45-70 .457 Conversion

[802flyfish]

Picking up a Marlin 45-70. Debating on this .457 conversion. Can’t find much information on this conversion, but would be nice to shoot .410 for grouse while in bear country in MT/AK.

 

[std7mag]

I'd check with @p_ham!!

I don't know how a rifled barrel will do with the 410 in that long of a barrel.
I know that with my Taurus Judge with the 6" barrel, the paper is clean at 25 yards using #8 shot.
As in not a mark on it.

 

[p_ham]

I personally don't think it's worth the effort. Ballistic gains are marginal if any, and shotshells out of a rifled barrel are very short range.

 

[802flyfish]

Thanks for confirming.

 

[BrentD]

What is a .457 conversion and what advantage would that offer to a rifle that is .458 in the grooves?

 

[p_ham]

What is a .457 conversion and what advantage would that offer to a rifle that is .458 in the grooves?

It's just a 45-70 with a case length of 2.21, and an oal of 2.66. It's still .458 cal.

 

[BrentD]

It's just a 45-70 with a case length of 2.21, and an oal of 2.66. It's still .458 cal.

So basically a .45-80. Cut down .45-90 brass I suppose.

There are some Marlin .410 lever guns. Smooth, of course.

 

[BAKPAKR]

So basically a .45-80. Cut down .45-90 brass I suppose.

There are some Marlin .410 lever guns. Smooth, of course.

How much Swiss 2 FG would you use?

 

[BrentD]

Depends on the situation. I use 79-84 grs in my .45-70,

My .45-90 could not shoot less than 105 gr, and my .45-100 uses 107.5 as a minimum target load usually. But then again, I took that rifle to Africa and used 86 grs as I recall and put in grease cookie instead. So, just depends on what you want to do. To be honest, it is hard to justify anything longer than a .45-70.

 

[802flyfish]

I personally don't think it's worth the effort. Ballistic gains are marginal if any, and shotshells out of a rifled barrel are very short range.

They emailed me back stating “Approximately 20 to 30 yards with bird shot”. That doesn’t seem bad at all if it’s true..

 

[std7mag]

They emailed me back stating “Approximately 20 to 30 yards with bird shot”. That doesn’t seem bad at all if it’s true..

Refer to my post.. ^^^

Personally, I wouldn't shoot shot out of a rifled barrel.
The rotation set into the shot column just opens the wad too quickly and sends the shot outwards.

It's not like putting a spin on a football.
It's like grabbing a handful of gravel and trying to throw it like a football. Inducing a spin just opens up the group.

Henry does make a.410 lever action.

 

[MTTW]

30 yards with a smooth bore 3 inch 410 is a stretch in my experience. With a rifled barrel you would loose a lot more grouse than you ever recover past 15 yards would be my guess.