Loading for my Marlin Guide Gun.

[Swampman]

I picked up a bunch of 405 grain hard cast bullets this weekend. Today I bought some Lee Dies and 100 StarLine cases. I'm gonna try 30 or 31 grains of IMR-4198 to duplicate the Remington 405 grain factory load. What'ca think?

[Swampman]

anyone?

[piller]

I have not shot the 405 grain hard cast out of my Guide Gun, but I have shot some 350 grain ones. I am not impressed with my guns ability to handle cast bullets. It tends to not get a good seal and have some blow by on every loading I have tried. The 405 grain jacketed soft points work great. I have not tried anything other than IMR3031 and H4350 powders.

[yooper2]

Hi there,
I use 51.5 grains of 3031 with a 400 gr Speer jacketed bullet or most any 405 grain cast bullet as a general hunting load in my 1895. It's a bit stiff but not a full load or punishing in any way and I have used it on many deer, not to mention a couple of black bears, with excellent results; nothing has moved more than 20 yards after being hit by this load. It also gives me 3/4 inch groups at 100 yards with a ghost ring sight off a bench. Not too shabby. Hope this is of use,

Eric

[piller]

The 400 to 405 grain jacketed bullet with 3031 powder is accurate enough for any hunting situation I plan on being in. In Hondo, I shot a running hog at about 75 yards with a snap shot and hit it. For me, that is very good. After a very little playing around, I have settled on 3031 for my reloads in the Guide Gun. I have not done a lot of playing around because a .45-70 from the bench can quickly become uncomfortable.

[pdawg.shooter]

From an older post of mine:

The next rifle is my “fun gun” It is a Marlin 1895G. This short, handy, thumper is just fun to shoot. It is stock except for a Lyman 66 rear sight. After five years of trying I have finally found THE load for it. Does everything I want done and is still shootable. I started with new Remington brass, annealed the first ¾ inch using the melted lead method, belled with a Lee expander and primed with CCI 200. The powder charge is 52gr AA 2495. I started with 48 and worked up with no signs of pressure. This is a compressed load, even using a 16 inch drop tube. The magic bullet is cast in a Lyman 451114 mould. The alloy is 17 parts pure lead, 2 ½ parts linotype, and ½ part tin. The bullet drops from the mould .451 and is ready for patching. I make my patches from 16lb green bar computer paper, cut 2.750 long on a 60* angle 1.500 high. I dip in water and wrap twice around the bullet. They are left to dry overnight, then lubed with BAC from White Label Lube. The next day the tails are clipped and the bullet is run through a .459 Lee sizing die. I seat them to an OCL of 2.580. These shoot clover leaf groups at 25 yards and into 1.75 at 100. This is with a Lyman 66 rear sight and factory front sight. Not bad for 57 year old eyes. Bullet performance on game is all one could ask for. I’ll not quit experimenting, but how does one improve on perfection? I have taken two deer, and half a dozen or so coyotes with this gun. Maybe someday I will have a chance to go hog hunting.

[Pitchy]

45 grains of 3031 topped with a 405 flat or round nose cast bullet has worked good for me, can shoot 50-75 of them without any fatigue and accurate enough.

[Swampman]

I loaded 20 .45-70 cartridges this afternoon. 405 grain cast lead over 31 grains IMR-4198 in Starline cases CCI LR Primers O.A.L. 2.530.

I will report back....

[O.S.O.K.]

Pitchy, what's the book velocity on that load?

And Swampy - did you report back? Another thread maybe?

[Pitchy]

Pitchy, what's the book velocity on that load?

And Swampy - did you report back? Another thread maybe?

Well it varries from book to book it seems, my old Lyman 46th addition only shows a 420 grain cast over 44.8 grains of 30-31 at 1599 fps.

My older yet Lyman 42nd adition shows a 405 grain cast over 43 grains at 1415 fps.

A buddy found another load that i can`t remember but all said and done we figured 45 grains would be in the 1500 to 1600 fps range.
Take that for what its worth which ain`t much but the best i can come up with.
It`s been a good huntin load for me for many years, the 45 grain load.

[rjohns94]

22 grains of 2400 - about 1350fps with a 405 gr lead flat point bullet but very accurate. I use this load in my old 1886.

[O.S.O.K.]

Pitchy, what's the book velocity on that load?

And Swampy - did you report back? Another thread maybe?

Well it varries from book to book it seems, my old Lyman 46th addition only shows a 420 grain cast over 44.8 grains of 30-31 at 1599 fps.

My older yet Lyman 42nd adition shows a 405 grain cast over 43 grains at 1415 fps.

A buddy found another load that i can`t remember but all said and done we figured 45 grains would be in the 1500 to 1600 fps range.
Take that for what its worth which ain`t much but the best i can come up with.
It`s been a good huntin load for me for many years, the 45 grain load.

Thanks - close enough!

[Swampman]

I got 1.5" groups at 100 yards.

[O.S.O.K.]

What's the velocity on that load swampy? The accuracy is certainly there.

[rjohns94]

Well done.

[guido4198]

Sorry to be so late getting in on this. I use a Lee mold #90374 to get a slug that drops pretty near 400 gns. depending on the alloy. Lube is either NRA/alox or RCBS "green". Loaded with 45.0 gns. IMR 3031 and a CCI-200 primer, I'm getting (ave)1500 fps over my chrono. from my Guide Gun. 1-1.25 in. groups all day long @ 100 yds. from sandbags. I have a 2.5x scope in a "Scout Mount" on my rifle, and LOVE IT.
Works REAL well on Whitetail and hogs.

[Borregos]

My deer load for my 1895G is 405gr cas checked cast with 46.7gr Reloder #7, chrono'd at 1690fps. Very accurate load for me.

[O.S.O.K.]

How do you guys like the stock recoil pad?

I know that my Davidsons LTD with hard rubber pad kicks your butt pretty good with the stiffer loads. I put a lace-on leather pad on it.

[Pitchy]

I like the one on my guide gun, works plenty good.

[O.S.O.K.]

It seems to be pretty well designed. I am sure that the material its made from is head and shoulders above the older stuff that used to get hard and crack...

[guido4198]

For the loads I shoot from my Guide Gun, the stock pad is sufficient. I had a Pachmayr "Decelerator"
pad fitted onto my .458 Win mag rifle and like that REAL WELL. IF I were shooting especially stiff loads out of my Guide Gun, I wouldn't hesitate to use one on it also.

[Swampman]

What's the velocity on that load swampy? The accuracy is certainly there.

about 1400 fps.

[O.S.O.K.]

What's the velocity on that load swampy? The accuracy is certainly there.

about 1400 fps.

That'll do.

Guido - that's what I was contemplating putting on it... but I'm going to try the stock one out first.

There's just nothing to be gained for me to boost a 405 grain bullet much faster than 1500 fps. And for deer, the standard 300 grain HP's will do very nicely at 1800 fps. Neither of these is punishing with any kind of pad.

Thanks to all for the replies - now, more loads!!