So we finally got the time to take the 45-70 out to the range, and by 'range' I mean the desert where there is no lack of malleable trash to punch holes in. In short, a good place to evaluate my newest purchase- The Marlin 1895 45-70 with a not-so-common 26in barrel. Seeing as I just blew over $750, the Hornady FTX 325gr round represented the best value for my dollar, so that was what we fed the levergun for this outing.
Fit and finish for this particular 1895 turned out to be very nice. Everything fit well and the wood was well appointed, if somewhat mundane in pattern. The rifle that they offered me from the back room had minute chips in the metal where the receiver met the stock. While almost infinitesimal, I rejected it in favor of the display model. I had also read concerns about how some rifles were finicky about feeding the Hornady Flextips, though this fortunately was not a problem for my rifle. Loaded up with nine rounds, the action is somewhat stiff but workable. I attribute this to being a new rifle.
BOOOM!
Holy crappola. I only had a vague idea of what to expect when pulling the trigger. We had speculated that maybe the 26in barrel would mitigate some of the expected recoil, but since neither of us had ever fired a rifle in this class before, we really had no idea what to expect. The trigger itself was tight, with zero creep. Pushing 325gr of lead down the barrel at 2100fps was no joke and reminded me of dropping slugs out of a shotgun. Accuracy was hampered by my difficulty in seeing the standard gold dot at the end of the barrel easily and would definitely benefit from some third party sighting solution... or a dab of white paint. Extraction of the spent shells was overly tight in some cases, manageable in other though all ejected without fanfare or jamming. Again, I attribute this to being a new rifle, but all primers exhibited strong, positive strikes.
Overall, there is little to complain about in this rifle that couldn't be remedied through break-in. This was a rifle that I was able to fondle before buying so I knew what I was getting into, but it appears as if any QC concerns were unwarranted... Or perhaps they are warranted given the other rifle that was offered up to me. Even so, this particular example is excellent. Of note, a large lever loop is all but necessary in my opinion since I regularly found my knuckles getting banged up and skinned by recoil. A rubberized recoil pad would definitely be a step up from the plain plastic buttstock cap in order to keep my shoulder from getting beat up. Better sights are also a must.
All in all, these are minor complaints for an overall great rifle, especially for a brand marred by production concerns.
