.45 Colt vs 45-70

Disco Bob

Disco Bob

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I am shopping for a lever action rifle. At first I choose the .357 mag version so I can shoot .38 special also. Cost issues.
I then found out that most lever rifles comes in .45 Colt, or at least the Uberti that I want comes in .45 Colt.

Is .45 Colt the same as 45-70? What are the main difference between the two rounds?

Uberti 1873 in .45 Colt is the lever rifle that I intend to order soon, reason being that later on I'll be grabbing the Uberti 1873 single action revolver in .45 Colt also.

Please free free to provide some advise and directions.


Thank you once again!
 
The difference is how big of a chunk of lead do u want to be throwing down range. If your after a revolver in the same caliber stick with the 45 colt. Another option would be the .454 casual or 460S&w then you could shoot the .45 , .454 and the .460 rounds out if it. They are a heavy revolver though and the leaver action gun chambered in it is rather expensive.
 
HeliMD said:
The difference is how big of a chunk of lead do u want to be throwing down range. If your after a revolver in the same caliber stick with the 45 colt. Another option would be the .454 casual or 460S&w then you could shoot the .45 , .454 and the .460 rounds out if it. They are a heavy revolver though and the leaver action gun chambered in it is rather expensive.
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Thanks bud.
 
The .45 colt is a pistol round that typically uses 250gr or so bullets at maybe 1000 feet per second using moderate loads in a rifle. The .45-70 has way more powder capacity and faster twist rate. In a lever action rifle typical soft factory loads might throw a 405 grain bullet at 1300 fps or so. Handloads can be a lot more powerful.

For plinking the .45 colt is a blast, much less recoil, and is much cheaper to shoot. I like them both though.

Chris.
 
The 45 colt is not cheap to shoot if your buying factory ammo for that matter neither is the 45-70 in some provinces the 45 colt is not legal for hunting
 
And learn to reload(if you don't already)...you will save alot of money, it makes for a nice hobby and you can tune your loads to what you want. .45 cast bullets go from 160 gr. to 250(or more).
 
.45 colt = pistol cartridge .45-70 = rifle cartridge. My take on it is that you can load down a .45-70 to .45 colt...it's a bit more difficult to load .45 colt to .45-70 levels.
 
Disco Bob: Your choice of .45 Colt for both rifle and revolver is a good one. Particularly if you want to eventually get into cowboy action shooting(which seems to be your direction?). One major advantage of going to the .45 over say, .357 is that it also allows you to participate in Wild Bunch competition(A branch sport of cowboy action. Based on the movie: "The Wild Bunch"). So....it's a versatile caliber.

As you are already aware, it will cost you more to reload/shoot the big Colt round, versus .357. That's just something a shooter can expect. Of course, that cost can be mitigated to some degree, by buying your reloading components in bulk. Unfortunately, once-fired cases for .45 Colt are not as easily sourced as .38/.357.....so you won't save a lot that way. But, if you start out with a quantity of high-quality brass like Starline(Top choice for many competitive shooters)...the savings resulting from the long service life of this brass, should help.

The differences between .45 Colt/45-70 have been pretty well described already. About all I will add here is that, though both are .45 caliber...nominal bullet diameters are different. For example: .45-Colt: .452"-.454". 45-70: .457"-.459". Neither is interchangeable with the other. Something to consider, when you are buying bullets or other components, for reloading.

Likewise primers: .45Colt: Large pistol primer. 45-70: Large rifle primer. So... be aware of the differences, and you should be okay. As for brass....you won't have any problem figuring out which one is which. The differences will be pretty obvious. Cases for .45-70, for example, are quite a bit larger than those used in the Colt.

The Uberti 1873 rifle is an excellent choice(Is that the one you like?), for both target and competitive shooting. Especially cowboy action. Uberti rifles are currently heavily favoured in the sport. Uberti rifles are also very well built. Simple to operate and maintain. As well as accurate and reliable. Plus: enjoy broad availability of both factory and aftermarket parts. You will be well served, with one of these rifles. Uberti revolvers are also good, too.

While you're revolver shopping, be sure to check out those built by Pietta, too. In my opinion(based on fairly extensive use of both brands)...build quality, shootability and reliability of these revolvers equal that of the Uberti. Perhaps better, in some respects.
Why?....Pietta revolvers(for the most part) tend to be much closer to original Colt revolvers...especially internally. Which makes them very simple to maintain. Also, they tend to be much smoother to operate, right out of the box. Pietta revolvers are also less expensive than their Uberti counterparts. Factory and aftermarket parts are also as readily available, as Uberti. Something to consider.

Anyway...hope some of this is useful.

Enjoy!

Al
 
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Disco Bob said:
Is .45 Colt the same as 45-70? What are the main difference between the two rounds?

Uberti 1873 in .45 Colt is the lever rifle that I intend to order soon, reason being that later on I'll be grabbing the Uberti 1873 single action revolver in .45 Colt also.
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Two different cartridges; main difference is that the longer .45-70 is going to thump your shoulder much more soundly! The .45 Colt is a great Cowboy cartridge for revolver and lever gun.
 
Ardent said:
What both have in common is just a .30-06 will make either look sadly wanting on North American game in real life. ;)
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Let's face it, the great majority of North American big game hunters could get by with a quality 30-06 bolt rifle (CRF of course :) ).with a 3x9x scope.

But we don't, because we don't have to..........
 
geologist said:
Let's face it, the great majority of North American big game hunters could get by with a quality 30-06 bolt rifle (CRF of course :) ).with a 3x9x scope.

But we don't, because we don't have to..........
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That’s not my point, it’s that a .45-70 isn’t the big stopping gun people figure. It’s considerably behind a .30-06 in that department on big bears for instance, in most circumstances.
 
The Uberti makes a sweet rifle. I prefer the 44-40 myself, but that is just to keep them more historically correct....as far as a reproduction can be.

But I have had 45 Colts and they are fun to shoot and very easy to load for with Lee Collet, no lube dies. I had a few thousand 340gr GC monsters made for me which made it a bit more fun to shoot steel with.
 
freddyfour: .44WCF(.44-40)...my favourite caliber in the 1873, too. Historically correct. Plus a hoot to shoot, with black powder. Or on rare occasions....with that newfangled smokeless stuff.

Years ago(hard to believe....going on 40 years, now), an elderly neighbour of mine had a '73 chambered in .38-40. The rifle had originally been purchased by his grandfather, sometime in 1880. All original...including the segmented cleaning rod inside the trap in the buttstock. With even the sales receipt for the rifle, tucked safely inside. I can still clearly remember the smooth, oily sound of the rifle's action cycling. Plus the sight of the chunky brass cartridge lifter expertly going about its business, as it shuttled cartridges in and out of the chamber. What a sweetheart to shoot. I will always consider the 1873 Winchester one of the greatest classic rifles of all time.

Al
 
Ardent said:
That’s not my point, it’s that a .45-70 isn’t the big stopping gun people figure. It’s considerably behind a .30-06 in that department on big bears for instance, in most circumstances.
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It doesn't seem like the original poster was looking for something with a pile of stopping power. But we could turn this into a bear defense thread, it's been a while :) :).

Most of my .45-70 shooting is done in single shot rifles with black powder as I really enjoy the historical aspect of it. From a hunting perspective it's certainly adequate IMO, but there are reasons that the world moved on to other cartridges of course.

Chris.
 
Disco Bob said:
Is .45 Colt the same as 45-70? What are the main difference between the two rounds?
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These are thoughts from a writer online

Rounds like the .45 Colt are not interchangeable like that.
There are currently two .45 diameters that we are dealing with first. Pistol calibers use .451 to .452 diameter bullets where rifle cartridges use .458 diameter bullets. But I think You are asking about overall size.
One of the first .38 caliber cartridges was the 38 short Colt. It was lengthened and called the 38 Colt. It was lengthened again and became the 38 long Colt. Then the 38 Special, 357 magnum finally the 357 Maximum.
All of the previous cartridges can be fired in the Maximum and each of the others can chamber and fire in the following chamber.
But when dealing with the 45 Colt and the 45/70 the overall size makes the difference.
A 45/70 cartridge is just too large to chamber in the Colt chamber.
Just as a .458 Winchester Magnum would be too large physically to go into either of the previous chambers.
However the .458 Winchester will fire in a .458 Lott chamber because the Lott chamber is a 458 Winchester lengthened. It can be confusing.
But in answer to Your question, the 45 Colt is a smaller cartridge physically than the 45/70 and therefore would not fit.
Not to muddy the water for You anymore, the 45/70 lengthened would be a 45/90. Then it keeps being lengthened until it becomes a three and a quarter inch case.
The 50/70 can be increased the same way until it ends up being the 50/140 3 and a quarter inch cartridge.
The second number is the amount of black powder loaded in their respective case.
Incidentally the 50/140 is nipping at the heels of a .458 Winchester.
That is with a large amount of black powder.
With the crescent butt of the rifles in the late 1880’s it would be very painful to fire!
 
gunlaker said:
It doesn't seem like the original poster was looking for something with a pile of stopping power. But we could turn this into a bear defense thread, it's been a while :) :).

Most of my .45-70 shooting is done in single shot rifles with black powder as I really enjoy the historical aspect of it. From a hunting perspective it's certainly adequate IMO, but there are reasons that the world moved on to other cartridges of course.

Chris.
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Touché and fair point Chris. ;) I’m very much not a .45-70 fan in my interactions with them or other cartridges of the heavy and slow group, for what they offer in on game effect. I’m admittedly a little over zealous in my dislike of them.
 
This probably won't help the OP at all, but a 45 Colt loaded heavy (around 44 magnum pressures) in a modern rifle that can withstand the hotter load....I not all that far off from original 45-70 specifications. Even many modern 45-70 factory loads don't offer the performance that many people expect them to.
 
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