The Marlin 1895 is the 1895GBL variant, so full-length 6-round tube-mag big-loop lever action with a laminated stock, chambered in 45-70 Government. Phew.
The Ruger American Ranch is chambered in 450 Bushmaster and has a 16" barrel, howitzer-sized muzzle brake and 3 round detachable magazine. Yes, three whole individual rounds.
They could not be more different guns from one another, despite the similarities in ballistics.
The Marlin is tiny, only barely 900mm overall length and has a good, solid feel to it... especially when loaded with all six of those big 45-70 rounds. Factory loads are generally 400gr @ 1300fps or 300gr @ 1800fps, either way they're hard hitters and a lot of fun even if only for the spectacle of it. I handload as factory ammo is generally upward of $2.50 a shot.
The receiver is tapped for mounts, I got a nice Leupold rail for rings and fitted an ancient Barska 4x40 fixed power and went to the range with a vairety of ammo including handloads. For starters the rifle didn't work out of th box and required gunsmithing to take the edge off a tiny screw that holds the base of the tube mag into the action. No issues after a gentle filing, so back into it.
Factory PPU ammo is the softer 400gr variety and lobs out a nice, strong push into your shoulder. The Federal 300gr is higher velocity and you definitely know you're firing something with a bit of go about it. The stock recoil pad isn't much chop so I'd definitely recommend an aftermarket one here if you plan on shooting full-power loads regularly. Both loads shot well but honestly were somewhat intimidating to try and shoot from the bench given the recoil and heavyish stock trigger - I found myself anticipating a bit when building pull weight up to the stock break which is a bit over 5 pounds.
Handloads? I took some 405gr Black Widow coated lead projectiles, sat them in front of 13gr of Trailboss and went subsonic at about 1000fps, still returning 900 odd foot pound of muzzle energy due to the big projectiles trundling downrange. No issue to shoot in terms of recoil, lots of fun at range given the parabolic arc bordering on mortar type trajectory, and the best of it was they grouped 1" flat at 100m - thats 0.87 MOA out of a levergun. No complaints here!
Cycling rounds was slick with no misfeeds after the initial adjustment and overall the gun feels great firing a any position. Offhand is natural and the overall impression is a high quality utilitarian rifle.
The Ruger... well. The Ruger American Ranch in 450 Bushmaster is a very different animal. Its light, its small, its mean. Its a stalking rifle at its finest and throws a big chunk of lead just like the Marlin, with a 250gr Hornady FTX ballistic tip coming out around 2200fps. You definitely know you've fired it, the kick is severe to say the least and that's with a stock muzzle brake and decent recoil pad. Not a bench rifle, but would be great in the field.
Fit and finish on the Ruger were not amazing, and the bolt assembly in particular felt pretty zippish due to machine marks. I imagine this will go away with use and to be honest I didn't mind it. Feeding rounds was a tad akward as well, due to a small casting lip in the plastic feed ramp of the magazine. I took that off with my pocketknife and had no more feed issue afterwards. You may note that its a push-type bolt assembly as well, so you need the rifle bolt upright to feed a round easily or it will jam.
The trigger though, yeah the trigger on the Ruger is much nicer, a two stage Accurtriger type setup. Overall pull is heavy but the action is decent. Mounting to the stock rails was easy, I threw on a Leupold 2-7x40. Later testing was with a Lucky 13 9-round magazine to simulate what I'd be taking bush to shoot offhand with. It fit much better and cycled smoother than the stock mag so I'd highly recommend it if you're going to take the gun walking around or are going into pig country.
Given the weight of the Ruger it was just crazy with the stock loads to fire from the bench so I made up some low powered stuff and went to give it another crack. Using 200gr round nose projectiles over 13.7gr of Trailboss it was much tamer and still reasonably accurate out to 200m. I didn't get a decent grouping out of it as I'm still fine tuning the load. Best I got was about 2.5" @ 100m. This could also be because of the stock, which has a forend touch to the barrel on the left side when sighting it. I'll tidy this up and go again.
Overall its a hoot of a gun, I don't like it as much as the Marlin lever action but from a utilitarian viewpoint its probably the better bit of kit - light, compact, hard hitting and weather resistant. Either would be great and both cartidges have similar ballistics so ultimately it would be up to what you prefer... or if you get a good deal go with both like I did!
Any questions feel free to ask, I'm still to take either hunting but am rapidly getting used to them on the range. 45 cal stuff isn't something I've ever done before so if anyone has any pointers on loads let me know. I'm gravitating to subsonic lo-po stuff for the range as well as some faster loads for hunting in the future.
Cheers - boingk
Marlin & Norinco 22LR
Ruger
Marlin group
