Best 45 L Colt rifle?

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Marlin makes good rifles, but they no longer make the 1894 in 45 Colt. Their web site says they do, but try to find one. I looked for months. I tried contacting Marlin but they are not contactable since they got bought out by Remington and moved south.

I contacted Remington via email and a week later got a one sentence reply, something like "The Marlin 1894 is no longer produced in 45 Colt".

I am guessing that when Marlin moved, the web site person got left behind in Connecticut and the web site isn't being taken care of any more.

My search has changed from Marlin to Henry now.

Rick
 
...that 92 that malamute posted looks like the finest 45 lc ive seen in a long time.anybody got a picture to beat that?
Click to expand...



This doesnt beat it, but shows the other side. It's not too bad either.

IMG_2859.gif


Marlin makes good guns. If you want one, I wouldn't give up on them just because they don't currently make them. There's likely plenty around used for reasonable money. I rarely buy anything new. For example, I bought this Winchester 92 High Grade for about half the book value. It had a tiny spot in the blue on the barrel. I can live with that.
 
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Cimarron 1860 Henry repro is the most accurate "out of the box" 45 Colt rifle I have, but my Interarms Rossi SRC BLL with a 16" barrel is way lighter, and I personally feel much more fun to shoot, and is also accurate. The 1860 is just a little better at reaching out and touching ya', and dont let anyone tell you that the 45 colt is not a good rifle round. It might not be a perfect one, but if loaded right with good components, it will take down whatever you aim it at and then some.

HS
 
Winchester '92 for .45LC only, or a Puma M92 for .454Casull versatility. The 1885 isn't shabby either, and may be even stronger (the "High Wall" is, but I don't know about the "Low Wall"), but I believe it is best suited to the big thumper cartridges like .45-70Govt. and larger.

:)
 
Hot .45 LC rounds

I'm with mkdrgn, in that I like the versatility of being able to handle both powder-puff (Cowboy Action) rounds and high powered rounds.

Be careful here, though, since unlike the Rossi M92 many older 1892s and look-alikes were not designed for the higher chamber pressures:
Quote:
If it is, then I assume that the Rossi has enough 'meat' to handle the pressures of handloaded 45 colts?

Yep, the 1892 is the strongest of the pistol cartridge actions.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, you can get hot .45LC rounds without hand loading them yourself - here's a whole page of .45LC +P:
http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_38

Question is, without going all the way to a .454 Casull rifle, what modern .45LC actions are stout enough for .45LC +P? I guess the Henry Big Boy, for one, eh?
 
Question is, without going all the way to a .454 Casull rifle, what modern .45LC actions are stout enough for .45LC +P? I guess the Henry Big Boy, for one, eh?
Click to expand...
The only ones that I know of are the Winchester '92 and '94, though the 1885 will probably do just as well (perhaps better). The Henry might be alright, but I seriously doubt it.

:)
 
Question is, without going all the way to a .454 Casull rifle, what modern .45LC actions are stout enough for .45LC +P? I guess the Henry Big Boy, for one, eh?
Click to expand...
I can only assume the Big Boy is strong enough for "Ruger only" loads (up to 32,000psi) because it is also chambered in .44Mag. We know for sure that the Winchester 94 and Marlin 1894 are strong enough for loads in the 40,000psi range. The modern 1892 (Winchester and replicas) is the strongest and can withstand loads in the 50,000psi range.
 
It just happens that i emailed Henry Rifle last week and asked the same question. They emailed back the next day. " All of the Henry rifles in 45 Colt will handle +p loads with no problems". I am assuming that the tech support dept knows what they're talking about.
 
AK_Maine_iac,

The Henry Big Boy is no toy. It is a really solid machine.

I am curious as to who from Henry sent you he reply that you got. Most email conversations I have had with Henry, and all telephone conversations I have had with them have been with Antonio, who owns the company.

I did get one response from a question that Antonio could not answer, from Thomas Kotz, who is head customer service.

From what I have seen so far, they don't give any yahoo a phone and a computer and let them answer customer questions or deal with customer problems.

I had a question one time and spoke on the phone with Antonio. He answered it on the phone, and called me back the next day to make sure my issue had been remedied. Compare that to Marlin, who does not have a published working customer service telephone number or working email contact information any more.

Rick
 
The Marlin Cowboy is the most accurate, but the Uberti is close and looks good. I've also got a 45 Colt Rossi Ranch Hand that's not in the picture. You'll need more than a couple of 45 Colts to really reload well. All 45 Colt...

45Colt02.jpg
 
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