45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

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dkmlever
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45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by dkmlever »

I own a Marlin 1895S made in 1982 (no safety) 22" barrel with micro groove rifling.
I tried some of the Hornady Leverevolution ammo 325 grains, they just don't feed well. As I pull the lever up to load the chamber the ammo "sticks" so I have to lower the lever slightly then it will feed into the chamber. That is OK at the range but NOT acceptable for a hunting situation. Lead bullets like the Interlock 350 gr FP feed fine.
Is there some polishing I could do, or is this just the way it is?
Thanks for your feedback and advice.
Pete44ru
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by Pete44ru »

.

If your testing involves feeding a single LeverEvolution round from the magazine, be advised the Hornady plainly marks the factory boxes that the ammo may cause feeding problems in some leverguns.

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/leverevolution#!/

NOTE: The innovative LEVERevolution® FTX® and MonoFlex® bullet designs may require a newer magazine follower to provide best possible functioning of the last round out of the magazine in certain guns.




IIRC, the Marlins were issued with a magazine tube follower that had a hole in it's center.

The fix is to replace the follower with a solid-face one.

My WAG is that the soft tip can catch and impede feeding.


.
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AJMD429
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by AJMD429 »

I would definitely try some other 'normal' factory loads in it before doing anything.

If those loads don't function either then you know the gun has an issue and you will need to address that.

If the other factory loads function fine, then you have to decide whether to use different ammunition, or modify your gun to feed the Leverevolution ammunition.

If the latter proves to be the case, personally I would be much more inclined to develop a hand load or seek other ammunition to come close enough to the Hornady performance, before I would do major alterations to a gun that might make it unable to feed regular ammunition. I guess if the change only involved replacing a minor part like magazine follower, that you could swap back to the original easily, I might go ahead and do that.
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Grizz
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by Grizz »

I had a problem with the 460 grain cast performance in a couple of rifles. I credit the curved ogive with changing the approach angle just enough to impede feeding. In comparison, the truncated cone design of my standard ammo feeds easily and smoothly. Bullet designs have different effects in various firearms...

Grizz
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vancelw
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by vancelw »

Change your magazine follower. It's cheap and will most likely fix your problem .
325 gr FTX bullets feed just fine through my Guide Gun
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dkmlever
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by dkmlever »

Thanks to all who responded and gave advice.
I usually do hunt with different ammo than the Hornaday, and all other ammo i have tried has fed fine. I can use the Hornaday in my Ruger #3
But if I wanted to change the magazine follower, where do I get the new style and how hard is it to change out?
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marlinman93
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by marlinman93 »

There are always going to be certain ammo that will possibly have feeding problems in leverguns. But if yu want to use the Hornady ammo for hunting I would try this. Put one round in the chamber as your first shot, and then load the tube with the ammo you know will cycle perfectly for backup shots. In most cases you'll never need that 2nd shot, so the Hornady will bring down the game fine. But if a 2nd shot is needed you'll never be frustrated by the ammo not cycling perfectly.
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vancelw
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Re: 45-70 lever ammo feeding advice needed

Post by vancelw »

dkmlever wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:55 am Thanks to all who responded and gave advice.
I usually do hunt with different ammo than the Hornaday, and all other ammo i have tried has fed fine. I can use the Hornaday in my Ruger #3
But if I wanted to change the magazine follower, where do I get the new style and how hard is it to change out?
You can order it from MidwayUSA or other such places.
Beartooth Mercantile sells a stainless steel one
Simple to change.
Just remove the screw holding the magazine tube cap and remove the spring and follower
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