Question about 45-70

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Aaron Neville

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I realize there are a bunch of dif. brands to choose from, some with dif. grainage, but what, roughly:redface:, would you say the "range" of a rifle in 45-70 would be? 20ish inch barrel, nothing fancy for ammo. IE, how far does this monstrous looking round go?

K, so wikipedia kinda helped me out here. Any more info is welcomed, of course.
 
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Depends on what you are shooting. .45-70 has been used in 1000 yard target matches, 500 metre black powder silhouette, and for hunting.
If you use it for hunting and buy factory loads you had better limit your shot to under 150 yards or learn how to estimate range and know the tragectory of your ammo. If you know your range and trajectory, longer shots can be taken with successful hits.
 
Aaron Neville said:
I realize there are a bunch of dif. brands to choose from, some with dif. grainage, but what, roughly:redface:, would you say the "range" of a rifle in 45-70 would be? 20ish inch barrel, nothing fancy for ammo. IE, how far does this monstrous looking round go?
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0-1000 yards + should not be a problem. Depends on what you are trying to hit I guess.
 
With a factory load in the 45/70, i would limit it to 150yds., for bigger game even less. In the Marlin, the loads can be increased to give good results to 200yds or so, the limiting factor being the open sights. An example is this load I use.... a 425gr. cast LFN GC at 1900 fps m.v.....when sighted dead on at 100yds., it drops 11" at 200yds. Accurate long range work can be done out to 1000 yds or beyond with a BPCR 45/70, but this is strictly target shooting, and the range is known as are the sight settings.
 
ben hunchak said:
With a factory load in the 45/70, i would limit it to 150yds., for bigger game even less. In the Marlin, the loads can be increased to give good results to 200yds or so, the limiting factor being the open sights. An example is this load I use.... a 425gr. cast LFN GC at 1900 fps m.v.....when sighted dead on at 100yds., it drops 11" at 200yds. Accurate long range work can be done out to 1000 yds or beyond with a BPCR 45/70, but this is strictly target shooting, and the range is known as are the sight settings.
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Just for the fun of it I calculated a 350gr loaded to 2000 fps. When sited in at 100 yds, the holdover would be around 130 FEET at 1000 yards, about 150 MOA.
 
Long range shooting with a .45 cal. rifle requires bullets of over 500grs, at over 500yds. my 555gr. Creedmore bullet shows less drop then a similar shaped 535gr. bullet. This shows up very quickly when copying down your sight settings, when using a Soule Vernier Tang sight. Most shooters are using 540-570gr. 45 cal. bullets and the longer .45/90, 45/100 case for work up to 1000yds. and beyond.
 
I read a study from Back when the u.s. gov went from blackpowder to smokeless In that study they used two 1" thick oak boards spaced apart from each other and the results are quite amazing.

They established the maximum lethal range of 45/70 at 3500 yards!!! at this distance it was still penetrating both boards!!!

The reason most uninformed folks consider 45/70 to be short range is because of trajectory which affects your maximum point blank range.

In other words you can't just put the crosshairs on and only have to worry about trigger control........ You acctually have to know how to shoot.
 
clayberg said:
I read a study from Back when the u.s. gov went from blackpowder to smokeless In that study they used two 1" thick oak boards spaced apart from each other and the results are quite amazing.

They established the maximum lethal range of 45/70 at 3500 yards!!! at this distance it was still penetrating both boards!!!

The reason most uninformed folks consider 45/70 to be short range is because of trajectory which affects your maximum point blank range.

In other words you can't just put the crosshairs on and only have to worry about trigger control........ You acctually have to know how to shoot.
Click to expand...

At 3500 yards it's gravity, not the gun doing the killing. Still works for me tho.
 
I have a marling guide gun in 45/70 and I love it.

I was up around Hudson Bay at the start of the month and I was very happy that I took it into the bush instead of something else. The short barrel helped a lot when pushing bush (like it was designed to do) and the light weight design allowed me to hunt longer and walk deeper into the woods.

Its all personal opinion and preference though. I shoot a 365gr hard cast wheel weight gas checked bullet. I believe they're going around 2000 fps but I can't exactly remember right now. I'm zeroed at 100 getting 2 inch groups with peep sights. At 200 yards I aim about a foot high to hit the centre of a gong. Now this is primative sighting in. We we're working with the idea of hunting moose and worked it out to aiming for the chest at 100 and then just above the sholder at 200 yards for a boilmaker hit.

A 45/70 carries a lot of energy to its target but its limit is the bullet drop. Unless you have a significant amount of time to get set up for the shot past 200 yards... its not very useful as a long range hunting rifle. Although, with enough practice, trigger time, good sights and a good range finder it is possible.
 
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Aaron Neville said:
Whoa, what?! Drops 11 inches? Gross! :yingyang: Buuuut, I'll prob still go buy a marlin this weekend anyways. You own? You like?

THX guys!
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Gravity never sleeps. Bullet drop is a factor of time of flight to the target.
drop = 1/2gt(squared) where g is a constant of 32 and t is time squared.
The shorter the time of flight the less drop. The longer the time of flight, the faster the bullet drops.
 
FROM REMINGTON WEB SITE

Cartridge Information
Index Number Cartridge Type Weight (grs.) Bullet Style Primer No. Ballistic Coefficient
R4570L Remington® Express® 300 Jacketed Hollow Point 9 1/2 0.213
R4570G Remington® Express® 405 Soft Point 9 1/2 0.281


Velocity (ft/sec)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 300 JHP 1810 1497 1244 1073 969 895
Remington® Express® 405 SP 1330 1168 1055 977 918 869


Energy (ft-lbs)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 300 JHP 2182 1492 1031 767 625 533
Remington® Express® 405 SP 1590 1227 1001 858 758 679


Short-Range Trajectory
Cartridge Type Bullet 50 100 150 200 250 300
Remington® Express® 300 JHP zero -1.3 -6.6 -16.5 -32.0 -54.1
Remington® Express® 405 SP zero -4.0 -14.5 -32.0 -57.5 -90.6


Long-Range Trajectory
Cartridge Type Bullet 100 150 200 250 300 400 500
Remington® Express® 300 JHP zero -4.6 -13.8 -28.6 -50.1 -115.7 -219.1
Remington® Express® 405 SP zero -8.5 -24.0 -47.4 -78.6 -169.4 -301.3


Note: These ballistics reflected a test barrel length of 24" except those for 30 Carbine and 44 Remington Magnum which are 20" barrels.
Specifications are nominal. Ballistics figures established in test barrels. Individual rifles may vary from test barrel results.
“zero” indicates yardage at which rifle was sighted in.
* Inches above or below line of sight. Hold low for positive numbers, high for negative numbers.
1 Bullet does not rise more than 1" above line of sight from muzzle to sighting-in range.
2 Bullet does not rise more than 3" above line of sight from muzzle to sighting-in range.
† 280 Remington and 7mm Express Remington are interchangeable.
‡ 6mm Remington and 244 Remington are interchangeable.
 
Billy dixon shot an indian off his horse at a measured 1535 yards.
A quick calculation shows a mid range trajectory of 47'
 
I have a Guide Gun and I love it also. This is a caliber that just screams handload...the factory loads are OK, but not great. If you handload for it you can get much better performance out of it.
 
If you really want to unlock the potential of the 45-70 with your handloads you should get a copy of Bob Mitchell's manual. He has done extensive testing on this round, particularly for the Marlin 45-70, the Ruger #1 and the NEF. I was quite amazed by the differences in his data and what we see in most reloading manuals. It's quite the eye opener.

You can contact Bob at;
13 Orchard Drive
RR 1
Lindsay, ON
K9V 4R1

Sorry, I don't have a phone number but a click on Canada 411 should get that for you. He charges $20.00 for his manual and $2.00 for postage, if I recall correctly.
 
10x said:
Gravity never sleeps. Bullet drop is a factor of time of flight to the target.
drop = 1/2gt(squared) where g is a constant of 32 and t is time squared.
The shorter the time of flight the less drop. The longer the time of flight, the faster the bullet drops.
Click to expand...

Just surprised! 11" seems like a lot of drop for a variable of 100, between 100 and 200yds, if you catch my meaning. I guess it's safe to say that the 45-70 isn't a flat shooter.

Thx everybody. Haven't bought it....yet!
 
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Aaron Neville said:
Just surprised! 11" seems like a lot of drop for a variable of 100, between 100 and 200yds, if you catch my meaning. I guess it's safe to say that the 45-70 isn't a flat shooter.

Thx everybody. Haven't bought it....yet!
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A bullet fired from a horizontal bore will drop 16 feet in its first second of flight no matter what the muzzle velocity. The faster the muzzle velocity the further the bullet goes during that second.
 
.45-70vs.308.png
 
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