The Wrong "Truck" Gun

[High Desert Hunter]

Went out for a quick shooting session in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains. Brought along 2 lever actions, one a "vintage" JM Marlin 1894 Limited in 45 Colt, the other a Ruger/Marlin 1894 Classic in 44 Magnum. The 44 is the rifle I most often throw in the Jeep when heading for the woods or even out of town. It wears a Skinner rear peep and factory front, sadly didn't bring the 300gr XTPs I wanted to test, so I ran a box of 270gr cast WFN bullets loaded over 2400. Accurate load, but when I brought out the 45 Colt, man alive that rifle is accurate with the factory semi-buckhorn sights. It was like I couldn't miss at 55 yards on the 3", 6", or 8" plates from both the sticks or offhand. I shot mostly 250gr SWC over Longshot, but the same held true with my 45-270SAA bullets from an MP mould weighing 285gr over Longshot. For curiousity I brought some fairly stout 45 Colt rounds as well, 335gr HPGC, and some 325gr bullets from a Mountain Moulds set of blocks that is my favorite heavy 45 caliber bullet, these were loaded over H110, and clocked from the high 1400s to the low 1500s, the 340gr WFN LBT bullets I cast will not chamber. The heavy bullets were not yawing at all at 55 yards, but surprisingly the shot about 4" below POA. Ran some of the 270gr 44s through my 3 screw Super Blackhawk made the same year I was born, a fine '66 model. Ran several magazines through my Turkish MILSPEC 1911 to test out the new EGW sear spring, happy to report that it made a dramatic improvement in the trigger, both pull and reset. Bottom line though is this, the 45 should be the rifle I'm throwing in the Jeep!

Dave

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[Walt]

Dave, I have a JM Marlin Cowboy in .45 Colt as well and it's one of my favorite lever guns. It is uncanny how well I can hit with it. I put a Skinner peep sight on it as I've done on my other Marlins. It is the 24" which is a bit longer than I'd like. If I can find one of the 20" guns with an octagonal barrel I will buy it.

I have a Remlin .44 mag with a 20" barrel. Before ever shooting it I looked down the barrel and there was a section of tool chatter marks about 4" long a short distance from the breech. I sent it back to Marlin and they apparently replaced the barrel and it's a good shooter now.

Thanks for the pictures.

[High Desert Hunter]

Walt this one has the 20" octagonal barrel, only drawback is the bulge it leaves on the cases, sizes out, but I still don't like it, if I didn't love the 45 Colt, and if it weren't so dang accurate, I probably would have moved it down the line. I have a Skinner sight for it, but as accurate as I am with the factory sights, I am loathe to mess with it!

Dave

[Walt]

If I remember correctly, mine has a somewhat oversized chamber as well. I will shoot it tomorrow and check out the brass. I bought one of the Redding two-carbide-ring sizing dies a few years ago which smooths out the fired brass nicely.