Question about Hornady's LeveRevolution Ammo

[ericscher]

Hello all.
This is my first post here, so I took some time to try to figure out which forum would be the best for this question, and this one looked right because it's really a product related question.
If I goofed up, I apologize and I'll gladly accept direction to a different forum for this question.



Anyway...
I was about to grab some 45-70 Hornady LeveRevolution ammo from Cabelas because they're having a sale and I figured it'd be nice to check the accuracy of the stuff.
Looking at what Hornady says about it, it sure looks like this ammo should run faster, go further and hit harder than traditional ammo that is otherwise the same, so I figured shooting some of it would be a worthwhile experiment.

There were plenty of reviews, so I took a look at them, choosing to sort bad to good. (I find that you learn more from complaining reviews than from good ones.)


I noticed two things that popped up more than once:

• a) Not feeding properly in a Marlin 1895G (Guide Gun) and supposedly needing a modified follower in order to feed reliably, and;
  
  
• b) Not performing well on game. Specifically not expanding properly. One guy mentioned finding that the bullet seemed to "explode" inside the deer he shot and shredding the internals badly enough that there was fecal contamination of the meat. Hornady supposedly told the guy that he must have paunch shot the deer, but I'm pretty sure that if you are field dressing the animal you can see the entry wound. This assumes the guy is telling the truth of course, but I have no specific reason to doubt him.
  
  

So, has anyone here tried LR ammo in the field, Either Hunting or Target shooting?
I'd be especially interested in what 45-70 shooters had to say; especially if they were shooting a Marlin 1895G, which is what I have.

I should mention that I haven't hunted since I got out of the Army back in '89, and I have no immediate plans to as long as I can buy meat at the grocery store, but if some bad things happened and I NEEDED to hunt in order to eat, I want to try to make sure that my equipment doesn't provide me with any unpleasant surprises.


Anyhow, thanks in advance for any help you can render.

Eric

[Dances with Geoducks]

I use the heck out of LE in my 30-30s

Not so in the 45-70, The cast heavies are the way I go.

[JW307]

I've shot a lot of LEs in my 1895G and never had any problem with them not cycling in the action.  The brass is trimmed shorter to allow for the longer pointed bullet, so if you are reloading the best thing to do is make sure and use the FTX bullets and Hornady data.  I've also never had nay problem with them on game.  I'd say if there was fecal contamination in that guy's deer he definitely shot it in the guts.  All that being said I actually prefer to shoot standard flat pointed jacketed bullets in mine because most of the hunting I use the 45/70 for is in heavy timber with short shots where the LE doesn't really give you any advantage.

[markc]

Change the follower, it is easy and Marlin will mail one to you.  Take a look at the side of the Hornady box and you will likely find the warning about the need to change followers.  I ahd the problem in my 336 shotting the Hornady ammo, then someone on these boards mentioned the warning on the box.  Sure enough there it was.  Replaced the follower, no more problems.