I'm trying to decide on a mold for my new Marlin 1895GS 45-70 Guide Gun

I'm going with one of the RCBS gas check molds-

45-300-FN 300gr double cavity

45-405-FN 405gr double cavity

Or possibly a Saeco #027 2 cavity 350gr gascheck double cavity


I need an accurate hunting boolit for the woods. And I want to be able to push the velocity when needed. I would appreciate and need help and opinions on the benefits or down sides of either of these molds.

Thanks in advance.

ML

Well, not sure why exactly you want to push the velocity, but yet bought a gun with an 18.5" bbl. That given, I would opt for the lighter bullet. A 300g .458" has the SD of about a 130g .308" bullet, so might be good for deer and such. It wouldn't be my choice for bear, pig, elk, anything like that as penetration will be marginalized.
That gun makes sense to me as a self-defense arm, in grizzland, say. And then I be thinking 510g at 1400fps, with a 45 Colt on the hip.

I do not think that a ported rifle or pistol and cast bullets will work out to be a good combination. The lead will build up in the porting and will be hard to remove. a better bet would be to just buy Remington 45-70 bullets (very cheap from Midway) and shoot'um up.

Hog Killer

Actually,

Cast boolits work very well in ported guns if your loads don't lead. That's all I shoot in my Raging Bull 454.

This guide gun isn't ported. For a cast shooter, even Midway bullets are expensive, because we are the ultimate scroungers with an unstopable need to scrounge.

And cast boolit ballistics can be addicting..

Marlinlover - I believe that Ken Waters did an article within the last year in Handloader magaine where he tested the various cast loads for a 45/70 and came up with the 330gr flat nose design from Lyman (sorry, I do not know the mold number). I have a 1886 Winchester and a Browning 1885 that shoot very well with the 300gr (weighes 305 on the scales) cast. It seems the 405gr are not quite as accurate in my rifles if I drive them much over 1700fps, which may have to do with the twist. Anyway, the moderate velocity cast loads are so much more fun to shoot than the "fast" jacketed loads and the trajectory is not alot different. Mags

Mags. That Lyman bullet is #457122, a 330 gr. hollow point bullet. The bullets shoot great from my three 45-70 Rifles.
Paul B.