45/70 Ammo - For Hunting Moose

littleshooter

littleshooter

Member
Rating - 100%
39   0   0
Location
Peterborough
Hi Guys

Looking for some suggestions on what Ammo to use with my 45/70 Marlin? We hunt up in the Big Park in Ontario....Looking for some experience on recommended loads and what has been good for you......

Thanks
 
You just can't go wrong shooting a moose with a 45/70. The ammo itself is not that important.

A lot of guys are using the Hornady Leverevolution 325 grain soft plastic point bullets. That load should easily get you on target up to 200 yards, more than enough for most Ontario moose shoot! I reload that bullet and will use it on moose this year.

Federal Power-Shok uses Speer Hot-cor bullets in 300 grain offerings.
Remington has 300 and 405 grain soft point bullet loadings.
I can't remember if anyone still offers a Nosler load?

Like I said, any of theses will work well on moose. The 45/70 is not what we now consider a long range round (although it sure was back in the days). The bullet sure whacks them hard though and a 45 caliber sized hole in anything will ensure pretty quick expiration...

Have a great hunt, whichever load you choose to hunt with!
 
my Marlin GG loves the leverevolution & the 405 gr. hornadys, its pretty cool hearing the 405's smacking the back-stop.
 
Brutus said:
IIRC, the awesome 300 grain Nosler Partition Gold bullet for the 45-70, is now out of production.
As a seperate reloading component I must add.
Click to expand...

Not quite, Nosler had so much demand and complaints about this that they recanted and will still be producing this bullet. It will be on limited production runs tough, so when you see some in the shop, buy them!
 
Found one already....Congratulations! Stainless? The 45-70 really lends itself to hand loading, it can literally be loaded mild to wild making the Marlins a lot of fun to shoot:D For an off the shelf round the 325g Hornady Leverevolution stuff is quite peppy at around 2000 fps which can extend its reach a bit. Remington has a 405g pill but it is pretty tame in comparison and I've found it to be more expensive. I believe Winchester has some as well, never tried it though. Most factory offering have to be safe in the old Trapdoors that the round was developed for some 130 years ago. Truthfully, anything you hit with a 45/70 is in for a bad day. After about 200 yards the bigger stuff really starts to resemble a rainbow, but still retains a LOT of energy, good excuse for lots of longer range practice:D On game this cartridge is all about penetration. I load 420g hard cast on top of H322 and have never been disappointed, and I've noticed minimal meat damage too.

James
 
Really you should handload. I'm sure that the factory stuff will do the trick, but I prefer more oomph. 418gr cast bullets at 1950 from my 1885 do the trick nicely. Certainly beats the backside off Remington 405 factory ammo at 1330 FPS (directly from the Rem web site) or 1850 for a 300gr JHP or SP (from Federal's website). That's the only downside to the 45-70 - the anaemic factory ammo. But the handloader is much advantaged with the old warhorse and a modern rifle. You can go from BP pressures right up to heavy bullet max aggression loads.
 
Given that marlins are accurate with pretty much anything you stuff into them. Along with the fact that a 458 hole will stop a moose irregardless of how its made.(moose retire quite easy) I would say load up whatever you feel good with


PS. Just how does one get in the park to hunt:confused:
 
45/70 is a wonderfull rig, I had one years ago and slayed many moose with it. I always preferred heavy bullets a s this is no velocity king anyways so you might as well follow its strengths
 
I like 420gr. hardcast, loaded hot. Just don't try shooting it off the bench or you'll have a terrible flinch once you heal up. I had to sight mine in standing up, using a post to steady the rifle.
 
Y2K, both are prolly good accurate bullets and some on here (former buffalo hunters) will disagree, someone always does, but IMHO, the trajectory of those will make hitting at over 100 yds. tough in the field. The trajectory will be similar to a std. velocity .22 with it's 4' or so drop at 200 yds. The 45/70, esp. BP loads are used for target work out to over 1000yds., but those are "known" distances, with known settings, on your soule adj. peep site. A much different thing then humanly taking a deer at 200 yds. in the field. offhand. If you want to stretch the range to anywhere near 200 yds you are going to have to flatten traj. somewhat by increasing vel. quite a bit. Most hunting bullets are not of a shape that holds speed well at longer ranges, so it's kinda a trade-off as you are at the rifles outer limits at best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom