bronko22000

I will soon be picking up my Marlin Cowboy .45-70. I use 300 gr Hornady bullets in my Guide Gun but I want to keep feed the Cowboy a more traditional load and still use it for hunting as well as playing with. I have new Starline brass and some 405 grain hardcast lead bullet waiting for me at home. Does anyone have any favorite loads suitable for hunting and still fun for blowing up milk jugs and such?

Oldtimr

I shoot Hornady 325 grn leverevolution in my guide gun. I don't reload so I don't shoot milk jugs. I can see what they do when I open the chest cavity of a deer and there is nothing but soup in there.

Nomercy448

I'm not a big lead fan these days (just a personal preference/prejudice), but I have had good luck with OT Laser-Cast 405's and Cast Performance 405's w/GC.

Throw them over a SAAMI level (standard pressure) load of Varget or 4064 that gets you to 1700-1800fps and you'll have a very moderate recoiling load in your Cowboy that'll still knock whitetails off of their feet at 200yrds. 4198 and 4895 tend to be pretty happy in the ol' Govt also, 4198 a bit slower, but also less powder if you're stretching a pound over a lot of milk jugs.

I also load the 325grn FTX's, very happy with them over the same powders, plus the Leverevolution (lets me load the same specs as the factory stuff for when I'm lazy).

bronko22000

Well I have R-7, 4198, 4895, Varget and a couple other powders. I guess I'll just look through the manuals and try to make a logical decision of velocity and recoil.

Nomercy448

I'd often include myself in this group, but so many folks are prone to fall prey to the desire to run the 45-70 to the tolerance limits of the Marlin 1895. My F-150 shuts off at 96mph, but that doesn't mean I need to drive it that fast all of the time. Not "never" either, just not all the time.

Standard SAAMI level loads (reloading manuals often call this "trapdoor") are plenty potent for hunting, even if they don't have the flattest trajectory. Any time you're throwing 300grn+ at something, you can bet that it'll hit hard.

bronko22000

NoMercy - I know they make even heavier bullets than the 405s in .458" but I can't see using them. It take a lot of energy to set them started and down the bore. And for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (recoil). Now I am not afraid of recoil and if I were in big bear country, I can't think of anything else I would rather be carrying than a stoutly loaded .45-70 except for maybe a 12 ga.

Nomercy448

I played with as heavy as 500grn pills in Marlin 1895's, you hit it on the nose, there's really not much to gain by stacking much bullet weight on top of 405's. I got a wild hair after reading a magazine article somewhere in the early 2000's where a hunter used a Marlin 1895 loaded to near 458win mag levels to take 2 cape buffalo with one shot. I'm ashamed to admit how much powder I crammed into those cases. But I ran a few hundred rounds of VERY hot rounds out of my Guide Gun without any peening on the locking bolt, bolt, or receiver, stuff that legitimately chased the 458win mag. No interest in going there again.

Even with the 405's, you're firmly south of 2,000fps even with Marlin Only heaters. Get up in the 450-500grn ballpark and you end up down below 1500fps, and that jump-shot gets pretty difficult to manage. Sure, it has a ton of momentum for 50yrd shots where the hammer of Thor is required, but things get pretty complicated for drop management even to 200yrds when you're only pitching 1200fps (less out of the Guide Gun's short barrel with 500grn pills).

I suppose it says something about the recoil tolerance of the average shooter when most factory loads are NOT 400grn+ loads, but are in the 260-350grn ballpark instead!

Totally agree man, the 45-70-405 was made that way for a reason!!

super_hunt54

A friend of mine has a 1895 45-70. Not so friendly, handed me that rifle one day and said "your a big fella, try this load I just rolled for Bison hunt coming up next month." So, like a damned fool, I sat down at the bench, took careful aim, squeezed off. Well, after I went about 10 yards behind me and retrieved my damn shoulder, I proceeded to chase said friend around for a bit till I got winded. Moral of that story, no damn need for that kind of recoil from a 45-70!!

If you want a light load that wont kill your shoulder before killing anything from the other end, your 4198 at 39 grains should put you right in the range of 1560 to 1580fps. Now if you want to crank that up to a tad more recoil, but not much more, go with Re7 at 48.5 grains. That should get you cooking right at 1800fps.

bronko22000

My Guide Gun shoot 54 gr of R7 and a Hornady 300 gr flat nose. I dropped 3 bear, 1 shot each with that load. The one I hit square in the front shoulder and spun him completely around. I'm sure some of it was his reaction. But it sure looked impressive.

RobertSubnet

Shuts off??

My Ranger will get to 100mph but the tranny starts complaining at that speed so I do not do it.