I'm considering an 1895. Opinions on the 22" barrel vs. the guide gun?

No experience with the 22 inch model but have used my guide gun now for several years and I really like it. From Musk Ox down to feral hogs it has performed with distinction.

Is the the new XLR with a 24 inch barrel too long?

Have had mine for many years before the guide gun and the 22" barrel works just fine.I would think unless you hunt in really heavy cover the 22" length is fine and gives you more velocity.

I like my Guide Gun plenty, but if I were going to buy an 1895 these days I'd be tempted to get the 26 inch Cowboy gun.

I had a blued guide gun and now I've got a stainless. Won't have anything else, in 45-70 naturally! Dennis

The guide gun feels well balanced when you handle it, but
when you actually start to shoot the 1895 you realize that they are too light up front.

I have an "original" 1972 straight grip with a 22" barrel....
It climbs....

The only change from the original is that I added a pachymar
recoil pad to it, my respect for the 1895 came at a price, a broken collar bone....
I am 6'4" and 290lb and sadly my collar bone is no harder to break than anyone else's...

AllanD

I have a 1895GS and love it, with one exception. The straight stock & lever are a little hard on the 'bird' finger, especially with the hot loads using heavier bullets.

I like a shorter barrel and a pistol grip stock. I had to cobble one together, but it does what I need it to. Try to keep your barrel length above 18". Only because you may want to hunt Canada one day and their laws say less than 18" is a no no. I put a Limbsaver pad on mine and it was not a luxury, but a necessity. I don't get why Marlin puts such lousy recoil pads on their big bores.

I have a stainless guide gun. I hunt in pretty heavy cover here in Georgia and I love it. It's also very handy in a tree stand. Most of my shots are less than 75 yards and I don't think the extra velocity from a 22" barrel would make any meaningfull difference with the 45-70's rainbow trajectory anyway. For my purposes I'll trade the small increase in velocity or front end weight with the longer barrel for the handiness of the shorter one.

............I love my guide gun and this will be my first fall hunting with it. Have put 300 rounds through it of heavy cast loads at 1600 fps. Plenty of power for anything here in the rockies out to 200 yards.

quote:

Only because you may want to hunt Canada one day and their laws say less than 18" is a no no.

............and as for this quote, how do you explain my hunting with a 16" Trapper up here for years?? Please do not comment on our laws that you obviously know nothing about. I also have a 14" Remington 870 that is perfectly legal.

I have no desire to get into any sort of "I am more of an expert" contest. The original poster is from Northern Illinois. Which the last time I looked was on the U.S. side of the border between our two countries. A Marlin "altered" to less than 457mm (roughly 18") is classified as a "prohibited weapon" under Canadian law. I have crossed into Canada at a lot of crossing points. I have done so with my hunting rifles. I have the Canada Firearms Centre, telephone and fax numbers, memorized. I can tell you who the CFO (chief firearms officer) of most provinces are, and their personal opinions about U.S. citizens requesting ATT through their province. (at least as of last August) I am able to hunt and travel in Canada as a U.S. citizen because I have 100% respect for Canadian Firearms laws, as a guest in Canada. I have no idea about your 14" shotgun but I can tell you if a U.S. citizen presented a rifle which had been modified to less than 18" to a Canadian Customs agent, or requested permission from the Canada Border Services Agency, he would be denied access to Canada with that rifle. This is not my guess, this is the result of over 10 years and at least a dozen hunting trips to Canada. You need to be a little more tolerant in your judgements of others. How would you do on a question about U.S. Firearms regulations? I'd like to think that I'd try to be helpful to a fellow shooter. This is supposed to be a community of firearms users and enthusiasts.

........Where did any of the posters say they were cutting their barrels down?? Yes if you or a smith cuts down a barrel, you must be 18.5" or above. Some rifles or shotguns if they are manufactered at 16.5" like the trapper, or the 14" Stoeger backpacker or Rem 870 are perfectly legal. Your statement was very broad in saying that

quote:

Only because you may want to hunt Canada one day and their laws say less than 18" is a no no.

You make it sound like anything under 18" is illegal. Not the case. In response to :

quote:

How would you do on a question about U.S. Firearms regulations?

I never stated i was an expert on your regulations like you came across regarding ours. I have no interest in your regs or hunting your undersized animals with the exception of Alaska of course!!

I've had both the guide gun 18-1/2" and the standard 22" bbl. The guide gun seemed handier, but I didn't like the straight stock, nor the porting. The std seemed friendlier with the pistol grip stock, but length seemed slightly excessive. I did what any self-respecting gun nut would do. Had the barrel of the rifle cut to 20-1/4" (gunsmith's tape was inexact). I now have everything I wanted.

prof242, I share your preference for the pistol grip stock on the 45-70. This is how mine turned out. It's octagon barrel with the pistol grip stock and trigger plate added. It came as a Marlin LTDIII with the straight stock.

Prof,

I hate to say this, but your solution is where I'm leaning. For some reason 20" seems about right. Poor Marlin, they could offer us rifles with any length barrel in 1/2" increments and our first request would be for 20 1/4"!

I have a 22" Ballard rifled Marlin 1895 in 45-70. I think it is perfect. The guide gun, while shorter, is thick and clubby. No arguement it is shorter-and some view shorter =handier.

I like the look of the 22" barrel, curved trigger, pistol grip, and 1/2 magazine. The 22" barrel's muzzle is the top of my head, when hanging from my shoulder on a sling. It doesn't catch on branchs. If I can walk through it, it won't snag. The guide gun may do better in this regard, and the cowboy's 26" worse. But let's be realistic, all you have to do is be a little careful, and anything will work. I live and hunt in Maine, and I have been out deer hunting with a 42" barreled 50 cal flintlock. Everything will work if you are familar with the gun.

I think a 22" barrel is a great balance of handiness, and long enough for getting a bit more velocity. Less muzzle flash, and less bang (more boom). The curved lever also has more finger room for gloves. The squared trigger (guide gun) guard just felt a bit more cramped for my fingers.

No complaints for my 22" barrel. Shoots darn near close to MOA too! Great gun.

Waited for years for a '95 45-70. Wife and kids got me one last year. It was a 26" Cowboy Action with a tapered octogon barrel. I liked the long barrel, but not the straight stock so traded it for a 22" with pistol grip. I like the idea of the shorter barrel on the Guide gun, but can't bring myself to like the straight grip. Can't believe how well this rifle shoots. Three shots that could be covered by a quarter at 60 yards. The balance and feel of the standard rifle, as well as how well it shoots, dictate leaving the barrel as is. This rifle doesn't appear to be broken, so will forgo fixing by cutting the barrel back to 18 or 20". It's pretty handy as it is.

I have the 22" barrelled version and I like it. Stainless guide gun was not out when I bought mine that probably would have been my choice otherwise.

quote:

Originally posted by SakoAV:
prof242, I share your preference for the pistol grip stock on the 45-70. This is how mine turned out. It's octagon barrel with the pistol grip stock and trigger plate added. It came as a Marlin LTDIII with the straight stock.

I think I "need" one of these. I wish Marlin would offer that Ltd.III again.

Guess a guy could chop a cowboy off and and have the same thing.

sharp gun.

I've had a Guide Gun for several years, it's very handy in thick stuff or when climbing a mountain (welcome to WV hunting). Accuracy with the four GG I've shot has been amazing.

Mine has a Leupold 1.5X pistol scope mounted on a AO System Scout mount which puts weight out over the barrel and makes the rifle feel longer.

My fiance has her own GG in stainless with a Williams peep/Firesight bead sight setup that works nicely too.

Neither of our guns has a ported barrel and with handloads that are pushing a 400gr cast bullet at @1,600fps recoil and blast are quite manageable.

quote:

Originally posted by Allan DeGroot:
The guide gun feels well balanced when you handle it, but
when you actually start to shoot the 1895 you realize that they are too light up front.

I have an "original" 1972 straight grip with a 22" barrel....

Must agree with you on this one Allan. I had a 1971 "straight-grip" with the 24" barrel and medallion in the butt-stock when I lived in both Alberta & Saskatchewan, and I thought it was perfect for the cartridge.



[/QUOTE] ...my respect for the 1895 came at a price, a broken collar bone....
I am 6'4" and 290lb and sadly my collar bone is no harder to break than anyone else's...

AllanD[/QUOTE]

Good Grief!! How did that happen? Were you in an odd position, shooting steeply uphill, or some such?

I won't go into the convoluted story of the circumstances under which this happened, but I once shot a box of 500 gr. cast bullets through mine which were loaded with 53 grains of IMR 3031 (that's proof load +++ !!). Although it recoiled so badly that my hand wouldn't come back with the rifle, and thus opened the lever involutarily every shot as the hand stayed in place and the rifle came back, it was no bother to the shoulder bone(s).

I have heard of other broken collar bones from various rifles, but never got to ask the shooters in person exactly how they happened. Can you share what caused yours?

quote:

Originally posted by Leverboy:
........Where did any of the posters say they were cutting their barrels down?? Yes if you or a smith cuts down a barrel, you must be 18.5" or above. Some rifles or shotguns if they are manufactered at 16.5" like the trapper, or the 14" Stoeger backpacker or Rem 870 are perfectly legal. Your statement was very broad in saying that

quote:

Only because you may want to hunt Canada one day and their laws say less than 18" is a no no.

You make it sound like anything under 18" is illegal. Not the case. In response to :

quote:

How would you do on a question about U.S. Firearms regulations?

I never stated i was an expert on your regulations like you came across regarding ours. I have no interest in your regs or hunting your undersized animals with the exception of Alaska of course!!

Seems to me leverboy you are being a little contrary for no reason.....

SakoAV...the more I come back to this topic and look at your rifle, I start thinking that yours with octagon barrel really looks nice. I'm wavering now between the SS and your octi!

For other innovations go to http://www.wildwestguns.com they make some really unique conversions.