I just purchased a Marlin 45-70 and I want to reload. I have been reloading for 25+ years. What I want to do is use lead bullets. Who makes the "best " bullets for hunting. How do I find out what powder to use? I have no idea when it comes to lead bullets

I don't know which Marlin you bought (Guide Gun or CB) but I have been loading Cast Performance LBT hard cast gas checks in mine for some time. I use the 460 gr. and load it with 46 gr. of IMR-4320. This goes against the "normal" RL-15, 3031, 4198 users idea of ideal powders. My reasoning was to get around 1600 fps with 100% loading density and, what I figured would be best accuracy. It paid off in that pressures are not high, I get about 1640 fps and one inch groups at 100 yards. I have the Marlin 1895CB and it is a rather light rifle given the profile of the barrel and smaller dimensions on the butt and forearm than the GG. Recoil is definately a factor. I took this rifle to Africa Spring of 2004 and took Wildebeest, Kudu and Zebra with it. All were lung shots and killed quite quickly although no animal dropped at the shot but usually folded up within 125 yards. If you want expanding bullets (the LBT's will not expand) try the Barnes Original, Remington 405 gr or any number of others. The Speer 400 gr seems to be somewhat fragile and many of the fellows on Marlin Owners Forum seem to like the 350 gr bullets from Nosler, Speer and others. Check out this website; http://www.castperformance.com/

Try this site, also. http://www.marlinowners.com/board/viewforum.php?f=9&sid...3f20a7ce23518ffbb781

quote:

Originally posted by hglass:
I just purchased a Marlin 45-70 and I want to reload. I have been reloading for 25+ years. What I want to do is use lead bullets. Who makes the "best " bullets for hunting. How do I find out what powder to use? I have no idea when it comes to lead bullets

Well, let me qualify my answer by saying that I don't BUY lead .45/70 bullets, I cast them. I use two, the Lyman 457193 which comes out about 420 grains from my mould, and the Lyman .457122HP, the old "Gould-designed" hollowpoint with weighs 342 grains from my mould, cast from wheelweights.

This bullet, the .475122HP, is pretty good on all North American game. I heat-treat these bullets by heating in a 475-degree oven for two hours sitting on the bases in a shallow pan, and when I take them out of the oven, I quench the BASES of the bullets by pouring cold water into the pan up to the top grease groove. This results in bases that are around 30 Brinell, while leaving the nose portions soft enough to mushroom, rather than shatter. (Some people cast each bullet from two different alloys to achieve the same effect, like Veral Smith of Lead Bullets Technologies-LBT).

I load these plain-base bullets with an inverted .457" Hornady gascheck under them with a load of 60 grains of IMR 3031 for use in my Ruger No. 1. This load gives me 1.5 MOA accuracy at 2300 FPS MV - a real killer of a load! For the Marlin, I'd cut the load to 55 grains.

This is a "custom bullet". I doubt any bullets are available commercially that will perform as well, but some might! Heaven knows that there are certainly enough cast lead bullets on the market that are made for the .45/50 - my gun shoots better with bullets between 330 and 450 grains. It doesn't like the lighter ones.

There is a lot of help available on the Cast Bullet forum.roger