I am not trying to start another caliber debate. I am planning on taking my 47-70 (aswell as another gun) up to deer camp this year. I am just wondering what kinda of meat damage I can expect with it. I am not looking for advice on what caliber to hunt deer with. Yes I know 30-06 , 270 and all the short mags are great. Just want to know how much damage to expect from the guide gun. Thanks guys.
45-70 at deer camp
- Thread starter asphalt599
- Start date
Very little. I use my 45-70 on deer elk and moose and in all occasions the meat damage is way less than my 300 mag. I also use a 420 gr hard cast bullet so there is no expansion and they drop right now fast. I once shot a 2point at 50yrds with a 350 hornady and it litterally pick him up and dropped on his side and he bounced back to his feet only to then drop to the ground dead. This caliber is great to hut with and the meat damage is very little. Some would say you can eat right up to the bullet hole. I wouldn't say that but you can sure get a hell of a lot closer than any of the faster calibers. Take it and have fun.
- Location
- The land of eternal winter.
2nd the less meat damage than a faster 30 cal. Shot a deer with mine a few years ago.
unstableryan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Beautiful Okanagan Valley
I have been itching to hit a deer with my 45-70 for a year and I have two hunting seasons of trying. This fall I bought a tikka t3 lite in 6.5x55 and I took it out like twice and got a nice mulie at 40 yards.
I'm glad I properly broke in my new rifle but it was prime 45-70 time !
I'm glad I properly broke in my new rifle but it was prime 45-70 time !
I would not do this if it were me. Some say you can but if it were meant for .410 shells as well the barrel would say 45-70 .410 . I saw a post either here or on HBC that someone had done this and it was a bad scene afterwards. He felt sunglasses he was wearing saved his eyes.
I find the round is too fast. The 45/70 in a large bullet only needs 1400-1600 fps. Not 1800+. I have been told, sorry I wasn't there, that it does more meat damage than a slower bullet.
I may be able to give some fact based answers in couple of weeks. I am taking my Marlin 1895GS with 425gr cast bullets that are loaded to 1500fps to camp. It will be my primary carry. I have a swedish mauser 1938 in 6.5 x 55 for those days in the long range stands.
Good luck
Regarding the Leverevolution:
When I was guiding this year, a father and son both brought marlins in 45-70 and .450 marlin.
The father shot a bear ~150lbs at 20yrds with the 45-70. Only thing we found in the bear was the red soft tip of the bullet with a bit of the copper peelings and an obvious destructive expansion path through the bear. The son shot his bear ~350lbs at about 75 yrds with the 450 marlin. Bullet did not expand and left a clean hole thrugh the liver. Bear ran about 15 feet.
Id say that the .450 marlin had a dam hard outter shell. But, it has the same diameter as the 45-70, which I know people use some very hard cast bullets for that they dont want to expand whatsoever inside the animal.
As far as meat damage, so long as you dont just shoot their shoulder, theres not much in the ribs and internal organs anyways. Id think that it would be a good deer round and it has a nicer trajectory than the 305 or 405grn corelokts.
its that YMMV part thats the issue. all it takes is one person to have a ruptured case spray his eyes because .410 isnt close enough to 45-70 to work in the chamber right.
there is a reason they teach you to only put the caliber on the barrel in the chamber.
there is a reason they teach you to only put the caliber on the barrel in the chamber.
John Spartan
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Just a little more to the right...
At one time I'd considered shooting .410 shells through my Marlin 1895s, but decided against it. I had seen enough patterns where most of the shot would go to the periphery as a result of the rifling, leaving significant holes in the center of the pattern. A single shot .410 does a better job.
I tried it & that's the main reason I won't use it. Two secondary reasons are that it makes an absolute mess of your barrel & can sometimes be a b!tch to extract. Wouldn't recommend unless you were real desperate.
As for the meat damage I have found less damage with larger slower bullets as well. The trade off usually being less effective range, be it, the curved trajectory or just a loss of useful horsepower.
Concerning the 410 shell in a 1895 45-70, I tried this as well (wearing safety glasses just in case) and the the firing pin didn't strike the primer hard enough for it to fire, due to the thinner rim of the 410 shell, needless to say I won' try it again, just bought a single shot 410 instead.
