Black powder loads for your levers- 45-70

[marlinman93]

I use either windage front globes, or Soule type rear vernier sights on all my single shots, but on my old Marlin lever actions I don't use any windage adjustable sights. I simply drift the front sight either way to get them zeroed in and don't change them ever after that. No reason for most shooting or hunting to need windage until you start pushing distances out farther.
I'm not a fan of the new Marbles or Lyman sights for the tang, and prefer to find old original Lyman or Marbles peep sights instead. They're not much more, and keep these guns looking original.

[rfd]

I'll ring up Andy @ Skinner on Monday and ask about his bbl ladder sight offering, maybe I can fit it with a peep, or maybe he can find one his "one off" ladder peep sights he had limited offer going a number of years back.

[seanmcneal]

The knob that can replace the Marlin lever screw for easier field cleaning sounds nice! I am going to look on eBay. Thanks!
Shooting 45-70 with a Marlin is just like shooting a single shot- you can push all the crud out the front. I anneal my cases, so they kinda act like a gas sealer- the case expands to the chamber and none to almost none of the BP crud gets into the action. Winchesters now… with my 1886, I leave the last shot (empty) case in the rifle, and clean from the muzzle for a few patches to get most of the crud out. The fired case acts like a gas seal, like with the Marlin. Then I eject that case and use a bore snake to pull out more BP residue, then finish cleaning it from the muzzle. This keeps almost all of the crud out of the action. Not 100%, but it works for me, and I am pretty anal about cleaning my pewers… You can wash your bore snake, just not with your wife’s undies…
All my rods- wood/metal/even my field rods, have a brass bore guide on it, just to help protect the muzzle crown.

[rfd]

I don't like muzzle entry cleaning - it's enuf of a concern with my flintlock muzzleloaders, even if using a brass muzzle guide. For BP loads I'll probably do what yer doing and give a try to using a fire formed case as a "chamber cork" and allow some tepid tap water to soften up the BP residue, then drain it out and pull the bolt, insert a bore guide and use a jagged rod and patch(es) for final clean up. Though if the cartridges are PPBs the clean up will take 3-6 total patches, from wet to dry to oiled. Love the PPBs. A Patchworm bore snake will be used for pulling through a few oily patches at the range or field, until I'm back at the ranch and can do a proper cleaning.

[seanmcneal]

Sounds like a plan! Happy pewing, and cleaning! The price we pay for fun!

[rfd]

I'm not sure what I want for iron sights, but clearly not a rear buckhorn. I stuck a tiny neodymium ring magnet over the buckhorn and it's SO much better, to the point that I could easily live with that as a viable rear sight. Coming from a long line of late 19th century discipline rifles I still have a fancy for a rear tang peep along with a front peep, so ... I ordered a Lyman #2 Henry tang and will see what height Lyman 17A will work best up front. Ain't all this lever gun stuff fun?

[rfd]

Brent; upon working the bolt does it hit that Lyman sight post?