.45 Colt vs 45-70

If you're only looking for practicality and 75-100m deer rifle, just get a 357 Magnum lever action rifle.
For anything more, go for a 30-30 Win for medium game or a 45-70 if you're interested in large game hunting.
30-30 Win is a badly underrated cartridge which would be hailed as a marvel if it had been introduced recently (low recoil - kills well).
45 Colt and 44 Magnum are only 50% more powerful than 357 Magnum at twice the cost and inferior to 30-30 Win.

Honest warning: I've really biased in favour of 357 Magnum because of its reasonable recoil, killing power, very good accuracy and great utility
Alex
 
To answer the original post-
The 45 Colt is a pistol cartridge that is currently being offered in some new lever action rifles. Regular load is a 250 grain ( weight) bullet at less than 1000 feet per second velocity. Because it was designed to be controllable in revolvers it is very mild to shoot in rifles which are heavier and more securely supported than a revolver.
The 45-70 is a big game rifle cartridge, much more powerful than the 45 colt. It traditionally uses a 405 grain bullet at slightly under 1300 feet per second and recoil is quite brisk in a large rifle. This cartridge is too long to fit in older action designs like the 1873 or in traditional revolvers, barring one or two very expensive, very heavy limited production specialty items. It is also too powerful for these firearms even if it did fit.
So the 45 Colt ( and the 44-40, 44 Magnum, 357 Magnum, 38 Special), etc pistol cartridges are quite at home in rifles and equally at home in modern revolvers designed for them, the 45-70 is really a rifle only option.
 
The .45 Colt is also a super excellent rifle cartridge for taking into the woods for some plinking. My Marlin 1894 is a real pleasure to shoot a box of ammo through. It's great for off-hand plinking.

Chris.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom