i have decided to once again tinker with loads fore my marlin. I am looking for a couple of bullet choices. what is your preffered bullet for 300g,350,and 400-405g bullets?

I have tried 300, 350 and 405g bullets
to me, the bigger bullets at a lower velocity have a lot less snap in the recoil
I have also experimented with a powders that are commonly recommended for it
I have settled on the 405g Performance cast using 46.5g of Varget, it's a easy shooting load and groups about an inch at 75 yards with a scout scope
I will try the BTB 425g cast when these are out

I shoot a lot of the Hornady 350 grain RN bullets over 58 grains of Varget and CCI 200 primers. This has been a remarkably consistent and accurate load in my Guide Gun.

Like Ccoker, I experimented with a lot of powder and bullets. So, now you have two votes for Varget.

One of my most accurate loads is a 350grn Hornady FP, with RE #7. My only problem is that at 2000fps the recoil is brutal. I am now working on some "lighter" body friendly loads.

I have used the 350g Hornady RN on paper with if i remember right 50g of IMR4198 and the groups where someware in the 1.5 inch range at 100yards. Becides looks what if any diference is there between the Hornady 350g flat nose versed the Round nose? Is one of heavier construction or something?

Think I might just have to try varget I have not yet used that powder.

The problem I found with RE#7 in the 45-70 is - it's a very sharp discharge compared to Varget which is slower. The difference is felt in recoil and how it is delivered to the shooter. Varget is a much more shooter friendly powder. The difference has been described as a push as opposed to tha punch.

I have some RE#7 loads with a 500 grain bullet that are just downright nasty. Not fun too shoot. I have them in reserve just in case the marauding elephant escapes the zoo and is stomping out people who get in its path. I won't get stomped.

The difference between the FN and RN 350 grain bullets is the RN has a little better BC. Both are good. They worked so well for me I bought 1500 of the RN bullets a few years back ... so by default it is my favorite bullet in the 45-70.

So there is little to no difference in the bullets. I should try both and see which works better in my rifle. So I guess The hornady 350grainers are going to be the one I am going to play with for the 350g load. It seams as though the 350g hornady bullets are a nice weight compromise. I am thinking about trying out the Cast Proformance line. However I am going to have to search for load data. Gerr. They have a 420g and a 460g load I am intrested in and I dont know where to start as far as powders or charges.

The copper jacketed bullets allow you to step up the loads a bit compared to cast lead. I've had to back off velocity quite a lot with lead bullets to maintain accuracy and keep from serious leading in the barrel. I found Accurate Arms MR 3100 to be a good powder for lead bullets but like you said above, the 350 grain is a good weight compromise.

Oregon Trail Lasercast (www.laser-cast.com/) Bullets do pretty well. They make 350 and 405 grain bullets. They seem to be pretty consistent, and at $42/250 its hard to beat the price.:)

The problem I found with RE#7 in the 45-70 is - it's a very sharp discharge compared to Varget which is slower. The difference is felt in recoil and how it is delivered to the shooter. Varget is a much more shooter friendly powder. The difference has been described as a push as opposed to tha punch.

I have some RE#7 loads with a 500 grain bullet that are just downright nasty. Not fun too shoot. I have them in reserve just in case the marauding elephant escapes the zoo and is stomping out people who get in its path. I won't get stomped.

The difference between the FN and RN 350 grain bullets is the RN has a little better BC. Both are good. They worked so well for me I bought 1500 of the RN bullets a few years back ... so by default it is my favorite bullet in the 45-70.

I will have to give Varget a try. You are right about RE #7 the recoil is SHARP. I can only imagine what a stiff load behind a 500gn bullet would be like, detached retina comes to mind.

same thing with H4198, sharp recoil

I am just getting into the whole reloading thing. But I am going to be working on a nice stiff load for moose hunting. A 420 gr.WFNGC with a meplat of .365, and move it along with a nice sized helping of IMR powder. Will let you know how it turns out.

Hard cast- I use a 405 Lyman in front of 50.5 grains of IMR 4895 with a dacron filler and a heavy crimp. This gives me excellent accuracy, good trajectory (zero at 25 back on at 125) at the cost of heavy recoil.

Jacketed- My favorite is the Sierrra 8900, I use 56 grains of IMR 3031 with a dacron top filler and a heavy crimp.

I guess the best bullet weight will depend on what you are going to use the rounds for. In my Marlin .45/70 I prefer any of the 300gn hollow nosed softpoints for pig hunting, they shoot a bit flatter and expand reasonably well, something which can be hard to achieve with the jacketed 400gr pills. 55gr of ADI AR2207 (marketed by hodgdon in the US, can't remember what number though) gets the 300 grainer out at a shade over 2200 fps in my rifle, and is definitely a maximum load. Recoil is fairly sharp. When I used to use the .45/70 for scrub bulls, a 405gr softpoint backed with about 47gr of 2207 was my preferred load. That clocked nearly 1900fps with good penetration. Penetration isn't everything on big game, but it is 9/10ths of the battle and exit holes leave nice blood trails to follow in worst case scenarios.
For target shooting and plinking I usually load the 405gr pills, they seem to work better with reduced charges in the big case. A 405gr hard cast pill is no slouch on pigs either, although they act like solids!

I've had great luck with 300 cast LFNGC over Re-7. Very accurate, and a 300 grain .458" pill drops ANYTHING.