I finally got a chance to get to the range today. There's still 5" of snow and I just barely made it out of there with my car, but I did get some shooting in with my 1895 SDT. I tried several different combinations of powder and bullets and found several that worked well and two in particular that I'm very pleased with. On my first trip to the range with this rifle I had an XS ghost ring sight set mounted and I was disappointed with my results. Since then I mounted a Leupold 3X scope and I'm quite a bit more pleased. Both of these targets were shot without changing the scope settings.

In this first target I have three shots fired at 50 yards using 460gr. Cast Performance Bullets over 38.0gr. of RL-7. This load had worked very well in my 22" barreled Marlin 1895 and this 16 1/4" barreled rifle seems to like them as well.


In this second target I have three shots also fired at 50 yards using 405gr. Remington SP bullets over 48.1gr. of IMR3031.


Here's a picture of the rifle with the Leupold M8-3X scope I mounted on it.


Don

Looks like your on the right track . Good shootin. Boy that's a short barrel, it would make a sweet brush gun.

Joe

A shooter and a looker a keeper

Looks like some good loads there! I really like the looks of that stainless and laminate. Wonder what the wife would say if I got one to go with the Guide Gun I have now...

Anyone see that Shooting Times article on the new Marlin SBL Guide Gun? They compared loads from the 18" barrel of the SBL to the velocities from 26" test barrels. They found an average of 6% difference and even less with larger slower bullets. I wouldn't mind shedding even 10% velocity for the handiness of hunting in brush with that short barrel.
Don

Good shootin' Blue!! That is a nice looking rifle. Those 45-70's are pretty dang accurate aren't they? I use mostly IMR 3031 in my 1895 22" bbl. I have used other powders but always liked the way IMR3031 performs.

1895ss wrote:

I have used other powders but always liked the way IMR3031 performs.

This is the first time I've tried IMR 3031, but you can bet it won't be my last. I also tried some 405gr. cast loads using 2400 for the first time today, but didn't care for the results. I've used RL-7, H322, H4198, Benchmark or Varget in 45/70s in the past.
Don

I found that when using Varget with 350 gr bullets that there was a lot of unburnt powder left in the bbl etc. but it seemed a lot better when using it with 405 gr bullets.

My "plinking" load is a 400 grain cast bullet over Accurate 5744, for about 1400 ft/sec. Gives me around 1.5" groups at 100 yards from both Marlins.

Looks like you have a keeper there BB. Good shooting and good load development mate.

Now...you gotta tone done a little with the "M" word (Marlin). Bushy and I will never hear the end of it from that 1895essess bugger.

Cheers, Vince

See Vince ............... there's more Marlin rifle owners around here then you think, and it seems they are really enjoying their Marlin rifles as well, so there is no need to tone it down at all...........

Oh bugger....ya heard me.

Yeah, I know mate....but I can't pass up the opportunity to get a bite outa ya mate.

Cheers, Vince

Yeah I know ............ and that's ok