The .450 Marlin is a firearms cartridge designed as a modernized equivalent to the .45-70 cartridge. It was designed by a joint team of

Marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...

and

Hornady Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska. History The company is currently run by Joyce Hornady's son, Steve Hornady, who took over ...

engineers headed by Hornady's Mitch Mittelstaedt, and was released in 2000, with cartridges manufactured by Hornady and rifles manufactured by Marlin, mainly the Model 1895M levergun. The

Browning BLR The Browning BLR is a lever-action rifle manufactured for Browning Arms Company by Miroku Firearms in Japan. It comes in many different variations and is chambered in numerous calibers from small and fast (.22-250 Remington and .243 Winchest ...

is also now available in .450 Marlin chambering, as is the Ruger No. 1. Marlin ceased manufacture of the 1895M rifle in 2009. In October 2022 it was rumored that Ruger Firearms the new owner of Marlin Firearms may be reintroducing the 450 Marlin in their Model 1895 guide gun but this has not been confirmed by Marlin or Ruger.

Design

While ballistically similar to the .45-70, the .450 Marlin was not developed from the .45-70. Rather, the .450 Marlin was developed from the wildcat .458×2" American, which was based on the

.458 Winchester Magnum The .458 Winchester Magnum is a belted, straight-taper cased, big five game rifle cartridge. It was introduced commercially in 1956 by Winchester and first chambered in the Winchester Model 70 African rifle. It was designed to compete against t ...

. This places the .450 Marlin in the .458 Winchester family of cartridges, though it is more easily understood as a "modernized" .45-70. It is possible to

handload Handloading, or reloading, is the practice of making firearm cartridges by assembling the individual components (case, primer, propellant, and projectile), rather than purchasing mass-assembled, factory-loaded ammunition. The term ''hand ...

the .45-70 to levels that can destroy older firearms such as the Trapdoor Springfield. The .450 Marlin offers the ballistics of such "hot" .45-70 loads without the risk of chambering in firearms that cannot handle its higher pressure. The belt has been modified to prevent it from chambering in smaller-bore 7 mm Magnum or .338 Magnum rifles. The .45-70 and .450 Marlin cannot be cross-chambered, but rifles chambered for the American can be modified to fire the .450 Marlin. Visually, the case resembles that of the .458 Winchester Magnum with a wider belt. The cartridge is most useful for hunting big game at short ranges, being accurate at ranges of . The cartridge is capable of taking any large game animal in North America including large elk, brown bear, and moose. One potential advantage of the .450 Marlin was its ability to chamber easily in bolt-action rifles, essentially becoming a ".45-70 bolt action" cartridge. This idea, however, was only utilized by one company:

Steyr-Mannlicher Steyr Arms () is a firearms manufacturer based in Sankt Peter in der Au, Austria. Originally part of Steyr-Daimler-Puch, it became independent when the conglomerate was broken up in 1989. Prior to 1 January 2019, the company was named Steyr Man ...

. However, many companies such as E.R. Shaw Inc. and EABCO have helped numerous owners convert their existing bolt-action rifles to .450 Marlin, fulfilling the cartridge's inspired purpose.

Dimensions

The dimensions are subject to change. The most current dimensions are available from th
SAAMI website, standard Z299.4 – 2015
at pages 148 and 344.

References

External links

.450 Marlin

450 Marlin Reloading Data

Whatever Happened To The .450 Marlin?

Big-Bore Lever-Action Hunting Guns: Pass On Marlins New .450
{{Marlin Firearms 450 Marlin

Design

Dimensions

See also

References

External links