I'm looking to get a Marlin 45-70 lever action and was wondering if certein models were better or not one guy told me the older ones are better fo lead bullet and the newer ones won't shot let as well anybody let meknow on this THANKS

Myth, micro groove bbls won't shoot cast well.
If the bullet is the proper size you can make it shoot well. Other than that take a long look at marlins cowboy (ballard rifled) in general the cream of the crop in a marlin 45-70. Welcome to the forum.

All Marlin 45-70s are the old ballard rifling now (according ot Marlins site). So, if you want ballard either get a really old or a really new.

The biggest debate over the Marlins has been barrel length. The extremes are the Guide Gun, short barrel, and the Cowboy, long barrel. I own a Guide Gun with the ported barrel and am very pleased with it. I shoot handloads with super results. My personal preference for rifling is the Ballard type. I had a micro groove 30-30 that was a good shooter but not as accurate as my Guide Gun. The 30-30 is still in the family, I gave it to my son-in-law.

I have an 1895 - standard model with 22" bbl that I
bought a couple years ago. They have all had Ballard rifling for the past 8 years at least. Or going further back, but yes, there was a period where they did have
some microgroove barrels which some claim don't throw lead as accurately.

I really like the standard model - not as muzzle heavy as the cowboy model, but still gives great velocity and accuracy. The guide guns are also very accurate despite the shorter bbl length. Get to a store and handle some, and pick one you like - there isn't a
bad choice among them !
I personally don't like ported bbls of the earlier year guide guns - much louder at the range and I don't
feel the benefits are there for the blast.

Myth, micro groove bbls won't shoot cast well.
If the bullet is the proper size you can make it shoot well. Other than that take a long look at marlins cowboy (ballard rifled) in general the cream of the crop in a marlin 45-70. Welcome to the forum.


THANK YOU! I have heard that the micro groove barrels won't shoot cast forever. I disagree as well. I have had a couple that shot great with a properly sized cast bullet. The lube should be a quality lube as so the grooves don't get as easily filled with leading, but I think those that say they won't shoot, have never tried it themselves, but only read it some where. D Wright.

I shot a micro-groove .45-70 in competition for many years. This involved 50 rounds every two weeks for the competition, plus practice rounds. They were home cast 405gr RCBS gas check from WW + 2%, the rifle never leaded and never saw jacketed ammo. When I sold it, it had seen at about 8000 rounds of lead and the barrel was mirror polished inside and still tight enough to shoot as well as it did when it was new. The only reason I sold it was for a cowboy (I know what the psych's say, but hey long octagonal barrels have always done it for me).