Marlin 1895GS lever action in 45-70

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Feb 1, 2001
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I traided several khukuris to my buddy for this gun. He decided he will not be using it so I got a good trade I think! I really don't know to much on Marlins but this gun seems top notch! Can anyone tell me how Marlins quality is and has been? I will use this gun as a back country gun for bear protection if needed. The 45-70 should be plenty for anythink in North America and most of Africa I would think!! :D Thank you!
 
(and I mean this with all due love and respect...)
YOU LUCKY S.O.B.! :eek: :D You did good, no... great. A fine gun, lot's of fun to shoot. Plenty powerful medicine for bear or just about anything else.
Just how many Khuk's did you trade it for?
 
I think that the Marlin Guide Gun in 45/70 is a high quality firearm. The cartridge will do as you say, and take care of anything (bullet placement and weight non withstanding) on any continent. The guns are also very accurate - actually any of the Marlin 1895s is accurate. I've owned the straight stocked model, the pistol grip model, and now I have a Guide Gun of my own. You get a let of quantity and quality in walnut and steel.

That being said, I also find that all my Marlins slap me a little silly. Maybe it has to do with me being only 5 feet 3 inches tall. Or maybe my arms are very short, even for a squatty body. In any case, I find the Marlin to be an uncomfortable gun to shoot for any length of time.

When I want to shoot a lot of 45/70 Gov't., I use my 1878 Sharps Borschordt or my 1885 Browning/Winchester Single Shot. Or maybe even my Kodiak Double Gun. Lots of weight to soak up the recoil. :cool:

Also, in case you reload, remember that the rifling of the Guide Gun is made for hard cast bullets for maximum accuracy - at least that was the idea when the first ones came out. Most Marlins are Micro-grooved, but the Guide Gun uses a different style rifling. Have fun and keep on shooting!

Rene the DeathDancer
 
yes yes yes

Great gun.

Wonderful caliber.

I wouldn't scope it though, either use the irons that came with the rifle, use a ghost ring type rear, or a scout mount. Ashley Outdoors, then AO, now XS is the source for the last two options.
 
Ah- I see .45-70 beat me to it.

Get a good aperture/GR sight, and you should be set.

John
 
All my levers are Marlins, and I have a Williams peep on my 45/70

PS the rifling of the GG will in no way be less accurate than the microgrooved 1895SS with jacketed bullets. It just means you can shoot cast, which is more problematic with microgroove.

munk
 
Mongo said:
(and I mean this with all due love and respect...)
YOU LUCKY S.O.B.! :eek: :D You did good, no... great. A fine gun, lot's of fun to shoot. Plenty powerful medicine for bear or just about anything else.
Just how many Khuk's did you trade it for?

He wanted a littler over $500 for it but I did not have the $$$ so he loved some of my khuks and traided 5 for the gun. I now still have around 25 khukuris so my collection is not hurting.

Can't wait to shoot it! I wonder how hard it will kick. Will it kick as hard as a Mosin Nagant 7.62x54R. That is my hardest kicking gun but ut has a steel butt and leaves me black and blue!
 
Your GG has the muzzle brake? shouldn't be too bad. The regular 1895 kicks the hell out of my shoulder from a rest with hot loads, but offhand is simply fun.


munk
 
WEAR HEARING PROTECTION! i said, WEAR HEARING PROTECTION, preferably both earplug and muffs, when you shoot.

It doesn't "kick" so much as move a lot, at least with standard fodder. Be sure to really lock your shoulder out, and if you decide to transgress and mount a scope, "creep" that scope at your peril.

John
 
I can only shoot about (5) 300gr semi-jktd hollow points before I start to snivel and flinch (not good) When I now shoot my 1895G I use PMC 405 lead flat points and I save my 300gr semi for friends who want to shoot my baby for the 1st time :D :D Nice grab on the GS! When I bought mine they had not come out with the GS yet, kinda wish I would have waited because I do enjoy shooting in the rain
 
The Simmons Pro-Diamond Shotgun Scope is good for 5.5" of eye relief, parallax set for 50 yards, and SWFA is selling them for $74 US bucks. See:

SWFA

I fell in love with the one mounted on my Nylon 66. For me the Diamond in it's reticle draws my eye like a peep sight - self-centering. And being made to take 12 ga. recoil it should hold up pretty well.

My 44 mag Win Trapper has a William's Foolproof ( that means that some fool can't screw up your settings without a screwdriver ) since I don't see a need to shoot more than 50 or 75 yards max with it.

If you haven't a reloading press, get one. You need it for your financial health, and probably your physical health as well. The Buffalo Bore loads come near enough to the recoil of a 458 mag in a 10 pound gun, when fired out of your rifle. With a press you can load heavier and heavier til you wimp out. No offense meant; anything producing close to 70 +/- foot pounds of recoil hurts - in my case up for 3 or 4 days after only 3 shots from my ( formerly owned ) 700 Safari Grade.
 
Rusty said:
No offense meant; anything producing close to 70 +/- foot pounds of recoil hurts - in my case up for 3 or 4 days after only 3 shots from my ( formerly owned ) 700 Safari Grade.

I used to own a Ruger 77 in .458 Win Mag. I was very happy to sell it and let the .375 H&H become my "big bore". While a little cheaper to shoot, it still has a tendency to "ring my chimes".

A gunsmith friend of mine, Lance Martini, told me of a load he developed for his trapdoor where he could shoot, lower his rifle, and see the bullet cut paper at 100 yards. Of course, Lance comes from a long line of "freestyle' gunsmiths..... :D
 
The Guide Gun is on my list of must-haves too. My wife actually tried to buy one for me a few years ago, she craftily took notes while I was pining for a used one that was on the local forsale newsgroup.

If you're looking for a good ghost-ring sight, XS Sight Systems has one for the GS. They are local to me and are good guys, always supporting our shooting matches. They also have good forward scope mounts. Enjoy your new rifle!
 
The porting helps with kick greatly. I wish Marlin still had them ported. I think they stopped do to the increased noise levels. Hearing protection is a must always, so no big deal in my book.
Check out Garrett Cartridges for your 45-70 if you plan on hunting any dangerous game with it. They make some potent stuff!!! They even have a 500 grain Tungsten slug in one load!! :eek: :eek:
Have fun with your new baby!! Great gun.
 
munk said:
All my levers are Marlins, and I have a Williams peep on my 45/70

PS the rifling of the GG will in no way be less accurate than the microgrooved 1895SS with jacketed bullets. It just means you can shoot cast, which is more problematic with microgroove.

munk

Exactly what Munk said. Like Munk and Rusty I have a Williams FP (fool proof) receiver sight on mine (a 444 SS), with a standard gold ringed twilight aperture. I also have a Merit adj. disk aperture which is really nice and very accurate. A quick twist and it adjusts from a very wide shotgun style aperture down to a super fine one. Cost about $45 as I recall but well worth it.

I did find out that I was the fool though who made the name "fool proof" invalid. My Marlin was drilled and tapped for the receiver sight already, and when I installed the FP I was determined to make it as tight as possible. I used an old trick to get another couple of turns on the screws, by tapping the back of the gundriver while in the screw slot with a hammer lightly when already tight, and got them extremely tight. Too tight in fact, and stripped the little flush screws completely. My 'smith fixed it in 5 minutes for just a few bucks, but I felt like an idiot. Use some blue loctite on the threads and tighten it firmly, but don't overdo it.

Mine has the old Microgroove rifling, and shoots OK with jacketed bullets, but I have heard that the Ballard cut rifling on yours is actually more accurate overall, and of course with all kinds of bullets as Munk said. Kinda wish I had the newer guide gun, and may get one to match my 22" 444SS later on. I think the 45/70 is a great gun, but went with the .444 because it has a flatter trajectory than the 45/70, kicks a bit less, and holds one more round. Now that there are decent 300 grain loadings for the .444, it can hold it's own very well with it's larger cousin. With the 240 gr. load it was definitely underpowered, and for some reason Remington dropped the 265 gr. load a few years ago.

Regards,

Norm
 
"Can anyone tell me how Marlins quality is and has been? "

Chris everyone has pretty much covered this question quite well I think.
I can tell you I have been hog hunting this week with my ported guide gun with Ashley Ghost Ring sights. Do not scope the gun, it throws the balance off and slower to aquire a sight picture, besides a 45 / 70 is really a short range shooter. I carry my carbine at the center around the steel, foward of the lever, and it feels like a feather in my hand this way.

I used Buffalo Bore 350 grain jacketed "expanding" bullet at 2000 ft per second. It is not a target load, but I didn't even hear or feel the shot when I tried taking a good size hog. I hand 420 grn hard cast Garrett loads in my pouch for back up if needed.

Great gun, I own 3 Marlins all good quality.
 
Shvashtar;

My Micro groove Marlin was used, and had the Williams peep. IT wouldn't cycle properly and before I screwed it up trying to make it work I wisely sent it to Marlin.

The stock broke in UPS hands and Marlin put a new one one. The Peep came back to me in a baggie; in fixing the the weapon they had to remove the sight. When they did they found the owner had stripped the threads on the screws. The peep would not go back on. I retapped it with bigger screws, and now that sucker stays on.

Marlin was pretty good to me- it was near the end of the five year guarentee for that model and I was the second owner- but that was OK.

Peeps are great- and then they aren't. For fast shooting they are marvelous. Target work, for me at least, results in too much decision making and the groups are rarely as good as other sight methods. With too much time, the eyes no longer naturally find center. My brain gets in the way.

With handloads my Marlin micro groove will get excellent accuracy. There are some recipes for cast. You need the greatest bearing surface you can get- which means no 300 gr bullets. 300 gr jacketed will do great.

munk
 
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