When dealing with tubular magazines, shorter OAL equates to higher magazine capacity (e.g. .38 Special in a .357 Magnum levergun). OAL is a function of both case length and nose length. I decided to play around with both today as I loaded up some .45 ACP cast bullets into .45 Schofield cases for use in my Marlin 1894 .45 Colt levergun -- the NOE 230 grain HP (left), and a 200 grain RNFP (right). These loads cycle, chamber, and eject very smoothly in the Marlin (as expected). The Marlin holds 11 + 1 of the 230 HP, and 12 + 1 of the 200 RNFP, so just a slight difference in nose length can make a difference in magazine capacity. These test loads (5.2 grains of Red Dot) should be doing about 1150-1200 fps out of the levergun, we'll find out as soon as the weather cooperates and I can get some outdoor range time....
