Hello guys,

I am a new owner of a Marlin 45-70 guide gun. I love the thing. I have set myself up with dies, brass and now I am recipe shopping for some loads. I have some 400 grain speer bullets and was wondering what powder to try. I would like to take this rifle hog hunting so if you guys have made up some loads to deal with hogs let me know what they are please.

Thanks for your help guys.

Cheers,

Jay

I have been loading the 45-70 for years in the Marlinn 1895, I use to use 400 grain bullets also in the Marlin but, I was introduced to the 350 grain in the 458 Win Mag years ago, and decideded this was this best weight also for the 45-70, due to less recoil and a little flatter trajectory.
My favorite load for years for bear and Moose here in Alaska is:

Hornady 350 FN or Kodiak 350 FN
Reloader 7 @ 50 grains
Fed 210GM Match Primers
Fed Nickle or Starline Nickle Cases
and Crimp using Lee Factory Crimp Die

This is a 2000FPS load and extremely accurate
Less than MOA at 100 yards.

DEPUTY450
I have loaded for 2 Marlins and a Ruger No1 in 45-70. I always use 3031 The Speer book shows 53 grains as max with their 400gr. bullet. I loaded 52 grains and it was accurate.
I also switched to the 350 Hornady Round nose as I found it was a tougher bullet at the higher velocity 45-70 loads. Now they make it in a Flat Nose version for the 450 Marlin.
With the 350gr. start at 52grains and work up. My brothers Guide gun shoots real good with 55gr. of IMR3031.
The 350RN's feed really smooth.

Deputy,

Consider putting the DocterOptic red dot on this gun. It is a coated and reinforced Optima. I have used the Optima on my Trapper .44 Mag and it is great for close cover. Super fast, no switches, self regulates dot intensity and has good battery life.

Not cheap though at about $275.

I like 54.0gr of H-322 and the 400gr speer. This is a max load, so work up to it. I have not had the chance to shoot any large stuff, just a few deer here in ND. It will really smack stuff like rabbits though. Good luck and good choice in guns.

I have been using IMR3031 and Speer 400 grain pills in my Marlin 1895 with excellent results.

Add me to the list of 405 JSP, and IMR 3031 Guide Gun handloaders with excellent results. Bill T.

Another vote for H322! Hodgdon has a lot of reloading data for the modern 45-70 cartridge. Good luck and have fun with your GG!

http://www.hodgdon.com/

I used that bullet for a couple of 200 lb sows this year loaded over Speer's published max of Rel 7. I get under 1" 5 shot groups at 100 yards but have been too lazy to Chrono it yet, my guess is somewhere around 1800 fps. cause it sure gets your attention. I generally load 50.5 grains of 3031 behind a 400 paper patched bullet for 1750 fps. Both loads perform very well on game out of my Guide Gun.

[ 05-11-2003, 20:22: Message edited by: Lewis50 ]

I use 54gr of I.M.R 3031 powder,and Speer 400gr flat nose bullets.The load came out Speer Reloading Manual Number 11,for 1810fps.No flat primers or hard ejecting,but it does hurt when sighting in.

I shoot 300 grain partitions in my Guide Gun using 62.5 grains of Benchmark powder. Velocity is 2100 fps and it will shoot in an inch at 100 if I do my part!

Bob257

I have to echo Mingo and Elliot. I've been using H322 and the Speer bullet with great results. Thought about trying cast bullets but ended up wondering why?

I think you'll find the 45-70 is not finicky about what you feed it. Try a couple of different loads and stick with the one that floats your boat.

My fave moose gun!

I push Hornady 350 grainer quite fast,2170 fps with Vihtavuori powder and new Starline brass. Accurate,powerful.I do have a recoil pad,mostly because I am very tall.

I also cast for it,400 grainers at about 1400fps from Lee mold,works on moose close range really good too.

Why to use cast bullets? Casting is fun!

See Buffalobore site and load safe, there is still the max pressure speculation going on. I will not give my loads for that reason, over the book max quite a lot.But not over the Marlin max.

Ooops,EDIT: My rifle is standard 1895,do not try the Hornady velocity from a Guide Gun.

We have used this load here for years. Take a look at this to see what a Marlin can do:

Vince Lupo African Safari Pics

[ 05-13-2003, 03:09: Message edited by: Petander ]

Thank you guys for your help! Can't wait to get to the gun shop and pick up some supplies. Thanks again.

Jay

My gun hates 3031. Why??
It loves, Rel 7, and H4198. with Rel 7 you can load into the recoil abusive zone, and stay accurate.

I've used 50 grains of H322 behind a 405 grain cast bullet - I can't
imagine anything walking away from an impact with that but it kicks like
a mule.

As a side note - a mere 25 grains of H322 is a feather soft load for
introducing the sweet little lever action to young shooters and those
not up to recoil punishment. It shoots flat enough to bust water jugs
at 100 yards, but I wouldn't use it on game at any distance.

Found a nice one yesterday with better alloy: 400 grain Lee RNFP easily takes 1800fps with 3.2 GRAMS of Vihtavuori N 135. (Lazy to convert to grains now,sorry)

Groups good,now I�ll start working on bit more velocity for more expansion,this is not too brittle yet.

25% linotype,75% wheelweights,sized .457 and I only used molypaste for the lube in this little test.

I will give better chronoed results if I can make it better. My best alloy this far.

A standard 1895,not GG.

Mate I`m using Speer 400gn (2479) with 55gn`s of Varget (ADI 2208) Win std primers and crimping with the Lee factory crimp dies I`m getting one holers at 50 mtrs (50yds) for 5 shots, size of a golf ball...Les