The .450:Marlin

Guns Magazine, Oct, 2000 by Jon R. Sundra

In collaboration with Hornady, Marlin has created a new levergun cartridge that is ideal for deer or black bear in brush country.

Big bore cartridges are not often introduced. I don't mean "big bore" in the sense of dangerous game numbers like the .416 Rem, or .458 Win. I'm talking about cartridges over .35 caliber of moderate power and shuttlecock trajectories designed expressly for use in traditional lever action rifles.

By "traditional" I mean the beloved, slab-sided, exposed hammer, tubular magazine guns, like the Model 94. These are actions designed for blunt-nosed cartridges and maximum pressure levels of 40,000 cup.

Modern lever guns like the Browning BLR do their best to look like traditional lever action rifles, but its rotary-bolt action and box magazine, capable of handling spitzer-bulleted, high-intensity cartridges the likes of the 7mm-08 and .300 Win. Mag. puts them in an entirely different class.

So, call 'em what you will -- brush busters, timber guns, woods carbines, whatever - we're talking guns meant primarily for hunting whitetail and black bear in the eastern half of the continent where probably 85 percent of the game is shot at ranges under 100 yards, and the remaining 15 percent under 200 yards.

Bolts And Levers

While an ever-increasing number of hunters have gone over to bolt actions chambered for cartridges like the .270 Win., .280 Rem., or magnums like the 7mm Rem. or .300 Win., a lot of highly experienced hunters still swear by the handiness and firepower of a lever action rifle pushing big, blunt-nosed bullets that seem to saunter toward the target. If ever there was a cartridge that fills the foregoing description, the new .450 Marlin is it.

The result of a combined effort between Marlin and Hornady. the .450 Marlin is a unique belted cartridge in

that, although it has the same belt and rim diameter as the ubiquitous H&H case -- the basis of so many familiar magnums over the years -- the width of the belt on the .450 is nearly .050" greater.

Why? Because otherwise the .450 would slip into the chamber of any full-length "improved" H&H-based belted magnum like the 7mm STW, the .300 and .340 Weatherbys, and the 8mm and .416 Rem. Mag., and allow the bolt to close behind!

The first thought that comes to mind, of course, is: "Why would anyone do something that dumb, let alone pull the trigger?" The answer is that Marlin had to assume that Murphy's Law would ultimately come into play. By specifying a belt that is .050" wider than that of the H&H case (which of course increases headspace by the same amount), it precludes the possibility of the bolt closing on any of the aforementioned magnums with a .450 Marlin up the spout.

According to Marlin, the .450 pushes a 350 gr. .458" bullet at a velocity of 2,100 fps, with 3,425 ft./lbs. of muzzle energy. These figures, however, were established in a 24" test barrel, whereas the Model 1895 Guide Gun, which is the chassis used for the new .450, sports an 18 1/2" spout -- ported, no less. It's real world velocity turned out to be 2,005 fps -- a very moderate reduction in speed, especially with a ported barrel.

Big-Bore Run-Down

Before looking further into the capabilities of this new rifle/cartridge combination, let's examine the .450's competition, for only then can we assess just how well it stacks up.

The fact of the matter is that what little competition there is comes mostly from the Marlin people themselves in the form of two models chambered for the .45-70, and two more reamed for their own .444.

Specifically, there's the Model 1895 Guide Gun and the 1895-SS; the former sports the same 18 1/2" ported barrel and straight-grip stock as the .450, while the SS has a 20" barrel and a pistol-grip. The exact same specs distinguish the two .444 models.

The only competition from outside the Marlin family comes from USRAC in the form of Model 94 Winchester. Three versions are offered -- the synthetic-stocked Black Shadow, the Big Bore and the Timber Carbine -- all of which are offered in .444 Marlin.

The only other cartrides we've seen in the recent past that could claim membership this category were the .375 Win, introduced in 1978, and the .356 Win. of 1983. Neither of these rounds were successful, and though ammunition is still available for both, the Marlin and Winchester lever guns chambered for these cartridges are no longer in production.

In the current commercial cartridge lineup, then, only two other rounds can be said to be in the same class as the .450 Marlin; the .444 which has been around since 1964, and the .45-70 which dates back to 1873. When you also consider that rifles chambered for these cartridges go back well over 100 years, it's obvious that this doesn't represent the cutting edge of firearms development.

Head To Head

Comparing the ballistics of the .444 and the .450 is a rather straightforward proposition. The .45-70 on the other hand, is another matter because there are really three performance levels for this progenitor of the centrally-primed, self-contained metallic cartridge.