Handloader Mag. discovers real 45/70

[ben hunchak]

In the August 2007 edition of Handloader Magazine, they decided to hunt Africa with the 45/70......they have stepped loads up to the "below 43,500 CUP" level. These are more in line with loads tested/used by Buffalo Bore, Mitchell/MT Chambers, etc.....These are loads that most folks shunned when they were bandied about on this site, now that they have been printed in a rag, there may be new believers....example: 430 gr Hardcast FN....55gr. of AA2015....2029fps. They fall short in their testing as many of the heavyweights can be loaded to those pressure levels as well. The Chambers 480gr. WFN GC was driven to 1900+ fps with healthy doses of AA2015 and came in under the 43.5K level as tested by Accurate Arms/Mitchell Ballistics. Anyhow when all was said and done the mag/rag decided that the 45/70 was magic on the dark continent.

 

[prosper]

Geez, not this again... I don't get it. No one's disputing that a 45-70 can be loaded hot. Almost into .458 win mag range. But the PH's and folks who actually know what they're doing (and have done it. A lot) over on the accuratereloading forums generally regard the .458 as marginal itself....

 

[ben hunchak]

Alot of those folks are still using round nose solids and round nose soft points in the .458 and missing the advantage of the large flat nose on a very hard cast bullet. Throw in mag. cap. of 9 shells and the ability to reload mag. without taking a shell out of the chamber and I think those "experts" have alot ot learn.

 

[Boomer]

When I was in Tanzania, Mark Sullivan surprised me by saying he would love for a client to show up with a properly loaded .45-70 for use on buff and hippo. He is also of the opinion that a hard cast flat nose bullet will get the job done. I found this interesting because Sullivan tends to look down his nose at anything but large bore English double rifles.

 

[sunray]

"...real 45/70..." It's not the cartridge. It's the rifles it's fired from. Factory .45-70 is loaded down due to all the Trapdoor Springfields and lever actions out there. The ammo makers don't know what rifle their ammo will be used in and don't want to get sued.
Load the .45-70 hot, then shoot it out of a lever action and bad things will happen. The same load out of a Ruger No. 1 or No. 3, single shot or other non-lever action will be fine.

 

[ben hunchak]

In the article, they shoot a Cape Buffalo with the Marlin '95, only to discover that the bullet went completely through and killed another Buf on the other side.

 

[Dave L.]

When I was in Tanzania, Mark Sullivan surprised me by saying he would love for a client to show up with a properly loaded .45-70 for use on buff and hippo. He is also of the opinion that a hard cast flat nose bullet will get the job done. I found this interesting because Sullivan tends to look down his nose at anything but large bore English double rifles.

I've heard about that before. I've heard about people with more money than sense will go all out buying some exotic rhino gun of doom or something like that and then flinch their faces off as they drop the trigger and botch the shot. Granted, I've only heard about that going on from the wild, untamed wastes of the Internet, I'm sure most people aren't that dumb but given the fact that jean cretien got voted in with a smashing majority for thirteen years I often wonder...

There are tons of loads for .45-70 on Reloadersnest and Ammoguide. The thing's been around for almost a century and a half, I'm not surprised that people have been experimenting on it and producing the results we've been seeing today.

- Dave.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

My personal experience with the 45-70 has me convinced it will handle anything with lungs, given the right loads, and the right firearm.
Glad to hear the good folks at Handloader have figured that out. I'll read my edition tomorrow.

 

[agilent_one]

What we really need now is a 450-500gr jacketed bullet with a huge meplat, for when something really needs to die.

I've never been a huge fan of cast boolits, but I do like my bullet barn 450grainers.