Need real experience feedback for Factory Remington 45-70 405 gr

[S1nnerman]

Hi guys,

I have tried a few different load with my Marlin 1895....

Remington 405 gr
Hornady 325 gr
Hornady 250 gr
HSM bear Load 430 gr

After trying them all I really like the Remington 405 gr. I shoot it really well at 100 yards and the recoil is a joke.

My question is this.... How lethal is that round on moose and black bears ? at short range of course (100 yards or less). And do you also have experience with the other loads mentioned above.

I would really appreciate it if I could get answers from hunters how have hands on experience with that specific load or the other ones and I don't need to be told that shot placements is key, I already know that.

Thank you all in advance. I greatly appreciate it

 

[brybenn]

Don't drive them to fast and they'll be fine.

 

[H4831]

All factory loadings of 45-70 with 405 grain bullet are around 1400 fps.
Lethal on any Canadian game at shorter ranges.

 

[burnt_servo]

if you can put into the lungs of any animal in Canada , you will kill it .

 

[S1nnerman]

thank you guys

 

[BigUglyMan]

I could fart them out faster than the factory does, but they still work. Just don't try to smash heavy bone and you'll be fine.

 

[crazy_davey]

I could fart them out faster than the factory does

Well, you are most certainly full of hot air so I bet you probably could

 

[Boomer]

I doubt that a 405 Remington bullet could be loaded fast enough in a .45/70 to cause it to fail on game. I messed around quite a bit with them some years ago in a .458 Whitworth, simply because they were the easiest and cheapest .458 bullets to acquire at that time. I came away with the notion after much shooting, that at .458 velocities (2400 fps) terminal performance was reliable, but lets consider something for a minute. Today in my M-70 I load hard cast .458/480 gr WFNs at 2200, and those don't go to pieces either, so a jacketed cup'n lead core slug, going slower should, to my way of thinking, stand up pretty well.

 

[28 gauge]

In the past I have used them in a Winchester Model 1886.They worked well.

 

[anglia2]

I've taken one moose ( so long ago I dont want to think about it ) at about 70 to 75 yrds and two average bodied white-tails, one at about 25 yrds and the other at about 100 yrds with the old 405 gr remington load. The moose went down after about 40 yrds, through and through lung shot just behind and above his elbow, didn't recover bullet. The 25 yrd deer was facing me, shot him in the center of the chest and he went down almost instantly, I later found the bullet perfectly mushroomed just inside of his right ham. The 100 yrd deer was broadside, forward lungs and another through and through, he made it about 60 or 70 yrds before piling up. 3 animals isn't a comprehensive field study but the old 405 gr in the original loading kills quite well. I've shot a few animals with hotter loads in my rifle, and again 2 animals isn't alot of experience to form any concrete opinions on, but I didn't see any huge difference in killing power. If all I could get was the old Remington 405 gr load, I'd go moose , bear or whatever hunting and have complete confidence in the capability of the 405 gr to take them all cleanly, within range limitations...........sorry I had to say that lol

A2

 

[a j cave]

Not much for factory loads, but I did shoot a coyote with a rem factory 405 out of my short barrel Ruger #3. At about 50 yds it fell without a twitch. No such thing as over kill.

 

[S1nnerman]

loll thanks anglia2. I appreciate it

 

[Eagleye]

I cannot speak for the 45-70/405 factory bullet, since my experience with them is "zip".
However, I will relate an experience with the 38-55/255 grain factory bulllet.

The Modern Winchester loading chronys 1280 +- out of a 24" M94 barrel.
It shoots well, but is slow. Since I have a modern repro, with no strength issues,
I pulled a bunch of these down, and reloaded them to around 1800 fps.
These also shot very well, so I took it hunting deer.

Shot a 275# muley broadside at 55 yards...guess what? Killed him practically right there,
but NO PART of that bullet reached the far side of his ribcage. It completely came apart.

Later, shot a Whitetail of about the same body size with the Barnes 255 grain 38-55 bullet
at the same velocity. He was angled away slightly. He also did not go anywhere, but that bullet exited.

I can only conclude that the Winchester bullet is very light jacketed, and does not like the higher velocity.
However, a single bullet failure may not be an indicator of overall performance.
But I will hunt the Barnes from now on, since I believe it to be a little tougher.

Regards, Eagleye.

 

[Mike Webb]

The 255 grain Winchester bullet was designed to perform at around 1300fps. I think pushing them to 1800 may be the reason the bullet came apart. As far as the 405 grain factory load in the .45/70 goes they are absolutely lethal on ANY Canadian game at shorter ranges. I have no personal experience with the .45/70 405 grain load but my grandfather claimed it would flatten anything around here and you could "eat right up to the bullet hole". No bloodshot tissue at all, I think a function of a heavy for calibre bullet at low velocity.

 

[S1nnerman]

nice info everyone. thanks a bunch

 

[ipscgraz]

I recognize that you are asking about factory ammo but (especially) 45-70 comes into its own with handloads. If you don't load, find a buddy who does.

 

[tomjones]

I've had great results with Hornady Leverevolution 45-70. I can't recall the bullet weight but it was SST style with an expandable plastic tip.
We broke a 50 lb block of granite at 50 meters. I recon it would take anything that walks given proper placement.

 

[Brutus]

About 3-4 months ago Silverback acquired these same factory Remington 405s for one of his rifles. It actually shot very well at 100 meters, without any excessive recoil for the both of us.