Quilly

i owned a 1895M in 450marlin.

why? i thought i wanted something big. ended up being too big of a kick tome. after shooting 20 rounds i was done for the day. i would go with the 45-70gov't just becuase there is a better selection of ammo and if you reload you can jack it up to 450marlin standards.
if you do get a 45-70gov't get one in the browning BLR

akbound

One other consideration. At the moment I believe that the .450 Marlin is currently limited to one bullet.....the 350 Hornady. And even though that is a fairly good bullet....I would not trust it to give the kind of performance you can expect from bullets like the "sledgehammers" from Garrett. Without a doubt the Hornady bullet will work for game like deer, black bear, boar, and probably moose, and elk. But I don't think I would trust it entirely for a stopper on grizzly or Brown Bear. For that job I want a bullet "I KNOW" will hold together and penetrate.....not "think will". And bullets like the Sledgehammers and some of Buffalo Bore's bullets.....I KNOW will! And that is a very big difference indeed.

If as you said you only want it for whitetails....just about any factory load in either caliber will work! And the "Trapdoor loads" will get the job done for alot less money....and with many fewer bruises.....on both you....and the "eating meat". Of course if you handload...you can do the same with either. But it's nice to have the versatility in the factory loads as well.....especially if you find yourself accidently seperated from your handloads. And in many places the .450 Marlin will not be stocked.....the .45-70 is nearly always. Maybe an important consideration to you.....maybe not?!?

P.S. Hey...but what a nice dilemma to be faced with! It wasn't that many years ago we did not have these kind of choices. It would have been much simpler......and not nearly as much fun! (I just went through this process for myself. Trying to determine which of those two calibers I was going to purchase as a "second rifle" for my wife and I when we hunt Alaska together. It will triple duty as one of the camp guns, (the other an 870 Remington with Brennekes), a "packing" gun for when we are packing out meat, and the "heavy caliber" to back up the lighter...flatter shooting rifle the "other" of us will be carrying at any given time. I finally decided on the Stainless Steel Guide Gun in .45-70 for all the reasons I enumerated in my several posts above!

Once again...good luck!

DM

I'd get the 45-70 because you already have everything to reload for it, and the only thing that limits velocity in that gun is the "recoil". I never could stomache full power loads in that gun! Won't be any better in 450 Marlin!!

Drilling Man

Nomercy

Handloader1, with all due respect, you are only 1/2 right-yes, to considerably beat the .450M with a .45-70, you need a strong action-they can give an advantage of about 500fps in some cases-did in my Ruger No.1 vs. my 1895M, but it has been my experience that the .45-70 can match the .450 (if not surpass it) in the 1895's, my 1895 was faster than my 1895M for some reason, although the difference was small, usually an advantage of 200fps or so in the .45-70 with identical loadings (powder charge and bullet).

Marlin themselves claim that the .450M is belted so that it cannot be chambered in a .45-70 that isn't designed for high pressures, the chambers are virutally identical save the belt, the 1895M and 1895 are virtually the same gun, there is no reason that the 1895 can't handle the same pressure that the 1895M is able to...The belt is the ONLY true difference in the two guns, and it is FAR from enough to create any advantage in energy.

The 1895M I had never could touch 2000fps with any 350grn bullet I loaded, most were lucky to break 1750fps, while I've pushed a 350grn hardcast to 2077fps average in my .45-70 1895stainless.

And yes, the .450M is about at it's maximum abilities from the factory, leaving very little or no room for improvement on it's velocities.

As I said before, for a non-handloader, the .450M is the viable chioce, for the handloader, the .45-70 is the way to go.

In my rifles, the .45-70 was also inherently more accurate, every .45-70 I've owned has shot well with any bullet I've fed them, while I sent my first .450M back because it was so inaccurate, and my second was pretty finicky as far as what it would like to shoot.

formula1

Either caliber would be fine. I personally own the .450 and use it almost exclusively for deer. I've been using the factory Hornady 350 grain loads and they work great on whitetails. I've shot 8 so far with it at ranges of 120 yards down to 7 feet. I personally like new stuff, not nostalgic stuff like the .45-70, but the honest truth is there is really little practical difference between the two. If you can't handle recoil though, you shouldn't buy either one.

I think I'll continue shooting my .450 and let those .45-70 guys enjoy their antiques.

BareBack Jack

For history sake 45-70 is a good gun and holds up well on big game.There are guys in this big world that say the 45-70 is the way to go.I have a Marlin cowboy in 45-70 and it kills just as well as my .450 marlin 1895 w/a 24 in barrel.I have shot elk with both and both time the animal gave up with little fuss.I do not handload and I have shot the garret ammo out of my marlin cowboy it works well.I shoot hornady loads for my 1895,so I say each to his own and good luck shooting.BBJ

Big Guy01

I have a .444 and love it. Handloads do make a difference. They didn't offer the 45-70 when I bought my .444 if I had to buy one today I would go for the 45-70 especially if you are a reloader. The .450 Marlin was brought out for people who don't want to reloadand still wanted a powerfull lever gun IMHO. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice the ballistics are very close including my .444 Select whatever gun you can get the best deal on.

338-06imp.

Thanks alot guys for all your input I really had a very Idea good about which gun or should I say cal. I wanted all along and that is the 45-70 one of my all time favs. but I thought I would pick your brains a little and get some poop on this johnny come lately. Thanks again

handloader1

Nomercy:

You may have a better load for the 45-70 Gov., but this is just what I have experenced. What data I have found on the 450 Marlin, shows it is faster than the 45-70 Gov. using Marlins M 1895. There two guys (both handloaders) who compete against each other at local range; one has a 450 Marlin, and the other has a 45-70 Gov. both are M 1895's. The Marlin 450 usually (but not always) beats the 45-70 Gov. by only about 125 f/s. One day a fellow came buy with a Browning 78 in 45-70, and blew them away by about 450 f/s. I once had a chance to buy a Browning 78 in 45-70 (at about 99 percent) for $650.00, but I didn't act fast enough; I kick myself every time I think about that. Good luck.

eldeguello

By handloading, the .45/70 can be "improved" also - so much so that it stops bring fun to shoot it!!

Go with the .45/70.