Remlin, you better not screw me!

Make my 1895GBL in 45-70 flawless damn you!

Gentlemen, if you'd be so kind.... Recommend me some factory or handloads to try/work up to. I need a 300 and a 405 grain load for deer/pigs.

I'm going to try some commercial cast bullets and some remington 300 grain jacketed rounds.


SO. EXCITED. 600.00 OTD was the best I could find it for.

I believe I would want to try the Horniday LeverRevolution semi pointed bullets with the red tip that are designed for tube mags.
I usually load 2400 powder stay within the recommended powder charge.  As far as lead bullets you can cast your own if you are so inclined. Every now and then its fun to load one with 70 grains of TrippleSeven  blackpowder substitute for the sound and smoke of a musket.   The 300 kick a lot less than the 350 grain bullets.  Any of them will kill deer.

I've only ever fed my 45-70 the Leverevolution rounds, 325 grains. A friend took a small buck with it last year. Took off it's head and rolled it over (why'd you shoot it in the head?! well, it was looking right at me! )  Perfectly accurate at 100 yards in my 1895, not too horrible of a drop to 200. Haven't felt the need to order any of the amazing(ly high priced) rounds available. I'm not after dangerous game or doing anything impressive with it.  The only drawback to the Leverevolution rounds is the brass is a non-standard size so if you want to reload them I believe you have to use the same powder and bullet.

I pasted this from another site  from a very experienced hunting guide who uses an 1886  (Winchester 45/70 )–– it has the answers your looking for.   The man has downed more animals than i have seen,   but again, start slow when approaching max loads –––– a Winchester 1886 is probably a stronger action than a Marlin

" I have the Miroku made USRAC/Winchester 1886EL. I've shot a little over 2000 rds through it in the 7 years I own it. My rifling is NOT shallow at all. Some of the loads I have used were intended for elephant, hippo and buffalo so you don't need them. You won't find them in a book somewhere so if you'd like to try them you are welcome to shoot them out of my rifle and then decide. A 350 gr Kodiak @ 2075 fps with 53 grains of H322 is one of my "light" loads but it is flat shooting and not too much recoil and will outright flatten a deer. For the buffalo in your life you can use a 450 Kodiak expanding or solid @ 1750 fps with 39.5gr of RL-7. When an elephant or hippo is in your sights a 430 Punch bullet going 1825 fps will ring there bell when loaded with 43.5 gr of RL-7. As for our Texas whitetails I think you'd be happy with the 300 grain Nosler and 59 grains of H4198 or 54 grains of IMR4198 for very close to 2300 fps. If you move up to the 350 gr Cast Performance 49 grains of H4198 or 50.5 grains of IMR4198 will get you 2120 fps. The owner of Cast Performance is a sponsor on this site and he has excellent 300 grain cast bullets and quite a few heavier weights, and he can recommend load data. Cast Performance Bullet Company phone # is (503) 556-3006. You can do quite a lot with that rifle by changing the bullets/loads from 1500 fps 300 grain "javalina loads" to serious dangerous game loads. Certain loads will shoot 1.25" 3 shot groups at 100 yds out of my gun and the worst groups with assorted loads while developing ran 3" at 100 yds. My rifle has never been overly erratic with any ammo and there's no reason to think yours would. If you aren't getting less than 3" groups at 100 yds consider trying a different load and I am confident the groups will shrink when you find what it likes. Best of luck with it! "

I used the Hornady gummy tips on a big whitetail buck, then a 150# hog.  I was disappointed with the performance (lack of penetration and the bullet came apart) on both.  

I have had good results on whitetails with the Rem 405 JSP over a slightly under max charge of H335.  There is no lack of penetration with these and I have yet to recover a bullet, or have a deer go anywhere after being hit with one.

I have two Marlin 45-70s, a 1975 vintage 1895, and a stainless guide gun.  The older gun I've had for 20 years, it's microgroove and I never found an accurate cast bullet load for it.  I am hoping to shoot cast bullets in the guide gun. I've never used 300's except for the Federal factory load, which is a very good mild hunting load.