Best Factory .45-70

noelb · #1 07-09-2009, 03:42 PM

I'll be picking out a new Marlin 1895G in the next few days and was wondering about the best factory/commercial loads available. I do not as of yet reload, and while I wait to save up the money I would like a consistent, quality ammo. Any comments would be appreciated.

Any ballistic info out to a max of 200 meters would be helpful also.

James M · #2 07-09-2009, 03:45 PM

Try the Hornady Leverevolution ammo.

double gun · #3 07-09-2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noelb

I'll be picking out a new Marlin 1895G in the next few days and was wondering about the best factory/commercial loads available. I do not as of yet reload, and while I wait to save up the money I would like a consistent, quality ammo. Any comments would be appreciated.

Any ballistic info out to a max of 200 meters would be helpful also.

Buy dies, powder, cases, bullets and primers - go to a buddy who handloads and load them on his equipment. Factory 45-70 ammo is ghey. You will learn to reload, and be ready to do it on your own when you do have the coin to buy your own setup. My $0.02

6tmile · #4 07-09-2009, 05:44 PM

hornady leverrevolution is pretty consistant in my gg, then federal fusion, best accurracy is with my handloads that consist of 42 grains imr 4198, starline brass, winchester large primers and 405 grain hard cast bullet barn triple lubed gas checked bullets, this recipe gives me 1800 + fps, for some real shoulder crunchers I have loaded up to 48 grains and achieved similar velocities as the old hornady revolution ammo(2000+ fps). With the marlin you will find that the back sight will probably snap off after awhile from the recoil of the gun, mine did and so has a few of my buddies, this seems to be a fairly common problem, also the extractor has a tendancy to be week. I would reccomend to save up and put on a ghost ring type site, I put on one made by wild west guns.

Roebag · #5 07-11-2009, 11:47 AM

Although I reload for mine now, when I first bought mine and was running factory ammo to obtain all the brass I wanted, the PMC 350gr stuff was by far the hottest and just as accurate as the Federal and Remington loads that I tried.

For laying the big time smack down on things you couldn't go wrong with the PMC brand even though they have a poor reputation

cuz · #6 07-11-2009, 10:36 PM

No contest. Best factory 45-70 round is the leverevolution. I just started handloading mine about 2 weeks ago, u can get some pretty mean loads going, especially with the marlin actions, but when I buy a box, it is hornadys.

Dean2 · #7 07-12-2009, 07:21 AM

As the others have said, the hottest factory stuff is the Hornady Levelution. and it is pretty accurate.

You may find you don't really need that shoulder crunching, rear sight a snapping, ejector a busting cause the casing is over expanded, hopped up laods. I used a Marlin 45-70 for bear control in Bee Hives for over ten years. Shot a lot of bears. Used almost exclusively Hornady 350 grain RN and 300 Grain Hollow Points. You can load the 350s anywhere from 1600 to 2200 FPS. The hot loads kicked a heck of a lot harder and I could not tell any difference in killing power at 2200 versus all the way down to 1600. They all went completely through. The 300 HPs went through about 90% of the time, no matter fast or slow load. Also could see no diffrenece in killing power 300 or 350, fast or slow. In my opinion a 17-1800 FPS load is all that is needed. It kicks far less, brass lasts longer and it lets you get back on target much quicker, which can be important the odd time. There are milder factory loads, like the Reminton 405, that are very accurate and actually fun to shoot out of what is a relatively light gun. My 2 bits worth.

#8 07-12-2009, 10:02 AM

If you do a search back, you'll see some "not so good" feedback on Leverevolution. Sure it'll maintain higher velocities out there due to the bullet design. But although I don't have personal experience with terminal damage from LeverE, some guys have reported serious meat losses. Also, and not meaning to highjack, have you guys noticed that the LeverE brass is subtantially shorter than standard virgin brass? To be considered if saving LeverE brass for future handloading.

6tmile · #9 07-12-2009, 11:00 AM

Ya the brass is quite a bit shorter on the lever stuff i dont use it for reloading, I have great luck with the starline brass, and it is cheaper to buy than anything else i have found, but as said before it is a fun rifle to shoot no matter what load you use, as for the sights breaking and extractor breaking on mine it happened with the first 60 rounds through the gun with the hornady stuff, It is always a good conversation with other people when you fire a few rounds at the gun range, usually people wonder what type of cannon you are shooting

#10 07-12-2009, 11:21 AM

Where do you buy the Starline brass 6tmile?

noelb · #11 07-12-2009, 12:13 PM

Put my first 20 thru today. The Winchester 300 gr JHP. I'm sure the grops would be tighter if I were using a rest or sandbag. Good enough for me though. If I can get 'em all in an 8 inch box up to 100 meters i'll be happy. The recoil was really no different than my 300 winmag with 180 gr bullets.