My fishing.hunting friend has the 18 1/2" Marlin Stainless. It shoots the .032" jacketed Barnes Flat noses at 2,010fps average at 10feet, using 49.0gr. Reloader #7. This load is listed at only 1,828fps, but was checked on both our chronographs for identical readings.(I didn't first believe his readings, so checked them on my PACT chrongraph.
: This load is supposed to be in the 28,000CUP range, which is well below the Marlin's max range of around 42,000CUP, but the velocity shows more pressure than that. Extraction is effortless with this load and primer appearance, of course, shows very minor pressure.
: The 350gr. Speer is very heavily jacketed, but the brass must be shortened to allow crimping & proper feed in the Marlin. A maximum overall length of 2.55" in necessary for feeding. For a soft point, it would probably give fairly deep penetration, but is on the light side(for me). Speer recommends it for the .45/70 blt and single shots as well as the .458 mag for big bear.
: I would personally prefer a heavier bullet in the 450gr. range for dangerous game, but do not know of any.
: Does Woodleigh make one in 450gr. that would function? You can shorten the brass slightly for crimping if the crimp grooves don't line up, or use a Lee Factory Crimp die for crimping where there is no crimp groove.(if they make a .458 die, that is) The collet action doesn't buckle the brass.
; The 350gr. Speer can be driven to around 2,100fps in the Marlin 22"barrel. I would expect 1,850fps from a 450gr. personaly, I'd prefer a .458 2" bolt gun with a 450gr. at 2,050fps., or 400gr. at 2,150fps, which I easily got from mine.
Daryl