45-70 elk/moose gun

anglia2 said:
I know what you mean . I've used a 45/70 in one form or another for about 40 years and settled on hard cast or jacketed 405's at about 1600 fps many years ago . A totally reliable round . I got curious and bought a box of 325 FTX's and tried them out . One ragged hole for three shots at 100 yards . I'm not about to change from the 405's , but I will definitely use the 325's for White-Tails this month .
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Those shortened cases from discharged hornady factory ftx rounds might be useful for loading heavy weight cast lead bullets or as some do the 500 grain solid normally used in the 458 win.
I tried hand loading the 325 grain ftxs and couldn't match the accuracy of the hornady factory ammo.
 
rifleman338 said:
Nothing will penetrate like a big chunk of lead. I'd put a good hard cast gas check up against any Hornady or Barnes. On North American game, bullet recovery with a good hard cast pushed at the right speeds won't usually happen.
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The 325 grain hornady factory 45-70 ftx ammo will kill a black bear or bull moose at normal hunting distances (50 - 200 yds) quite readily and that's good enough for me.
It's been proven in front of my eyes.
And combined with their uncanny accuracy in marlin 1895s DING we have a winner for most hunting in north america.
Not many lion, rhino or elephant where I hunt or grizz or kodiaks for that matter.
 
I have the 325gr FTX loaded at just under 2400 fps MV in my Ruger No.1. This rifle & load will be on next year's roster (glad to be done early now that winter's here :p ).

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2380 fps
325 grain
4088 ft-lbs - WOW! - close to 300 weatherby.
That bullet would disintegrate if it even touched a bone.
The one we pulled from a bull moose (no exit hole) was in 3 pieces (that we found) and it left the muzzle approx 2050 fps and carrying just over 3000 ft-lbs of ME (factory load).
The moose was dead as the proverbial door nail before it hit the ground not far from the poi.
 
Long range cast 45/70...

I love when guys pound nails with their tape and measure with the hammer handle...
 
I've always been fond of pure lead. Always expands nicely, great penetration. However, all my hunting with those boolits was with BC cartridge guns (45-110, 45-70 and 44 Sp), a low velocities. I'm powder coating my 45-70 and 44 Mags now, and hoping to talk my son out of his 45-120 for a while, so the PC seems to have taken care of the leading at velocities above 1500. Has anyone tried a similar projectile on thicker skinned game? I'm thinking of trying them on boar this winter if I get a chance to go. Not sure if it'll be 44 mag or 45-70, though. To date, I got 1 boar with factory 325 FTX and 1 with 350 SP. Both were bang flop from the Guide Gun. The FTX was right through the front shoulder (no bone hit) and out the ribs. The 350 was a head shot. If I use cast, it will be a 405 HP in 45-70 and a 250 RN in the 44.

I've gotten a few critters with a 45 ML and 250 gr. maxi's with pure lead. Always got very good expansion, and the bullet held together perfectly, as did 50 cal maxi's at 390 gr.
 
rifleman338 said:
Nothing will penetrate like a big chunk of lead. I'd put a good hard cast gas check up against any Hornady or Barnes. On North American game, bullet recovery with a good hard cast pushed at the right speeds won't usually happen.
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The most deeply penetrating bullet NEXT to some of the BIG hard cast boolits that i have shot out of my 45-70 and 450 Marlin is the Horn 250 gr it dones not hardly mushroom and stays intact shooting it into hard FIR ! Good shoulder buster like the cast boolits are on bears RJ
 
Slamfire said:
.45-70 400gr Barnes Busters, an interesting design. Appear to be suitable for lever rifles since these have a flat nose and a cannelure. Claimed to be quite the penetrators. :eek:

"In one field test, a Barnes Buster fired from a .45-70 T/C Encore drove completely through an American bison, anchoring it on the spot."

http://www.barnesbullets.com/bullets/buster/

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Interesting, these are a hollow point / hollow base design. ;)

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Bought some of the Barnes 400 gr Buster bullets and some Barnes 350 gr HPFB bullets - Those 350 grers should really rock out of my 450 Marlin as i can seat all my bullets way out for more powder space in my BLR ! I bet i can easily get 2200 -2300 fps from the 350 gr Barnes . RJ
 
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Busters should be awesome penetrators, likely clear-thru from any angle on heavy game. :cool:

Should be no problem getting 2200 - 2300 fps MV with 350gr bullets in a .450 Marlin BLR, it's a strong action. I've done 2450 fps MV with 350gr bullets in my .45-70 Ruger No.1. :d
 
We’ve been using the same 350 grain hornady fp and imr-4198 load for years.
1” or less 3-shot groups at 100 meters and devastating on moose.
 
hoytcanon said:
Long range cast 45/70...

I love when guys pound nails with their tape and measure with the hammer handle...
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Now maybe OT cause I sure wouldn't hunt over 150 with it - actually, AT ALL, because I have no desire to hump a 13 lb 50" long rifle, but shooting home cast 535 grain Postells over 70 grains of 2F out of a Sharps at dumb distances sure is a lot of fun. More like indirect fire, but fun. I tried them out of the carbine once. Once.

Only 100 yds but you get the idea.


A 12 or maybe 15 round group, lost track exactly.


 
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Slamfire said:
Busters should be awesome penetrators, likely clear-thru from any angle on heavy game. :cool:

Should be no problem getting 2200 - 2300 fps MV with 350gr bullets in a .450 Marlin BLR, it's a strong action. I've done 2450 fps MV with 350gr bullets in my .45-70 Ruger No.1. :d
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That’s NUTS!
4666 ft-lbs!
Close to 416 Rem Mag ME.
 
Barnes Reloading Manual No.1 (1992) lists Level III .45-70 loads that are held to 50,000 cup maximum -

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Older .45-70 No.1 rifles have generous throat lengths as mine does for increased case capacity. Be aware that newer production .45-70 No.1 rifles have much shorter throats which would develop higher pressures for the same loads.

Seems the action itself isn't the weak link because of the inherent strength of the breech block design. The rifle designer purportedly never did succeed in blowing apart the action with extreme pressure loads during destructive testing - the barrel sheared off first.

Interestingly, my calculations indicate that maximum stresses in my barrel at the breech and muzzle ends at 50,000 psi chamber pressure are well below yield stress if the barrel is made of AISI 4140 which it probably is. ;)
 
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Hornday 350gr RN recovered from Moose at the impact speeds shown. Moose I've shot with a .45-70 Marlin collapse right now. Plenty of shock. Being a 45 caliber I figure you could forgo some expansion for increased penetration for even more devastating results.

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