Quote:
Originally Posted by bobinthesky
Calgary International Airport338
I'm not trying to take anything away from the 1895 Marlin, they have far too good of a reputation for me to take that on. That being said, it was my intention to answer the question which was "thoughts?" so I gave mine. Obviously you don't agree and that's fine with me but as good as the Marlin is, it does have limitations or weak points and they're well known. The fact that the 1895 action is slightly shorter than the 1886 action could be viewed as minor by some but the upside is that it's lighter to carry. The other is that the 1895 is not as strong as the 1886. This isn't my opinion but a commonly known fact, the biggest weak point in the Marlin is the receiver in between the barrel and magazine, if a Marlin is going to come apart from over pressure, this is usually where it will happen. In general, heavy bullets can be seated longer in the 1886 and pushed to a higher velocity. At this point we're splitting hairs but don't let that stop you from enjoying the 1895, it's not my intention to do that as I've enjoyed mine for many years however, it's not an 1886!.
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But that's the beauty of the 45-70 though. You don't have to wind it up to the max to get excellent performance from it. Check out Beartooth Bullets site. There are studies done that show for 400gr (I think) bullets, penetration is max'd at about 1600fps. There isn't a Marlin 1895 made since 1972 that can't achieve that without breaking a sweat. Actually you can do 1900fps quite safely. The only purpose to achieve max velocity out of this cartridge is to flatten trajectory. If you're looking for flat trajectory, you're working with the wrong cartridge.
If using cast, use a bullet of WFN design. It will do all the damage you need to get quick humane kills and will penetrate forever. The best part is that you can "eat right up to the hole" with little bloodshot meat from hyper-velocity.
Remember, this bullet starts out making a .458 caliber hole. Lots of smaller caliber cartridges never achieve that with maximum expansion (which can sacrifice penetration).