i have a short barreled guidelike marlin in 444 marlin that i been toying with the idea of re-barrreling to 40-65 winchester. id like to have a 26 to 28 inch barrel and full length mag under.

has this been done and if so could i get details about the ups and downs of this project.

also can someone educate me as to the thread pitch on marlin rifles mainly 1895's

thanks all
Ted

anybody???

I am no expert, but will take the first stab at this one. The rim diameter is the same as a 45-70, so if you should, and I say should as I am not sure, be able to rebarrel your guide gun and do some bolt work for the 40-65 cartridge. You might be able to get a new bolt from Marlin which might be cheaper.
The Marlin Cowboy in 45-70 has a 26" barrel, so you could probably buy the magazine tube, spring, hangers, etc.
I talked to Gary Reeder of Reeder Custom Guns a few years back about doing a long barreled 45-70 on my 1895. But when they came out with the Cowboy it became a moot point.

Ted...Your best bet for information would be to go to one of the Levergun forums. It if has been done, or reasons why not, someone there would know.

Any competent lever gunsmith could do the job...basically just a rebarrel.

You need to chase down all the components...dies, reamers, brass, bullets etc... before embarking on this adventure. Brass is easy enough to acquire or make.

It would be a conversation starter at a Cowboy match...not a whole lot of modern leveraction 40-65 floating around, and I wouldn't want to use a collectors item at a Cowboy shoot...too many envious eyes about.

Luck

A year or so ago I planned to rebarrel a Marlin 45-70 to take the readily available PMC ammo, 260 grains at 1300fs, but made inquiries on various forums and was told it leads badly. Also, barrel twist and bore and groove diameter are critical. The loads used for BP match shooting are entirely different and won't work in a Marlin. Before yu go ahead, make a search of the various BP and gunsmithing forums and you will find the quesions I asked and the answers I received that persuaded me to drop the idea. Still have 200 rounds of the PMC to dispose of.

Let me add that the conversion would be easy. I dislike handloading, would rather spend the time shooting, and if the PMC factory ammo is not good I didn't want to bother. It would be a fun gun for a handloader.

Any leading problem can be addressed by the use of adequate lub on the bullet...at 1300 fs I don't see any problems...I don't get any leading even up past 2200fs using Alox wiped on with my fingers in addition to what comes in the cast lead bullet grooves ...I would check the source of that information....maybe it's just the PMC stuff.

Run a patch saturated with Alox through a dry bore before shooting to slick up the works...stops the leading before it can start.

As to twist...you can basically pick what twist you want for the bullet length/weight and velocity you expect to see. Most barrel makers have several twists to choose from.

The criticality of the bore/groove depends on what type of bullet you want to use...for the most part I'm not sure there is a real problem that cant' be solved fairly easily.

I don't see why you can't shoot BP in the Marlin...it's done all the time...just a bi*** to clean, both the rifle and the cases...I've tried BP in my 45-120 BC just for kicks...kept the BP cases separate from my smokeless cases.

I use alchohol to clean my Lyman Great Plains 54 cal rifle...soap and water in the case polisher cleans the 45-120 cases, but it is still messy do I don't shot BP in my BC very often.

The 40-65 is basically just a necked down 45-70.

Any kind of conversion needs a lot of research before starting out.

Luck

here is what sparked my interest in the 40-65 win cart.

i like the sectional density of the 40 cal 400 ge bullet.
the 40-65 is just a re-worked 45-70 cart.
the oal listed in my lyman book for the 40-65 is 2.780 witch is just 230 th longer then the 45-70 witch means that a reworked bullet will bring the oal to the 2.550 that the gov calls for.
and lastly,,,nobody i know shoots a 40-65 winchester cartridge out of a lever action.

The Marlin action can be reworked to handle a cartridge length of about 2.72" max...and you seat the bullet to the dimensions of your magazine or actions ability...doesn't matter what the books say.

My 510 Makatak is loaded to a COAL of 3.28" to work through a Ruger action, but I can change that COAL tp 3.65" or longer if I want to rebarrel some receiver with a mag box that handles longer COAL, or want to load single rounds.

I modified my Marlin 336 (same action as the 1895)in 356 Win to handle a 2.64" MAX COAL so I load my normal 220 gr Speer to 2.60-2.62""...Not a whole lot of difference over the "normal 2.55" 45-70 length, but if you know what you're doing you can load the 45-70 longer also.

There are usually lots of ways to fondle cartridges if you know and/or understand how to do it.

I think the 40-65 would be a great shooter. It doesn't really matter what "IS" being done or what "HAS" been done...you could start a new trend...in this day and age people are always looking for "new" things to play with.

You got me re-thinking about doing a 416 WSM barrel for my Marlin...wanted to do one of those for several years. It would be pretty close to a 416 Taylor in ballistics.

Luck

"I" woould just buy a 45-70 W. a 26"battrl, amd have it bored and a liner installed then chamber it to 40-65. No loose parts to chase down, just a liner.

Keith

Another good idea...although I would rather have a new barrel...not sure which way would be cheaper or "better"...$300 for the smithing and $150 up for the barrel...

A rebore from a standard 30-30 or 35 Rem to 40-65 could be done as some reboring smiths do 30-30 to 444 M. Jesse Ocumpaugh will do a 444 M on a Marlin 336 or 1895 or his 405 Jes which is a very close match to the 40-65 I think...haven't talked to him for a couple of years...I think his price is around $250... http://www.35caliber.com/ if you are really interested.

There are usually several ways to get one's toys done...but sometimes it takes a bit of doing.

Luck