Quote:
B.L.E. wrote: The .450 Marlin is essentially hot loaded .45-70 ammo that has a belt on it so it won't fit into the chambers of Trap Door Springfields, Remington Rolling Blocks, and other black powder era gun designs.
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That's part of the story. Going away from the flanged case did serve the purpose of keeping the ammo out of weak actions but going to a belted case made it more modern and "Magnum" looking for marketing too. The 450 Marlin is essentially a knock off of the 458 American which was developed by Frank Barnes in the early sixties. The belt is for head spacing but the belt on the 450 Marlin was also made taller to prevent the round from being chambered in smaller bore rifles like 300 WM and 7mm RM.
Yeah like anyone would confuse those but that was the stated reason.
It's a shame that they chose to make the belt as tall as they did and not standard height. The 450 Marlin could have made a good down loaded round for 45WM rifles much like the 45WM is to the 458 Lott.
Performance wise, the 450 was made to duplicate what hand loaders had already been doing for years with the hot rodded 45-70. The case was thickened internally to better handle the pressures and promote longevity. Hand loaded the 45-70 can usually squeeze out a little more but the critter on the other end wouldn't know the difference. Factory ammo wise, I have a lot more choices in 45-70 speeds, types, and bullet weights.