1895G

[RBHarter]

After many mixed reviews​ ......
As noted elsewhere I went to a show and bought a Marlin 1895 G in 45-70 for just a little more that a new 92' Rossi in Colts .
I just had a phone update and pictures are screwed up, I'm currently unable to edit any sufficiently to post them here .......

I looked over the really important parts before dropping dollars doing a mental comparison to Jorge's SS gun and decided to take a chance .
The hammer is a little heavy on the bolt but with 30 found down range it seems better than it was across the table , but nothing like the slick of the 99' that Jorge has .

I have about a 1997 1894CB Marlin that was good but not great out of the new box and a little bit of stone work on the bolt and 5-600 round and it runs great the wood fit was good , a little proud on the fore stock but good at the action ends without a big curve .
This Remlin is another thing all together . It has cut checkering that looks good is very even an with my once over doesn't look to have any real over runs . I have a couple of side by side pics with the Rosschester 92' and frankly the fit and finish is better on the 92' than the Remlin . The 1895 also being what it is lacks any case colored parts being all blued . The metal fit looks good and the sissy pad (which I fully appreciate) is well fitted . I didn't observe any sharp edges but it is 2nd hand an some of that may have been doctored, there's not white lines to suggest that however . The crown shape looks like it was cut with a butterfly bit and shows all of the machine marks save the 1/32 in side the muzzle .

I shot 20 rounds of Privi Partizan 45-70-405 SP and when I finally got enough elevation to get on paper (18x24 fruit box) it shoots some 4" left but seems to want to stack them in all together . There was 1 group of 2 for sure maybe 3 that were all touching and at least 2 others in touching pairs . So with that in mind I can over look the cosmetics a lot .
This rifle is proofed REM and is an MR13xxxB serial I have no idea where that puts it as far as a build date but sometime between June 11' and June 16' . I would lean towards 13' .

Jorge is a lifetime​ friend that lives here now we shoot together about once a month and he feeds me new 1x brass . I have 100 Privi Partizan 1x now for the 45-70 now .
Remington bought Marlin in 04' but didn't move production from New Haven to Illian NY until early 11' . There were a lot of QC issues reported along with poor accuracy from the 1st Rem production guns . Hopefully that is behind them now and they will work on improving the wood to metal fit and making these guns as pretty a the BDL and CDL lines , at this point wood ADLs would be an improvement .

If you are so inclined they can be seen here .
http://gunslingersgulch.com/index.php?t ... ;topicseen

[akuser47]

Sweet, keep us posted

[larryw]

I second AK's comment Sweet. Best of luck with it RB.

[RBHarter]

I got out today to blast off some loads .
I shot some 453-350s from a Mountain Moulds custom paper patched up to 460 and a Lee 458-340 . Both were fun over 11 gr of Unique and ran 1000-1100 fps with the paper patch being faster . The 10 of each with my keen shooting skills managed a 4" grid at 50 yd with the factory sights .
For giggles I loaded 5 of each over some 1971 canned WWII surplus H4831 under the premise of a full case is a happy case ...... No mummies just lots of unburnt powder , no surprise there at all . Those went just about 100fps faster than the Unique loads .

Under getting down to business . While searching for something unrelated I found a salvage lead bag of what turned out to be 100 458193 405gr FP Lyman . Having 50 to a box the last 20 got 5 each at 42,42.5,43,43.5 of H322 . The best group was 43.5 . The group is is closing , it's down under 3" with another 4.5 gr to go to max . I only lubed the bottom 2 grooves but it doesn't look to lead so bonus points .

[akuser47]

Nice work keep us posted to your dialed in load for her.

[RBHarter]

The grid is 1x1 .

IMG_20170319_150333094.jpg

These are the 43.5 under the 405 .
All of the combined loads held to about 8.5 square .

[akuser47]

Nice work I think you have a winner there

[Ranch Dog]

Looks real good RB! There is a lot to love with a lever 45-70!

[RBHarter]

So now the quest is now on for a multi cavity 458193 and possibly an FCD , I can't believe I said that ...... the part about the FCD that is .
Now I also have conflicting data that I was sure of .....grrr.

I'm really liking it so far .
The sights are just enough different to give me grief and I'm out of vertical sight adjustment . The 350s with Unique hit the elevation but 405s go lower and lower as they go faster ...... I'm not sure what to do with that .

[RBHarter]

I've now run 4 powders , Unique , H322 , IMR4350 , and H4831 .
4 bullets Lee 456-225 the ROA conical RN , Lee 457-340F , 453-350 MM a custom mould for the 45 Raptor and 458193 Lyman at 414-5 gr .
The factory Privi Partizan 405 jacketed SP load is alone .
This gives me 14 load combinations to date .

All of the loads that it likes go into 3" with the factory U bead sights . I ordered a 5D Williams peep sight and have it installed and matched back to the OM sights .
The new FCD looks like it will stop the telescoping of cartridges in the magazine . That will fix the changes in velocities I saw from the OALs shrinking .
My hope.for.the sight is that it.will allow me to focus more on the front sight and target than I have with the factory sights . The 5D sight looks like it should provide plenty of elevation as it is now set only in about the bottom third of the range of adjustment .

I'm told by an accuracy and speed oriented gun smith that has tinkered an 1886' Winchester to death having run 5000 plus rounds through it with a precision fitted ,match chambered bbl , that 3" is about all a lever gun in 45-70 will do. I'll take his word for it but keep fussing with it . On the other side I'm pleased that this rifle is so fickle about what it likes .