(The photobucket link at bottom will get you to the pictures, they are in order of the steps I took to customize the rifle in the text below)
I started with an Marlin 1895G in .45-70 I won in a raffle at Sportsman's Warehouse in 2007I hunted black bear and lion with it in New Mexico. It also served as my truck and camp gun. I was unhappy with the usual Marlin issues, trigger, small and sharp-edged lever loop, sights, etc. I went the WWG way and installed their Trigger Happy Kit, Large-Loop Lever, Ghost Ring sights, aluminum mag follower and scout scope base.
This year I decided to do a full custom job. I've built several custom rifles in the past, and own a custom motorcycle fabrication business, so the rest was easy.
I started by replacing the short 4-round mag tube with an extended tube (designed for the 1895 CB: Brownell’s #550-000-051 $23.89, spring #550-401-795 $6.30).
I cut the tube so the plug sits 1/4" behind the muzzle. 2 1/2" cut off the spring makes it feed six rounds of my favorite 405 grain flat nose lead flawlessly. I cut a new dovetail for the front plug, and then made a filler for the existing dovetail.
Next I radiused the inside edges of the WWG Large-Loop lever to make it easier on the hands using a Dremel tool, and finished with 800-grit emery paper.
The cross-bolt safety is a danger in the field because it can be accidentally applied, so I cut and shaped it and tightened the set screw all the way down so it can't be used. I carry on an empty chamber unless I'm stalking game, and then use half-cock anyway.
Marlin's QC ain't great as you can see by the off-center barrel channel, so I reshaped the wide side and then stripped all stain and varnish and resprayed with truck bed liner.
I coated the rifle with Cerakote in Sniper Gray. I left the bolt heads and small parts blue for contrast (and they're a pain to coat).
I was originally using a Burris 1x handgun scope I swap with my pig gun, a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 mag. I found I shot better with the ghost ring sights than the scope, so I replaced it with a Burris 2x7 extended eye relief scope with BDC and Posi-Lok system (locks reticle in place to stop drift from heavy recoil).
As my handloads approached 1700 fps with the 405 grain bullets, recoil became harsh enough to chip teeth, so I added a recoil pad and buttstock cartridge carrier with neoprene cheek pad. Now it's fun to shoot as well as accurate and devastating out to 150 yards.
Now I have a good camp defense gun for future Alaska trips (my Remington .375 H&H will take care of filling the bear tags).
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I started with an Marlin 1895G in .45-70 I won in a raffle at Sportsman's Warehouse in 2007I hunted black bear and lion with it in New Mexico. It also served as my truck and camp gun. I was unhappy with the usual Marlin issues, trigger, small and sharp-edged lever loop, sights, etc. I went the WWG way and installed their Trigger Happy Kit, Large-Loop Lever, Ghost Ring sights, aluminum mag follower and scout scope base.
This year I decided to do a full custom job. I've built several custom rifles in the past, and own a custom motorcycle fabrication business, so the rest was easy.
I started by replacing the short 4-round mag tube with an extended tube (designed for the 1895 CB: Brownell’s #550-000-051 $23.89, spring #550-401-795 $6.30).
I cut the tube so the plug sits 1/4" behind the muzzle. 2 1/2" cut off the spring makes it feed six rounds of my favorite 405 grain flat nose lead flawlessly. I cut a new dovetail for the front plug, and then made a filler for the existing dovetail.
Next I radiused the inside edges of the WWG Large-Loop lever to make it easier on the hands using a Dremel tool, and finished with 800-grit emery paper.
The cross-bolt safety is a danger in the field because it can be accidentally applied, so I cut and shaped it and tightened the set screw all the way down so it can't be used. I carry on an empty chamber unless I'm stalking game, and then use half-cock anyway.
Marlin's QC ain't great as you can see by the off-center barrel channel, so I reshaped the wide side and then stripped all stain and varnish and resprayed with truck bed liner.
I coated the rifle with Cerakote in Sniper Gray. I left the bolt heads and small parts blue for contrast (and they're a pain to coat).
I was originally using a Burris 1x handgun scope I swap with my pig gun, a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 mag. I found I shot better with the ghost ring sights than the scope, so I replaced it with a Burris 2x7 extended eye relief scope with BDC and Posi-Lok system (locks reticle in place to stop drift from heavy recoil).
As my handloads approached 1700 fps with the 405 grain bullets, recoil became harsh enough to chip teeth, so I added a recoil pad and buttstock cartridge carrier with neoprene cheek pad. Now it's fun to shoot as well as accurate and devastating out to 150 yards.
Now I have a good camp defense gun for future Alaska trips (my Remington .375 H&H will take care of filling the bear tags).
