1895 Marlin Cowboy 45-70

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I have a guidegun and I love it. Its handy. I imagine the cowboy would be heavier and not as agile but a good shooter all the same. You will just have to take up reloading with the price of 45/70.
 
I have one. Not as heavy as you might think given the caliber and barrel length. For a stoutly built rifle, it handles very well. Not the greatest fit and finish, but thats not what the marlins are generally about. Actually good fit and finish I guess, but just kind of plain compared to other rifles, but very well built and should last forever. Shoots around 3-5 inch groups at 1oo yards with the stock sights. Haven't scoped it yet, but I think I'd go with a tang peep sight before putting on a scope. Mechanically, its tight with none of the slop that the later Winchester lever actions seemed to have.
 
I'll echo what Tag says about the handling. It doesn't feel heavy and the long barrel is easy to shoot even off hand. The front sight seems to just hang on the bullseye.

My ONLY complaint with the 1895 Cowboy is that in the area I hunt the barrel is too long. In the field I'm regularly bumping the barrel on branches and snagging brush that I don't with my Guide Gun.

I'm going to have mine shortened to 20" then it will be perfect. :D
 
I love mine but I primarily use it for fun plinking. I load up a whole bunch of cast bullet loads at lower velocity and throw in a few of the super nasty high power loads for when I want a flinch. :) There are two really cool things about shooting it.

1. With the "cowboy" (aka lower velocity cast bullet loads) you can hear the bullet thwack into the berm if you're wearing electronic hearing protection. I don't know what I find that so cool but I do.

2. With the shoulder bruiser's when you hit the heavy 10 inch gong at 100 yards it send it spinning around on it's access . .there's something just inherently cool about seeing a 1/2 inch thick plate that weighs a ton react like that.

Just my .02

Regards,
Dave
 
I know what you mean about the thwack. I had some PMC cowboy action loads. At 50 yards there was a slight delay between the report of the rifle and the bullet hitting the target.
 
I've been thinking about getting the 1895 CB too. I love my 1894 44 mag and I am actually a better shot with irons than I am with glass. Just something about big lead flying that is soooooooo cool.
Looking at the 444 as well, really a toss up.
 
I have a Classic and one of my shooting buddies has the Cowboy, off the bench his has a lot more recoil than mine but it shoots extremely well with open sights.
 
Do the cowboy and classic models have the same capacity to shoot the super heavy (garrett, BB, etc.) loads? I know the guide gun can but I was curious if the receiver is lighter on the larger guns.
 
Thats what I'm leaning to as well. BIG HEAVY and can duplicate .458 win mag.
I just like the way those 444's look. especially the hornady light mags.
dripping testosterone
 
Do the cowboy and classic models have the same capacity to shoot the super heavy (garrett, BB, etc.) loads? I know the guide gun can but I was curious if the receiver is lighter on the larger guns.
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Yup, and they hold more of them. :) (although you'd probably not want to shoot a full magazine of them. .. .I find 2-3 is plenty for me. :) )
 
I have two guide guns and a 1895 CY nice balance and loads of fun to shoot.
I put a tang sight on mine, accurate and very pretty.
 
I have one. In spite of having a 26' barrel the rifle is very light in weight. Recoil is rough with heavier loads so I limit mine to lighter loads, plus a leather slip on recoil pad to increase length and surface area on myshoulder. I really find my Ruger #1 in 458 nicer to shoot because of the weight. All that said I still like it, and do like the long barrel.
 
Keep 'em coming boys. i love hearing the stories.

I'm seriously thinking of getting one myself for hunting. A local gun store has two for $630 ea, and one has the most beautiful walnut stock. Very nice.
 
I like mine a lot. It's won me a bunch of ribbons in Cowboy long range side matches. I've got a marbles tang sight on it.

The only two downsides are that the stock is way too short (the word "limbsaver" comes to mind,) and it's a light rifle for all it's size. When I first got mine, before I put the pad on it, the tang sight was only like a sixteenth of an inch from my snout. This is not a healthy location for anything that is about to come flying backwards as fast as anything attatched to a .45-70 is likely to do. With the pad, shooting the heavy loads isn't too painful on the shoulder, it's the whiplash to the neck that is problematic.
 
The only two downsides are that the stock is way too short (the word "limbsaver" comes to mind,) and it's a light rifle for all it's size. When I first got mine, before I put the pad on it, the tang sight was only like a sixteenth of an inch from my snout. This is not a healthy location for anything that is about to come flying backwards as fast as anything attatched to a .45-70 is likely to do. With the pad, shooting the heavy loads isn't too painful on the shoulder, it's the whiplash to the neck that is problematic.
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I tried the Marbles tang on mine, and like you found it too close to my eye. I eventually took it off. It tended to eat my hand also. I did add a Pachymey(sp) recoil pad, pre limbsaver days I think and then a lace on padded leather recoil pad over that. It now has a williams peep in the scope mount holes. The extra length does wonders for controlling the recoil
 
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