45-70

Hi griup,

I have just recieved my new gun (marlin 1895g) and I wonder a few things. When I am in search of wounded animals (in bush country) I wonder as follows.

The gun has several safetys. Which shuld I use.

1) Safety off and hammer down 2)Safety off hammer halfcocked 3)Safety on, full cock 4) full cock and lever, not engageed

I would really like to get in touch wirh someone who has experience in handloading the 45-70 for lever actions.

Also, if the hammer is all the way down does the firing pin stick out towards the primer.

Thanks from Sweden

I'm not going to recommend anything specifically, but I'll tell you what I'd do. I came from a simpler time and grew up on lever actions which weren't cluttered with a bunch of extra pseudo-safety features.

My lever actions are carried, when hunting, with the magazine full and a cartridge in the chamber, hammer in the half-cock notch. When not hunting, the cartridge comes out of the chamber. The mag stays loaded; there's nothing more dangerous than an 'unloaded' gun. I'd rather pretty much know it was full than think it might be empty, and I've seen a lot of gun-savvy people handle 'unloaded' guns a lot more casually, unsafely, than ones they thought were pretty likely to be loaded.

Anyway, on half-cock with a chambered cartridge ... 'zactly like I would a single action revolver or single shot.

I particularly hate push button safeties on lever actions; they're clutter. The one place they're useful is if you have to unload a gun inside a vehicle or in a house ... but that's kinda unsafe to begin with ... maybe planning ahead and unloading at a more appropriate time would be even safer yet.

If I ever own another lever action with pushbutton safety (sold my last one) I'll drill and tap it for a set screw to disable the safety. I'd hate to have it not shoot at the time I need it to and get chewed or clawed.

< When I am in search of wounded animals (in bush country) I wonder as <follows.

<The gun has several safetys. Which shuld I use.

<1) Safety off and hammer down

Definately not this one. Hammer down on a live round is asking for a discharge.

<2)Safety off hammer halfcocked

This is how it was done before they put the lawyer button (safety) on the damn things.

< 3)Safety on, full cock

No, you're negating the safety margin provided by the half cock notch.

<4) full cock and lever, not engageed

Not sure what 'lever not engaged' means, but again you want the hammer in the half cock notch. The safest way to do go about it is hammer down on an empty chamber. Doesn't take that long to rack in a shell. I'm assuming that you want a loaded round in the chamber as you specifically mentioned going after a wounded animal. Personally, I would leave the safety off (got along fine without 'em of 100 years or so) and carry it with the hammer in the half cock notch (#2).

well, no offense to tom, but i couldnt disagree more. the cross bolt saftey on the lever action is the greatest improvement i have ever seen to the lever action rifle. my group has always hunted with one in the chamber. with a lever action. having the cross bolt is much safer than the old style. if it takes too long maybe you need to slow down a little bit. i wouldnt consider a new lever action with out it. in fact i will be buying some new Marlins to replace the old style ones i have. except for my old .32 win special those guns are retired from the woods.

<snip>

: <1) Safety off and hammer down

: Definately not this one. Hammer down on a live round is asking for a : discharge.

Definately don't say definately. That may be the case in this instance, but I have a BLR with an inertia firing pin, and in my case the safest mode is to carry it with the hammer down. Well actually the safest would be to carry it unloaded.

samg

Good gun, Great caliber! You may pickup some pointers from my web page. If you don't reload you're missing out on a lot of your rifles capabilities. I would buy the 300 grain loads, not the wimpy 405 grainers. If you place your shot well you wont be 'in search of wounded animals' with this caliber.

******************************************************* **** Bang!!! http://beanpole.home.sprynet.com/45-70.htm ******************************************************* ****

I witnessed a lever action with out a saftey bar go off accidently in chambering a round, and made a beliver out of me. What happened is after chambering a round the hammer has to be let down, and that's when the hammer sliped and the gun went off. Lucky my step father had it pointed at the ground and not me or his foot, shook us up though. Two year's ago when purchasing a 30-30 Marlin for my son I was pleased to see that it had the saftey bar feature.

I suspect we agree on most things .45/70, but when in the last 125 years has a 405 grain .458 at 1200 fps been regarded as wimpy? Good hunting! Michael