What bullets you use for 45-70?

I use Remington 405 gr bulk bullet loaded to around 1600 fps. Works beautifully on bears.
I used Hornady 350 round nose and flat nose as well. Now I load silver cast 405 gr flat nose hard cast in one barrel and the rem soft nose in the other barrel. I haven't punched game with a hard cast but I have no hesitation to use it on big game

I use 400 gr woodliegh in my 458wm
 
With bullets of 400 grains and up, the velocity that those bullets travel, you don't need jacketed bullets to effectively take game.

After velocities past 1500 fps in bullets of 400+ grains, the recoil gets silly! Not enjoyable anymore to shoot.

I have used mostly 425-550 grain cast bullets for years, and they cause stupid damage at velocities around 1250-1450fps. I had Accurate bullet molds make a .460 cal, 500 grain, large met-plat bullet mold for me. I cast a near pure lead bullet with this mold and they come out a little heavier at around 525 grains. I shot a deer this last fall at around 100 yards, and the bullet expanded to just under 1.100" in diameter (the approximate diameter of a Canadian looney) and made a wound channel that was more of a tunnel! Too much damage really! I will be casting a little harder alloy next year to reduce the damage to the animal.





The bullet on the right, I had Tom at accuratemolds.com put a double crimping groove on it so I could effectively crimp the short Hornady brass in the lower crimp groove, and maintain a more standard OAL. This way that bullet is useful in regular length brass and short Hornady "Leverevolution" brass as well.

The bullet on the extream left is bullet barns 525 hard cast postell bullet. Second from left is my own postell clone with a small met-plat, and is 550 grains.
The two middle bullets are my "Hell Hammers" lol! One is sized and lubed, the other is bare for comparison. This bullet can be seated to function through my marlin guide gun, or seated longer to fill the throat of my Browning 1885 BPCR.



Casting lead bullets for the 45-70 makes it a silly cheap rifle to shoot, even at high power loads. There are so many different powders that can be used.
 
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I load the 350gr TSX bullet at 2200 fps MV in my Ruger No.1 .45-70. Sighted 4" high at 100 yards it's dead-on at 200 yards with a speed of 1650 fps (0.278 b.c.). I preferred the old style 350gr X bullet because it had a higher b.c. of 0.39.

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nice looking ruler there Slamfire. i shot the hornady 350 grain interlocks at nearly the exact speed with H4198. They killed elk really well, but recoil wasn't any fun!
 
In a trap door, I would use a 405 cast. My Ruger #3 does 405&535 cast very well but kicks Marlin I use mostly the same 405 but also it shoots 300 cast very well. My last roller did up to 500. Best idea is get as many bullets as you can and work up an accurate load. If you hit a deer with any 45-70 bullet it will kill it. Best just have fun and good luck.
 
I use the Remington 405gr JSP...just because I have a bucket with little less than 500 now. Having 44.5grs IMR 4198 in it, it basically mimics the .450Marlin, in speed,recoil and terminal ballistics.

CG
 
Slamfire said:
Estimating hold-over to accurately place proper shots on deer-sized game beyond 150 meters is problematic. Hits on the broadside of a huge barn no problem.
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My ballistics calculator gave these results.

Zeroed for 100 yards:

Bullet impact was 3.2" high at the mid-range distance of 50 yards. Velocity was 1123 FPS.

Bullet Velocity was 1063 FPS at the zeroed distance of 100 yards.

Like I said, only Black Powder velocities are required, even at 100 yards.

This load killed Buffalo quite well at that range. Heavy bullets, like cannon balls, do not require high velocity to be effective killers.

And, I never said anything about using it at long range. That was your interpretation.

And, the accuracy out to 100 yards, with a good bore, will be equal to any bullet fired from any good rifle.
 
Garrett 540gr:
FIRST CHOICE for defense against heavy grizzly

Our 540-gr +P Hammerhead Ammo is the ideal choice for stopping heavy bears at close quarters or hunting them at short range. This Hammerhead bullet has a meplat (frontal flat) diameter of .360”, which is just one tenth of an inch less than bore diameter. With its tremendous weight to diameter ratio (sectional density) it provides end to end penetration on the heaviest of bears, with exit, and does tremendous damage per unit of penetration due to its extremely blunt front end. This load is carried exclusively by NOAA for protection against coastal grizzly attack. It is also carried by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Geological Survey for protection from grizzly attack. For the specific task of stopping a grizzly charge, this ammo has no peer.
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And 420gr:
Our 420-gr +P Hammerhead Ammo provides extreme impact performance for use against all North American Game and African plains game out to about 225-yards, from 45-70 rifles with barrel lengths of 22” or longer. It is our best all-purpose hunting load for those pursuing big game such as deer, elk, wild boar, black bear and grizzly, especially when long range shooting is anticipated.
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I've been using 400 grainers in my lever gun.

Can anyone explain the advantages of a lighter bullet, as I've yet to see any.

Even with ftx bullets it's hardly a flat shooter.
 
300gr bullets can be driven faster which provides a flatter trajectory and more shock on impact. The original Barnes X 300gr bullets had a b.c. of 0.34 and I can fire these at 2600 fps MV from my Ruger No.1 .45-70. Not generally thought of as a flat shooting round but actually is out to about 300 meters. I dropped a 6x7 Bull Elk dead in it's tracks with 1 shot at about 150 meters using this load.

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