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I have tried many different loads in my Marlin 1895 and I will be the first to admit that when you start approaching 3200 foot pounds of muzzle energy the shooting is brutal to the shooter. I remember one time when I was at a shooting range another gentleman had a Trapdoor Springfield replica and a .458 Win Mag bolt gun. He asked me if he could try my Marlin. I told him sure, if he would let me shoot his Trapdoor. I pointed out that the loads I had were too hot for his gun and so we shot the appropriate loads in the appropriate arms. His Trapdoor seemed a very docile rifle even though it had a curved steel buttplate. But his impression of my Marlin was something different. After the first shot, he decided he had had enough. He remarked that it kicked significantly more than his .458 and he didn't know how anyone could shoot such a beast. That day, after firing a score of heavy loads, I went home with a bruised shoulder.  I've learned to accept the bruises delivered by my Marlin when firing heavy loads.  It happens a lot.  I cannot imagine why anyone in his right mind would want to fire a more powerful cartridge in the 1895.
 
I think the .450 Marlin is a good cartridge to build a short bolt action rifle around.  It is very similar to the .458 American wildcat, a shortened .458 Win Mag. I have thought about having one built for a long time but, fun as it might be, I just haven't had any need for it. If I need more than a heavy 45-70 load, I'll just take the .375 H&H.

Found some info on the previous launch (1994) of a "classic" by Savage.  It was the Model 114CU.

I seem to remember Savage doing this about ten years ago. In fact I think that 7x57 was even one of the chamberings offered. I don't think the market was ready for it then but things could be different now.

Ty Herring, Customer Service Director of Barnes Bullets, sent me this information:
 
"All of our X Bullets in .25 cal are designed to expand at a minimum impact velocity of 1800fps. This may limit your effective range but will still be a good choice at reasonable ranges. We Aim to please, reloading is a great hobby, enjoy it."
 
Barnes has two 100 grain .257 caliber X-bullets, one an XLC bullet and one a Tripple Shock bullet. They also make a 90 grain standard X-Bullet and a 115 grain Tripple Shock bullet. Both the 100 grainers have a ballistic coefficient of .420 and should still be traveling more than 1800fps at 325 yards. I think these would also be good chioces for the 25-35 and would definately be good 250 yard deer loads. I worked up the ballistics for these 100 grainers with a 200 yard zero below.
 
 
 

Paul,
 
I was not seeking an argument.  I was only saying that my first thoughts of using the 25-35 for an elk hunt were probably not prudent because I had better weapons to choose from.  A 25-35 can absolutely kill any land animal on this planet if the payload is delivered to an area vital for life and does lethal damage.  Even a long pencil sized hole through the brain, lungs, or heart will cause death.  Of course the death may take a long time and pencils are, therefore, not a weapon of choice for hunting.  But here is an interesting example of just how deadly a well placed, small, and slow moving piece of metal can be.
 
"The largest grizzly bear ever shot in Alberta was taken back in 1953 by a 63 year old Native woman. Bella Twin was picking berries near Slave Lake when she encountered a huge bear that had obviously decided the berries were his for the taking, and his alone. Defending herself the only way she could, Twin lifted the rifle she always carried, pointed it quickly and fired. The great bear fell to the ground, stone dead, a single shot to the brain. To this day, Twin's grizzly stands as the longest reigning provincial big-game record in Alberta, and it may well never be broken. There are varying accounts of the incident, but all agree on one thing: Twin did the job with the humblest of rifles, a single shot .22.  The Boone and Crockett score for her bear was 26 5/16, only one point below the world's record grizzly bear."

Well maybe I just had too much coffee to drink the other day. I sincerely believe that the 25-35 with proper bullets would be adequate for shooting an elk at close range, but there is no reason for me to resort to using it for that. A single or double shot 25-35 is much better suited to hunting deer.
 
Regarding the 120 grain Speer Grand Slam, the ballistics are below. I worked this up for a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps because I think that is realistic and can be attained without pushing pressures. I also have and use Ackley's Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders but I feel he pushed the limit to get some of the velocities he published.
 
Based on what the Speer technician said, I would think that 150 yards would be at the limit of acceptable vlocities for the Grand Slam. If so, then maybe it would expand at 150 yards and maybe it wouldn't. If I were using this bullet I would try to keep shots within 100 yards. For that reason I think the 100 grain Nosler BT is a better choice. The Nosler would make a real 200+ yard deer rifle out of your drilling.

I finally got an answer back from Speer.  I asked about using the 120gr Grand Slam.  They told me,
 
"If you keep your shots to 150 yds and under, the Grand Slam will work fine as you will have about 1834 fps left and about 850 ft.lbs. of energy."

You should have no problem getting 3600 fps from 140 grains in your 7mm STW.  Just open the canopy of a speeding F-16 and shoot into the direction of flight.

I have fired rifles in temperatures from -20 degrees to 130 degrees and never noticed any difference except in the way the weapon functioned.  In hot weather it heated up pretty fast.  In cold weather feeding was slow and sometimes unreliable until the rifle warmed up.   All that said, there has to be a difference in the burning rate of powder at different temperatures.  It is simple chemistry that this has to be so.  But, if when hot the powder burns 5% faster or when cold burns 5% slower then the differences you will have in velocity are going to produce a negligible difference in the height of the bullet at a given range.  It may be a significant difference to a sniper who is using various tables to adjust his shot for temperature, humidity, and altitude, but to a hunter, what's a couple of inches higher or lower at 200-300 yards?

The No. 1 is one of the best rifles you can find in 45-70.  It is super strong and can even be handloaded to higher pressures than are safe for the Marlin leverguns.

Well you could rechamber it in some sort of 300 short magnum wildcat.  If you want something smaller you could rebarrel it in 7x30 Waters.  If you want something bigger you could rebore it to .375 Winchester.  But if it were me, I'd just leave it like it is.  It's a nice looking piece in a highly overlooked chambering.  I wonder if Medwel & Perritt are exporting.

Barnes Bullets just came out with a 130 grain Tripple-Shock X-Bullet in .30 caliber that you might want to try out.

Brithunter,
 
What action is your Medwell & Perritt built around?  I never heard of them.  From the photo it almost looks like the 1903-Springfield/mauser-98 hybrid action my Parker Hale Midland 2100 is built on.

Holding the rifle to the same point of aim that shoots the 175gr at +1.5" will mean that it is holding high enough to compensate for the slow 175gr bullet's drop. The same point of aim will overcompensate for faster bullets so they will hit higher than the 175gr loads. Your point of impacts for the 150gr and 160gr loads are about where you should expect them. Remember though that the amount of bullet drop over a certain distance is dependant on time of flight since the longer it takes to get to the target the longer the bullet is falling so the greater the drop. Your 100gr loads may not be traveling as fast as your 150gr load. That would be an easy explaination. Remember that even if the 100gr load has a higher muzzel velocity it also has less sectional density and therefore a lesser ballistic coefficient. It may just be losing velocity faster than the 150gr bullet. It could also be a combination of low muzzle velocity and low ballistic coefficient for the 100gr bullet and high muzzle velocity and high ballistic coefficient for the 150gr bullet. You need to look at the velocities and ballistic coefficents for these two loads and compare them.
 
Another factor could be that the 100gr load is recoiling less and you may be getting less muzzle rise. All of these factors working together could create a large variation.

Check out that point blank range for the 87 grain load.  Wow, and at normal 25-35 pressures.
 
I submit that either of these two bullets, 87gr Sierra or 100gr Nosler BT, are more than enough for hunting deer.  In fact, I may just try out the 100gr Nosler bullet in my 25-35 this year in the thick western Washington forests --- against elk.  Go ahead, throw your sticks and stones, but I might just leave the 45-70 at home this year when I trek into the thick timber after the big guys where a 50-75 yard shot is not unusual.

Here is a similar table of the ballistics you could get shooting the 87gr bullet Sierra recommended.  My Hodgdon Manual #25 lists 87 grain loads for the 25-35 at just under 2700fps with a 20" barrel.  Because my barrels are 26", I took the license of working the table up for the 2700 fps loads I think are attainable.