45/70 Cowboy 26 inch octigon barrel

eaglesnester

eaglesnester

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Just bought a new Marlin 1895 45/70 CB with 26 inch octagon barrel. Fit and finish is good, action is smooth with no stoppages. Quality control is good. Took er to the range the other day. I was only able to get 9 rounds off shooting offhand. Was shooting 350gr Barnes, let me tell you that rifle has the most vicious recoil I have ever encounter except for the time a little very light 12gage knocked my false teeth completely out of my head. With no limb saver the ninth round was it, I could shoot no more. Have a huge bruise on my right shoulder. Will try again today. I do not mind a lot of recoil as I am quite used to it from my 338/378 Weatherby, however the 45/70 was a big surprise. For those of you that are recoil shy don't even think about getting one.
One other note. I also had a few hand loaded 400grain Barnes originals. I noticed no difference in the recoil energy between the 350grain barnes and 400grain originals both were brutal. This is not a rifle for casual pinking at least not for me anyway.
 
I was going to buy one of these when Lebarons had a no tax sale. I shoot 45-70 out of my 74 sharps and find the recoil fine but it weighs 12 pounds. I use cast 405 grain cast bullets with 41gr of 3031 so its easy on my shoulder and still packs a punch.
 
They can be loaded right down. I shoot as 405 gr cast bullet behind 13 grs. of Trailboss. They're just mouse fart loads, but very accurate and you can shoot them all day. Then I usually break out the polar bear loads for a few shots at the end
 
My 45/70 Rolling Block on heathen smokeyless powder is a viscous beast with any weight bullet. Running the Holy Black, even with a 535 gn bullet it is a pussycat. The difference is like someone winding up and punching you in the shoulder as hard as they can and that same person putting their hand on your shoulder and giving you as hard a shove as they can. JMHO
 
eaglesnester said:
Just bought a new Marlin 1895 45/70 CB with 26 inch octagon barrel. Fit and finish is good, action is smooth with no stoppages. Quality control is good. Took er to the range the other day. I was only able to get 9 rounds off shooting offhand. Was shooting 350gr Barnes, let me tell you that rifle has the most vicious recoil I have ever encounter except for the time a little very light 12gage knocked my false teeth completely out of my head. With no limb saver the ninth round was it, I could shoot no more. Have a huge bruise on my right shoulder. Will try again today. I do not mind a lot of recoil as I am quite used to it from my 338/378 Weatherby, however the 45/70 was a big surprise. For those of you that are recoil shy don't even think about getting one.
One other note. I also had a few hand loaded 400grain Barnes originals. I noticed no difference in the recoil energy between the 350grain barnes and 400grain originals both were brutal. This is not a rifle for casual pinking at least not for me anyway.
Click to expand...

Were you loading these yourself? What powder and charge?
 
dog leg stock never helps felt recoil ,
-keep the rifle fully loaded at all times , weight helps
-add a cartridge holder on the rear stock & keep it full
- load your own @ low/moderate velocity its a hammer
or
- sell the rifle to me as its to heavy now and uncomfortable .....
 
I just took the piece of plastic off of the back of the stock and put a recoil pad on. Still packs a wallop if I'm running hotter loads, but no where near as bad as without.
 
You'll love the felt recoil from an pre-crossbolt safety Marlin with a crescent butt plate.Around 50 ft/lbs in a 7lb gun.Harold
 
When I had my old 1886 Winchester, I used to put a folded bath towel between my shoulder and the curved steel butt plate of that 86. With the towel between me and the 86, I could shoot it all day.

The suggestion of downloading is a good one too. I did that.
 
Shoot standing or kneeling, not from the bench or prone. Really helps those who are recoil sensitive. The slip on rubber buttpads will also work if you're hunting with it. The PAST shoulder pad for range work.
 
lol.... They can be a handful. Try it off the bench. :) Actually I picked up a Pastslip-on pad for the range. (I take it off real quick if anyone is looking) They work well and you don't end up cutting the stk down. Still need to hang on to the fore-end though. They tend to try and take off on you. Cpl of years ago I took a good Bull moose with mine with Horn 350's with a Williams F.P. sight on it. They do hit just as hard at the other end as they do on your shoulder. 1100 lb bull looked like he had been hit with a sledge-hammer. Went down right away but then got his legs back and made another 15-20 yards and piled up. 100 yards give or take a cpl.

350's loaded to about 1800fps are not too bad to shoot although you still know you've shot something and are pretty tolerable off the bench. You don't need to load 45/70's hot... As a friend once told me, If you want a 458, buy a 458.
 
I have had several 45-70s over the years and had exactly the rifle the OP has. It was amazingly light for a 26" oct barreled lever gun and what a beautiful rifle, right up till you pulled the trigger. Like a lot of women I seem to know, despite it's "drop dead gorgeous" appearance, it was a vicious biting, kicking spawn of Satan. The hard plastic butt plate did absolutely nothing to mitigate the recoil and the lever removed hide from my right hand every shot. And this was with low-mid range loads, 405 jacketed at about 1500 fps. As much as I liked the appearance of this sweetheart, she had to go, just too abusive. Even my hooked steel butt Winchester 86 ELW is more pleasant to shoot with the same loads. Now I'm not a shy, retiring violet when it comes to recoil and have many, many more powerful rifles and cartridges than the 45-70, but that rifle was evil and left me bruised, beaten and bleeding after every session............kinda like one of my ex-wives. So needless to say, they both had to go........:d:d
 
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