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Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2026 4:39 am
by Elk Creek
Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 4:33 am
Elk Creek wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 4:12 am
Japhy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 4:04 am
Wambli
We wanna see the whole rifle! Least I do.
Another cool tidbit about using a peep tang is that looking through a small aperture corrects a lot of vision problems. Its the same as stopping down a camera lens to increase the depth of field.
I’ll offer a surrogate…..sorry Enzo….
Pretty rifle
My 45-70 28” round barrel carbine. It has a shotgun butt plate too! A wonderful thing for a 45-70….thanks Enzo!
Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2026 3:49 pm
by Wambli Ska
Love that gun. I do need a light 45/70 in my inventory. I have the fancy trap door carbine but that’s too pretty to sling on a saddle in a scabbard. All my 1800s style rifles have metal crescent butt plates and I’ve learned to deal with them and actually enjoy them even on my 30-30 and my 45-70s. This 1885 with the long heavy octagon barrel’s recoil is very tolerable with standard loads and all of them are really tame with BP loads.
Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:10 am
by Bigslug
Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 3:49 pm
Love that gun. I do need a light 45/70 in my inventory. . .
Well. . .Ruger/Marlin has just baffled me: They ARE making the Classic, standard 20" barrel, semi-pistol-grip format in the .30-30 Model 336, but NOT in the 1895 .45-70. They've got a nice pile of the 16" options, but that's not where I'd steer ya.
So probably the S&W 1854 then, as it's pretty obviously Marlin-inspired. The family dynamic has been thus: Dad's into the classic lever guns, but his hands are too much of a wreck to easily wrench on them, so I drive over & do the armorer deep-clean for him when he brings one home. My conclusion is that the Marlin 1894/1895/336 is A LOT more Glock-ish from an ease of service point of view, and the Henry & Browning-based Winchesters are a considerably greater pain in the ass.
I'll grant that it's pretty hard to beat one of the Italian 1886 / Model 71 clones for coolness, but for day to day living (and optics mounting), Marlin all the way.
Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 7:58 pm
by Japhy
Very nice!
That is a L O N G barrel!
Any research into best load in 45-70 for a barrel that long?
Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:12 pm
by Wambli Ska
Bigslug wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:10 am
Wambli Ska wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 3:49 pm
Love that gun. I do need a light 45/70 in my inventory. . .
Well. . .Ruger/Marlin has just baffled me: They ARE making the Classic, standard 20" barrel, semi-pistol-grip format in the .30-30 Model 336, but NOT in the 1895 .45-70. They've got a nice pile of the 16" options, but that's not where I'd steer ya.
So probably the S&W 1854 then, as it's pretty obviously Marlin-inspired. The family dynamic has been thus: Dad's into the classic lever guns, but his hands are too much of a wreck to easily wrench on them, so I drive over & do the armorer deep-clean for him when he brings one home. My conclusion is that the Marlin 1894/1895/336 is A LOT more Glock-ish from an ease of service point of view, and the Henry & Browning-based Winchesters are a considerably greater pain in the ass.
I'll grant that it's pretty hard to beat one of the Italian 1886 / Model 71 clones for coolness, but for day to day living (and optics mounting), Marlin all the way.
I’m pretty dead set on a saddle carbine length 1886. I need to finish my rack of western guns
I already have a Marlin .444 and a Rossi stainless .44 mag for times when a modern lever will do better.
Re: And now the 45-70 1885 is finished…
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:16 pm
by Wambli Ska
Japhy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 7:58 pm
Very nice!
That is a L O N G barrel!
Any research into best load in 45-70 for a barrel that long?
I thought it was 32” turns out it’s a 31”, oh well
.
So far I’m basically emptying all the factory ammo I have before I try to start fine tuning smokeless loads. A lot of it is MHS ammo which usually shoots like crap but somehow this gun shoots it very well but I haven’t grouped it yet. Just basically banging targets of opportunity in BLm land. Lots of those. The BP load is easy.
I already have a Marlin .444 and a Rossi stainless .44 mag for times when a modern lever will do better.
. 