, with the 22" barrel. Got a good deal, and was tired of the muzzle ports on the early model Guide Gun. Looking forward to shooting, and hunting with the longer version. It's a little more muzzle heavy, but I like the way it feels. Already mounted my 2.5x Leupold. Will be interesting to see how much velocity my existing handloads pick up when I try them in the new rifle. Poor photo - but I'll try to do better soon.

Regards, Guy

 

[JD338]

Nice rifle. I have one on my list.

JD338

 

[lefty315]

That room sort of looks familiar, like I may have seen it before, but the gun is different. It looks like it may have grown a couple of inches. Since you got your new gun, I can go ahead and tell you about my new rifle I picked up yesterday. The Kimber came in. I mounted the scope and spent about 4 hours breaking in the barrel. So far I am happy, my last three, three shot groups with factory ammo measured 1 1/8th, 1 inch and 7/8ths inches. I would imagine a little handloading could improve that. Are you still using the Leupold mount for the .45-70?

 

[Guy Miner]

Yeah Lefty - I thought that was pretty funny, showing off the Guide Gun to you, then trading it on the full size 1895 a couple of days later. Yes, still using the Leupold mount and scope. Took only a few minutes to swap it from one Marlin to the next.

Really looking forward to hunting black bear and mulies with this thing!

Regards, Guy

 

[tapehoser]

Looks just like the last gun I purchased and shot yesterday! :grin:

You'll LOVE IT!

 

[Guy Miner]

Got it out to the range today. Nice...

Action and trigger were a little stiff and "gritty" which I suspect will smooth out with use. Marlin builds a good looking rifle. I like the way it handled too. Very comfortable to carry and shoot. Notably more muzzle heavy than the stubby Guide Gun it replaced. Very nice though!

Only shot it at 50 yards, but accuracy was gratifying - lots of big fat bullets going through the same hole! That put a grin on my face. Used my old standby handload with 45 grains of Reloader 7 and a 405 grain Remington FNSP bullet. It clocked about 1650 fps from the 18" ported Guide Gun, not sure what it does from this 22" barrel. May find out tomorrow when I get back to the range.

Looking forward to working up a good load with Nosler's 300 grain Partition. I believe with that one bullet, I'd have a "do-anything" load for deer, black bear and elk. Favorite powders for me with the .45-70 have been Reloader 7 and H4198.

Regards, Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Chronograph results from two loads I've used previously in my 18" Marlin. Was surprised at the much higher velocities from this new 22" barreled rifle:

350 Hornady, 50 gr H4198 = 2118 fps (1946 fps from 18" Guide Gun)

405 Rem, 45 gr Re-7 = 1826 fps (1646 fps from 18" Guide Gun)

Neither of these are max loads and both produced excellent accuracy!

Looking forward to hunting with this big bore this coming season.

Regards, Guy

 

[joedwhit]

I've been shooting one for 3-4 years now. The trigger is so smooth now, once you take up that bit of slack, it breaks very clean and light. I'm at work now, so don't take this load to the bank, but I think I load 51 gr/h4198 and get 2200fps from a 300 gr PT. 2200 gets you a +2/-3" point blank range of about 180 yards. Not long range, but long enough. This is a rifle made for light practice loads, it is more fun to shoot than any other rifle I've ever owned. I like the muzzle-heavy feel, shoot it well off-hand. Enjoy.