Not sure about the one in the picture. The one that I tend to get issued from the weapons vault is WAY earlier in the Cold War era (think, slightly after Korea). Reliable though, I'll give it that much, I'm careful with my mags so all the young guys who whine about their pistols get shown by me that checking the lips improve the reliability 110% for these things. Too many guys among the years I think doing the hollywood reloads where they bounce across the ground instead of removing them properly.
Wouldn't a defensive 12ga with 3in buck shot and slugs be just as handy from the house to the shop...just saying. Take care.
If you bugger up your mags you have a single shot handgun at best I can't believe the military let's them get away with abusing their equipment.
Hard cast hunting slugs would be my choice if using a shotgun. I'm glad I don't have anything that large here. My biggest threat around here is a coy dog. There are some bear about 30 mins north of me. This is as big as it gets here. I took this Friday afternoon when I got home from work. He was about 30 yards out back of my house.
"clipped on my belt," No the key words here count Funny though I have near exactly what you posted tucked away in the house, except I use 2 3/4 " instead of the 3" the goto home weapon however is a Marlin 45/70 1895G Guide Gun that short fast rifle will put down anything that I might ever encounter and then some.. I like the 12 ga don't get me wrong, and like Panchango just wrote, I keep solids on the Buttstock but that GG is just so dang fast it is hard to beat... The hand loads are popping 405 gr Lazercast out of the barrel at 1450 FPS and they will smack into less then 2" groups all day long offhand out to 75 yds so she is a shooter. of course the Custom Ghost rings I put on really help with a fast sight picture and acquisition..
Isn't the barrel on your marlin somewhere around 20in? 45-70 is one hell of a stopper I have always wanted on in 444 marlin is another round that is a proven stopper as a brush rifle
I wish we were still issued the .45. If they thought the Colt was getting dated, they could have come up with another solution. Obviously, I'm just a Joe and not Special Forces, so I have to take whatever junk they issue me and make it work as best as I can.
Yes 18.5 and mine is one of the 1st Generation models that has the Mag-na-Porting.. really like it, went back and forth about getting it in .450 Marlin but with the ability to reload my own the power advantage diminished, and was outweighed by the availability of 45/70 brass and loads.. I also looked at the .444 But the handy size and fast handling of the GG won me over..
I am actually kinda jealous sounds so sweet...you going with the 300gr or staying with the heavy 405gr
The heavy 405 gr and I use the Lasercast Bullets I really like their solid lead stuff I tried these back when they first came out and I liked them too but cost-wise and accuracy-wise the Lasercast win out
That 405 is going to make one he'll of a thump when that hits penitration = easily shattered shoulder/back bone dropping moose or bear on any given shot...are you duplicating the original ballistics from the 1800's?
I already posted my daily driver, here is my full race Colt 45 70 Series in nickel, 18 oz trigger pull, and my 3 gun match Remington 1100 choke tubes, also in nickel, 3lb trigger, which matches the trigger on my AR15 Sporter.
Trapdoor safe loads will come out of the short Bbl at about 1250-1280 with the 405 gr, so I am pushing about 200 fps faster... I built the load to this rifle, I started at the original Trapdoor load then started building in velocity taking it up until the recoil started popping the lever open, which still wasn't near max pressure.. Then I started dropping the load back down 1/2 gr at a time searching for accuracy, dialed it in from there and have left it alone since then.. pretty much a standard recipe for a spread loading to find the right one for this rifle.. I had to change out the original Buckhorn sight as I had exceeded the accuracy of the sight, the Ghost ring is infinitely more adjustable, and allowed me to match the accuracy of the load and the rifle to a dead on shooter at 75 yards offhand... Plus sight acquisition is faster now too.. Funny though I have yet to drop anything with it, just don't like the short range stuff, to me hunting gets exciting at a 1/4 mile out, I love the long range stuff
1270-1300 FPS is about 2/3 the way to max I realize 1/4 out is stretching the barrel on your marlin however 1/4 mile is possible with your rifle with a different load developed just for that...that actually sounds fun working that load up over the winter,and a adjustable tang peep sight.
Picked up one of these little guys on a huge sale this week. A better option in warmer weather for my ccw weapon (my other ccw is a S&W Shield 9mm).
This is crazy I mean crazy, 900 grain. Good thing it weighs 13 pounds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeifer_Zeliska_.600_Nitro_Express_revolver I will keep with my little 642, when I let go one of my FBI hand loads I wished it weighed 13 pounds.
