Marlin 1895 loading woes

[chrislaw77]

Greetings all,

Up until today I was loading 405gr cast lead in my brass with a COL of 2.545" (+/- 0.05") with no problems. I recently picked up some 425gr gaschecked projectiles but found that in order to seat the bullet so that the brass would crimp over the groove I had to seat to a COL of 2.505". I loaded up some middle to hot loads (35, 36, 37, 38 and 39gr IMR4198) with a COL of 2.550" and off to the range I went. At the range it was clear that the cartridges would no chamber (level would not close). Came back home and made a dummy round to see at what depth the 425gr bullet would need to be seated before the round would chamber properly, turns out thats 2.510" (0.040" shorter than the recommended MAX COL and 0.030" shorter than the MIN COL as per Lee).

My questions is this

what is the likelyhood of me seeing hazardous pressure issues for the 35.0 gr rounds if the bullet is seated at 2.510"? I suspect that even the 39.0gr rounds will not be compressed powder rounds but just curious what issues I might run into with the charge going off in a smaller volume of space? The other option is to disassemble and start at 30.0 gr (but if I can avoid that without harm to myself I would be happier).

Chris

 

[SoylentD]

This is more for the reloading section, than the action shooting sports section.
If I understand you correctly, you're seating the bullet deeper into the casing because the crimp is in a different spot on new larger bullets.
Just check to see if it's compressed by measuring from the tapped powder level (literally just tapping it on the table until it settles) in the case to the top and compare to the bullets base to crimp line.
Compressed loads will equal more pressure and increases in velocity. Way more recoil too, but yeah.. it's a 45/70. The key is to watch for over pressure signs as you increase powder charges with your brass and back off when it shows issues. Different brass will react differently unfortunately, so hope you have a method to take out that variable.
I can't speak for the grain / length as I don't reload that, but you're on the right path starting at the lower powder weight then gradually moving up. My guess is that you'll be fine, even if the load compresses a bit.
...and that's a big assed bullet for the 45/70.