I have been receiving a good deal of E-Mail asking if the new 450 Marlin is worth it...or should they buy a 45-70. The answer to that question of course is that it is not that simple an ‘either/or’ answer. The new Marlin I have tested is the usual Marlin 336 levergun. It is well made and with good fit and finish like most new Marlins. Certainly the cartridge...the 450 Marlin...is nothing to dismiss. Out of a test barrel 24 inches in length, the commercial 350 grain bullet and load, gives near 2200 fps and just shy of two tons of muzzle energy. There is nothing that walks the Americas that this new cartridge won’t take, and cleanly. Handloading as usual can make it even better, as we will see...

If I were a non-reloader, and lived where ammo would not be a problem, the new 450 would be very tempting. My only worry would be hunting out somewhere in the boonies and not having ammo for the 450. Every supply store in almost every part of the world, will have some sort of 45-70 ammo. But the 450 ammo is going to be scarce in most outlying areas for some time. If I lived in Alaska for example...and bought a 450 Marlin, I would stock up on ammo. And when brass comes on the market I would lay in a goodly supply, because if the cartridge doesn’t last more than a few years, brass could become a problem.

I reloaded the 20 rounds I have with my 45-70 reloading dies. The fired case capacity with water is in the 450 is70 grains....where the 45-70 is 75 grains. The 450 case is thick at the base...that makes the difference in capacity. The belt on the 450 case I think is there not for strength but to keep it from chambering in a 45-70, especially the old rifles.

The company’s test results keeps the top loads to 42,000 PSI or under, and I am not sure why. The modern Marlin 336 will take a good deal more than that...easily 42-43000 CUP...which is running 45-46,000 PSI. They put out a fact sheet that said a Barnes 250 gr. X-Bullet over 58.5 grs of H4198 gives 41,700 psi and 2555 fps from a 24 inch barrel. And that’s over 3600 lbs of muzzle energy. Now before folks discount that...a 35 Whelen with a 250 grain bullet has to work at it to get to 2500 fps. It can and does...at least my Whelen does, even better than 2500fps/250 grain bullet. But the point is in the comparison, to show just how really powerful the 450 can be, that Whelen load has taken just about everything on earth. When in Africa in the late 1950s I took two elephants with a 9.3X62mm (almost a twin to the 35 Whelen).

In reloading the 450 I went to 2675 fps with H4198/61 grains and 4000 lbs (3973 actual number) using a 250 grain jacketed bullet I manufacture. I called it the 250PK. This velocity matches by the way, what I can get easily with my Marlin/Reeder 45-70/24 inch leveraction rifle. This is a very heavy load and only in my rifles...be careful older 45-70s can’t take this kind of pressure.

Now that we have several fine 350 grain jacketed bullets on the market like the Hornady and Speer offerings..real hunting power and penetration are ours, whether you use a 450 Marlin or a 45-70. The 350 grain tapered flat nose Speer bullet is good for everything from wild boar up thru moose and the big bears...I like this bullet. The Hornady round nose 350 was originally designed for the .458 Winchester magnum, as a light African plains game bullet. Light in weight mayhaps, but extremely well constructed...it is not the bullet to shoot your local black bear or deer. It will punch right thru...it would be excellent for the big bears of the north, or even moose, and in Africa right up to nasty buffalo size critters.

Marlin pushed a Hornady Interlock 350 grain at 2216 fps and over 3800 ft.lbs of punch from their 24 inch test barrel. The 45-70 loses around 30 to 34 fps per inch when the barrels are cut back from 24 inches. I didn’t have the powder Hornady used VV N 133 so I couldn’t test the velocity loss in the 18.5 inch Marlin 450 barrel. But I would guess that same load would just about break 2000 fps in the shorter barrel...that is still not a slouch load. Using 62.5 grains of my favorite ReL#7 I was pushing the 350 grain Speer at over 2150 fps. Not too shabby for a short barrel.

For the local animal population like deer, black bear, and hogs...the various 300 grain bullets are excellent. I had a bunch of Sierra 300 grain JHPs for my 45-70s, so I used them in testing the 300 grain weight. Again I went with ReL#7 first...topping out at 65 grains and 2350+ fps. If it had been my rifle I would have gone a little higher...but it wasn’t and I didn’t. Still that is somewhat close to what you can load a strong 336 Marlin 45-70 short barrel at with this Sierra 300 grainer. Because of the larger powder capacity in the 45-70 case, in the same rifle design and barrel length, the 45-70 will give better ballistics.

The data given by Hornady states that the down range 200 yard ballistics of the factory 350 grain load...is almost 1300 fps for 1300 ft.lbs of energy...or about what an old time 45-70 load would have been at the muzzle. And they say there is a 11 inch drop over that range. That must be with a 100 yard zero. With a 3 inch high at 100 with 2200 to 2300 fps loads I get around a 10 inch drop at 250 yards.

The power of this new rifle is like the 45-70, very demonstrable. We were toppling and rolling a 10 gallon steel barrel filled with debris at 125 to 130 yards with a good deal of ease. This 450 Marlin was exceptionally accurate, much better than my 45-70 Reeder/Marlin...I’m not sure if this is a factor of this particular 450/336 or something about the cartridge. This is a power and accuracy testament, not only to the 450 but also to the 350 grain bullet, which is most likely Hornady’s 350 grainer.

Like the 444 and 45-70 Marlin 336s, the rifling is well suited for cast bullets. And the accuracy was right on par with the jacketed loads. As far as I can see from years of use...the .458 bore and cast bullets make a wonderful game animal harvesting combination. Using flat nose slugs like the LBT WFN (Wide Flat Nose) from 300 to 400 grains at 2000 fps and over, you have the proverbial pile driver. You will find it very hard to keep a cast bullet inside even large animals like heavy elk. And of course I really don’t want the bullet to stay inside. And to paraphrase what Ol’Elmer used to say and often...two holes are better than one, they let the blood out and the cold air in. And this 450 will sure do that.

Using Cast Performance bullets 335 grain WFN over 63 grains of ReL #7 and getting 2388 fps gives a startling 4240 plus lbs of muzzle punch! And this from a 18.5 inch barrel. With 55 grains of H322 under a 450 grain LBT this little rifle gave just under 1900 fps. There just isn’t anything that walks the earth that I know of that this load couldn’t take. A little high between the eyes of an elephant and his butt will hit the ground first, then his front end will go down. Even if the bullet is a little off it’s mark it is going to stun him for several minutes to easily get in a second and better aimed shot. Or maybe to take a few breaths, relax, and then take the second shot. What a neat compact little rifle this Marlin is to haul around on an extended hunt even in rough country.

Now the question is does it recoil with these hyper loads....gads don’t even ask. With the afore mentioned 450 grain it moves me back a step...if it were my rifle I would have a decelerator pad put on it...a thick one. As for the ports on the end of the barrel...they may be keeping the barrel lift down, but they don’t seem to be helping me with the recoil...certainly I can’t feel a real difference between the 450 and a stock 45-70 with similar loadings.

So to answer the question is the 450 Marlin worth it. I go back to what I said..if you are in an area where ammo is not a problem...then it is well worth it. But since I am a 45-70 shooter I chose not to keep the 450...but that’s personal with me. As for the 450 Marlin it is a fine cartridge and rifle, it will take time to see if it makes it in today’s market considering the wide spread knowledge of how powerful the old 45-70 can be loaded.......