45-70 1895G

[RBHarter]

This rifle has been a bit of a let down where groups are concerned so ...um... No pics of palm sized 50 and 100 yd groups . 2.5" groups would be impressive on an OM 1886 Win but not so much in an 1895G made in 2010 .

Top Trapdoor loads gave best accuracy in every instance .

Privi Partizan brass
CCI large rifle primers
H322
458193 Lyman
47 gr hangs in my mind for some reason but at hand data says 50.0 is a 1750+ fps and as I recall stopped being fun to shoot at a start load and was an 8" group .
In any case this was worked down to a 2" 5 shot of a repeatable on demand groups but due to sizing or exact alloy did foul a little bit though it cleans up with 3-5 0000 steel wool wrapped brush passes and some Hoppes . It doesn't really bother the groups until 50 or so rounds and shooting 50 or so of these in a setting would be plenty for me .

Same brass and primers
H4198 31.0 , 1 gr over max Trapdoor .
462-420 M-P @ .4605 - 407
This one is also just over Trapdoor loads which max out at 30.0 . I forgot the Chrony but data puts this load right in at 1550 fps and with the meplat roughly .340 isn't really a long range bullet but it should lay down about anything it runs into . The 4198 is nice and clean here . I think I will want to get a larger expander stem for this as I had a little lead just ahead of the chamber . Groups of 2.5" will need a little bit of tuning yet but this bullet was not a big fan of H322 .

Alloy for all here was 50/50 WW-1/20 + copper from the high impact speed pistol pot .

For fun loads and the fans of subsonic loading 11-14 gr of Unique will yield 920-1100 fps with the 458193 , 462-420 or the 462-420 hollow base at 380 gr .

In a last feat of questionable morals I loaded a hand full of 461-543 NOE copies of the Lyman 460132 @ 535 gr over IMR 4350 and Unique .
2 things ! It never occurred to me that 4350 might be too slow but there were claims from the 70s of blown barrels resulting from SEE like events so chuck that idea out the window , better safe .
The Unique loads were subs to just supersonic with good groups but at some point it occurred to me that the bullet had a long case jump then slammed into the lands with the front band . With a little creative finesse the remaining greased bullets were pulled out to the crimp groove and single fed . If I were on a moose hunt or the like where I would have time to single feed the first round this is the one I'd load . But pushing 3" loaded doesn't feed in the Marlin and once in the extractor you can't get it out until it's fired or disassembled .

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[Ranch Dog]

I have long ago parted with my JM 1895G, just never lived up to my expectations of accuracy. Funny, but the Ballard barrelled, 1:20 rifle was always hailed as an improvement over the early 444 with their Micro-Groove barrels using 1:38. The truth is that my 444s would shoot inside of my 1895G group, cutting the MOA in half.

As soon as I bought the Rio Grande and shot it, I traded the 1895G for a Marlin 375. Lucky for it the Rossi came along as I had planned to stick it in the ground and us/e it as a post for one of my bobwire fences. I was going to send Marlin a picture of it every year as well.

I've never shot light loads from the Marlin or the Rio Grande, and I've never shot jacketed bullets or pistol powders. All I've shot is gas check cast bullets. The Rio Grande shoots 1.210 MOA groups with my TLC460-435-RF using 54.6-grains of BL-C(2) for 1607 FPS. Out of curiosity, I tried some Bear Tooth Pile Drivers, their 525-grain bullets. The rifle loved them too; 1.410" MOA at 1437 FPS with 40.7-grains of H335. That is a large jolt than I need.

The Rossi Rio Grande was also cut to the SAAMI spec, not the oversized chamber of the Marlin. I size my bullets to .458" as well as the Beartooths. Yeap, with a bullet that large and that long, they can go down the barrel at the jacketed bullet diameter.

The Rossi's barrel uses the SAAMI spec six groove bore/groove/width dimensions along with the 1:20 twist.

[Ranch Dog]

I should have included a picture of my lightweight beast. Target with the 435-grain bullets at 100-yards (lower right quad). You can also see where a target had been overlaid on the cardboard for a 5-shot group.



I'm a diehard 444 guy, but this rifle will shoot inside any group I can shoot with my two Marlins.

At first, I didn't care for the large loop but this rifle 7 lbs scoped, a full pound plus less than my 1895G, and these large bullets can sucker punch your knuckles via the loop. I feel Rossi took care of business with the design both for gloved hands and recoil. I did send it off to Mule Works and had it reduced by a quarter. Surprisingly, I don't have a picture of that.

[RBHarter]

This one is . 452×.458 but the chamber is a little long . Fired brass is .462 ID . So the cast bullet balance is just about right .
I have pretty low expectations for lever guns . 200 yd outside for shooting of game and currently all of the shooting has been done from my incredibly stable 3 point truck hood lean bench rest . So even 2.5" isn't bad .

I'm still fussing with sizing and dies . The 6th cycle gave me a little lead about 2" up the barrel suggesting a size issue . With cases freshly annealed , necks should stop squeezing the bullets . I think I'm going try a wad card , just enough to keep the base clean and flat , soda boxes maybe . I'm sure that off a good bench this would close more .

[Macd]

The only lever action I now own is my 99f. It isn't a target rifle but 1.5 - 2MOA at 100 is minute of moose or caribou. I haven't done any load development for it, only had it 5 years or so lol.

[Ranch Dog]

Towards the end of last week, through Sunday, I was watching a NIB 99 chambered in 375 Win. I would really like to have one but kept to my target amount that I was willing to bid for this rifle considering the high shipping costs plus the FFL.

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