Marlin 1895CB

[Hastings]

My brothers just bought me a new Marlin 1895CB for my birthday. I have only been able to test it at 60 yards. At this range, it is averaging groups of 1.5" with Remington 405 grain factory ammo (I'm sure the rifle will do better if I sandbag it). I want to sight it at 100 yards, but was wondering what kind of groups I could expect at that range, and at 200 yards, also. It has a 4x scope on it at the moment. My eyesight is to poor to fire over 100 yards with iron sights, unfortunately. Anyone fire one of these at 100 + yards regurlarly?

Thanks

 

[georgeky]

What a great birthday present. The 1895 Cowboy is a wonderful rifle. It will shoot better than that. I have fired many 1 inch groups at 100 yards with mine using peep sights. Can get under 3 inches at 200 and can hit the kill zone of a deer at 300 most the time. I shoot mostly my own reloads using cast bullets. I have shot the Rem 405's and got good groups with those as well. You can get Remington and Win ammo with 300 grain hollow points. Just keep shooting and try different ammo you will get it dialed right in. The 45-70 with a the right load can and does take anything walking.

 

[Redlg155]

Although I do not have the Cowboy version to compare, my 1895G in 45-70 will print an honest 1.5" or less at 100 yards using Hornady 300gr "leverevolution" ammo with my Nikon 2x7 scope mounted. I suspect your rifle will do just as well with a little more velocity to boot.

 

[Asherdan]

They are all (1895G, 1895, 1895CB) surprisingly good shooters in my experience. It's especially a heckuva nice gift. Those 405 Rems are running ~1200 fps out of your Cowboy so keep in mind the trajectory as you stretch the range. One thing in particular to keep in mind with the Marlins, the magazine tube attachment can effect POI as the barrel heats up, to shoot good tight groups you need to keep the barrel temp consistent between shots. For example, my 1895G will put the first two shots dead on each other, if I do not allow the barrel to cool it will throw the third one high and right. How much the third shot will move is dependent on how high the barrel temp has climbed. Your rifle will almost certainly act differently, moving POI in a different direction after a different number of consecutive shots. You can figure out what it is for your rifle, but my whole point is simple, take your time.

I did this on purpose one time to illustrate what I'm talking about. 1895G with Williams 5D aperture sights, original front bead and 100 yards shot off my backpack. I fired the left side three, adjusted sights and fired the center right three. See the third shot jump?



To answer your actual question: Find a load your rifle likes and learn the trajectory and you'll be able to turn in some fine shooting at further ranges.

 

[Hastings]

Thanks for the great info. I really appreciate having a wealth of knoledge and experience to draw from on these forums. Back in the early eighties, it would have taken endless phone calls, and searching through back issues of gun magazines to get only a fraction of the info available here. The info regarding the barrel temp is quite interesting. I'll have to see how the tube connection at the end of the barrel differs from my brother's 18" guide gun with the tube connected at roughly 60% mark. By the way, I tried the Leverevolution rounds in the 1895CB, and they hit dead on for windage, but 8.5" high with the rifle sighted in for 60 yards. I had expected them to hit slightly lower than the 405 grain Rem's. I'll be trying 100-200 yards, this weekend, so I can get it sighted for a reasonable range. I've been using my 1894 44mag levergun for black bear hunting, this season, but feel more confident with the 1895. It's a little long for getting thru the dense pines, but I'll deal with that inconvenience in order to have the greater range and power.

Thanks again.

Hastings

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

My 1895 will shoot 1.5" groups at 100 paces. Never shot groups at 200 with it so I can't attest to that.