Spike Camp

45-70

musicman

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Re: 45-70
« Reply #30 on: November 28, 2018, 05:23:54 PM »
Those short barreled Marlin's are such wonderfully handling guns.  A previous poster mentioned the .45-70 in Gatling guns.  They were, but prior to that, they were chambered first, for a paper cased cartridge, as brass cases were still being developed.  Then they went to a steel cased sort of cartridge, to make it more reliable.  Then it was probably chambered in the early brass cased rounds, perhaps those that were used in the Spencer's and Henry's.  With all of these, the cartridges were gravity fed from the magazine.  Then when the .45-70 came out, the Gatling was chambered in it, and a different style of magazine was employed.  Those were the queen bees of the time, until it was chambered in the .30-40 Krag and 6mm Navy in the mid 1890's.  I imagine, that when that .45-70 beast was cranked, it was a ferocious volley of noise, smoke, and lead.  MM

sschefer

Re: 45-70
« Reply #31 on: November 29, 2018, 10:44:27 AM »
Last night I took the time to go over the rifle and field strip it so I know what to do if a problem occurs. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the components and the much improved fit and finish of the Trapper. There is a noticeable difference in the fit and finish of this rifle vs. their octagon barrel Cowboy version. The fit and finish was not so good on the ones that I looked at. Differences in the blueing quality with the barrel being heavily blued and polished and the receiver not so much. The wood work was also pretty shoddy on those.

On the trapper, the stainless is brushed and matches across all components and the laminate stock is finished well with all edges and corners relieved to match their connection points. The top of the fore end does have pretty sharp outside edges and I could definitely feel that on my finger tips. It only took a few minutes to smooth the edges out and fine sand with some 2000g Wet/Dry sandpaper so it matched the rest of the stock again. It's not a game changer but it should have been done at the factory.

The fore end has full wrap checkering and although not hand cut, it does give a nice appearance and a sticky spot for your hand. The butt has the left and right reliefs just like our B's and a slight palm swell also.

There is a long picatinny rail on top that's labeled as a "lever rail". The rear peep sight is mounted on the rail so if you wanted to remove the rail, you would loose the peep. I think they should have mounted the peep to the action and then put the rail on it so you could take the rail off if you wanted without further modification. The rail can still be removed but you would need to add back in a short Picatinny rail and then remount the peep to that.

I have seen a few examples of this rifle with a scope mounted. The fact that it is side eject makes this a fairly easy job as long as you remember to buy a scope and rings that are impact rated for this caliber. I won't name brands that aren't because the list is long. Just remember to do your research and make those verification phone calls. Do not rely on a salesperson's opinion, they often get products confused because they typically have several. No, not all sales folks are dummy's but they have a lot to remember and I couldn't do it so why should I expect them to.

Putting the rifle back together from a field strip was pretty straight forward and I did it without any outside assitance. I'm not saying you can do it because this ain't my first levergun rodeo. I would not recommend doing it if all you do is clean and shoot guns. However, if you buy this rifle for the uses that it's name implies, learn how to do a field strip, it may just save your butt someday.

Also, this review is not in a separate thread because, well, this is a Weatherby Website.

As a side note, this is what changed in the Freedom Group that is allowing Marlin to return to the quality levels they once were known for:

"In December 2012, citing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as "a watershed event that has raised the national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level," Cerberus announced it would sell all of its investments in Freedom Group. The private equity firm said it would retain a financial adviser to sell its interests in Freedom Group, and would return the proceeds to investors." If you don't know Cerberus is the biblical name of the 3 headed dog that guards the gates of hates. An appropriate name considering what they did to Remington and Marlin.

Things like this gives cause for great appreciation of Weatherby and how they've managed to keep it together through the bad and good times. To that, I must simply say "Thank You".
« Last Edit: November 29, 2018, 10:47:34 AM by sschefer »

musicman

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Re: 45-70
« Reply #32 on: November 29, 2018, 10:58:08 AM »
On an extended shooting session, that checkering started to "eat at" my hand, so I would always wear shooting gloves after that.  I routinely see "batting gloves, and golfing gloves at our local Second Chance store for a dollar a pair.  Those work for shooting gloves also.  MM

sschefer

Re: 45-70
« Reply #33 on: November 29, 2018, 11:01:43 AM »
On an extended shooting session, that checkering started to "eat at" my hand, so I would always wear shooting gloves after that.  I routinely see "batting gloves, and golfing gloves at our local Second Chance store for a dollar a pair.  Those work for shooting gloves also.  MM

+1 on that. I wear the cheap mechanics gloves. I cut the first two finger tips off the gloves and keep them in my range bag. Works great!

Re: 45-70
« Reply #34 on: November 29, 2018, 01:30:17 PM »
I have been hearing just lately that true Marlin quality is back, but have not seen a Marlin in a store for at least a year or so. The last one I saw and handled was really bad, but heard some good ones would slip through with the bad ones. Anybody know the real story on Marlin's quality on late 2018 rifles?
Come and take it.

sschefer

Re: 45-70
« Reply #35 on: November 29, 2018, 01:41:02 PM »
That's a tough question. I'm confident that the newest models are coming from the re-tooled plant and that the quality is there but because of the slow down in sales there are still many of the not so great rifles out there.  I think if you look at the rifle you'll see the lack of care in things like the wood work fit and finish. The not so greats look kind of like blocks of wood stuck on a rifle with squared edges rather than smooth and blended. On the cowboy's that I was looking at, the barrels are high gloss blued while the receivers are more of a satin. The mix of the two makes me think they were just scrounging up parts and making a gun without any regard for what it looked like. Actually and probably more close to the truth is my thought that they had a bunch of disappointed employees who were being told to produce rifles that they didn't want to put their names on.

musicman

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Re: 45-70
« Reply #36 on: November 30, 2018, 06:39:56 PM »
I too have heard what sschefer said.  You just need to look at them.  MM