What is the best 1,800's era single shot large calibre rifle for moose hunting

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Cadron

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I recently acquired a Remington rolling block model 1 in 50-70. In the last two years I shot my moose with a 500 S+W and a 500 A-Square. Now I want to go the other way and use an old style rifle, but I have no experience in this area. I thought I needed a Quiggley rifle but found them a bit pricey. I want to have a better handle on what would fit the situation best before I buy anything else. Any information or advice you may have would be helpful. I want to use smokeless powder. I would prefer to use jacketed bullets for hunting. Lead would be fine for targets. If you happen to have what I need gathering dust in your safe, I could be interested in that as well. Please help me narrow down the options for what I need so I can make a decision and stop laying awake at night thinking about it.
Thanks,
Cadron
 
You have the 50-70. I don't see why that wouldn't work as well as anything. Haven't had a 50 myself so not sure what is available for jacketed bullets but lead ones are easy to get and smokeless data is out there.

Personally I don't think it's possible to improve much on the performance of the original black powder, soft lead loads from 130 years ago in cartridges like this. Either way you are probably looking at an effective range of no more than around 100 yards for a sure clean hit on game.
The rolling block is pretty easy to clean. Get the satisfaction of going fully old school!

If I were going to buy a new gun for the situation you describe it would probably be an 1885 in 45-70.
 
I would go with the 50-70 and soft (5% alloy) bullets. I don't think that the jacketed bullets are an advantage in terms of game performance with black powder cartridges because they are usually designed for higher velocities

cheers mooncoon
 
id think its best to stick with a cast bullet of proper diameter(slug your bore) and a load of BP find a bullet with a nice wide flat point and you will find velocity is not everything. if had a choice of a BP era heavy hitter over a modern high velocity round id take the heavy hitter
 
mooncoon said:
I would go with the 50-70 and soft (5% alloy) bullets. I don't think that the jacketed bullets are an advantage in terms of game performance with black powder cartridges because they are usually designed for higher velocities

cheers mooncoon
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I have a Swedish m1867 rolling block in 12.7x44 which is ballistically identical to 50-70. I had laying ariund some Lee 515-500F cast bullets (soft: Brinell hardness 15), which for a lark I loaded over a full case of Pyrodex (about 3.1cc). I put six of these inside a TWO-inch group at 100 yards last year using aperture sights. Muzzle velocity would have been around 1000 fps. So it's accurate. As for penetration on a large hunk of animal, everything I've read indicates that those kinds of bullets will work on anything.
 
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I sleeved the barrel on a Sharps with a liner made from a 50-70 rolling block. The gun is accurate but I made the mistake of using the original chamber. It does not shoot the original style slugs well at all but luckily, I stumbled across a Loverin style mold in a gun show and it shoots those very well. The difference is that the Loverin style bullet carries its full diameter about 1/4" or so further down its length and in effect seats the bullet closer to the rifling. When I was younger and more foolish (if possible) I had a New York Militia rolling block with a perfect bore and traded it off because I could not get it to shoot accurately. Looking back, I am convinced that had I used a Loverin style bullet in it, the gun would have shot very accurately

cheers mooncoon
 
I had a old 577/450 carbine ,shot a Lee 500 gr .458 paper patched up to size and used imr 3031 31.5 gr and filled the rest with dacron filler , flattened every thing i shot.
 
If your 50-70 does well on paper with cast lead and BP then it will do well on Moose. Cast lead holds up fairly well on game. I have taken Moose, Elk and Bison with 45-70s and 45-90s using BP with a well placed shot, no issues using Sharps, Trapdoors and Rolling Blocks. Your Remington is more than capable of the same providing you do your part. Have fun and good luck hunting.
 
Around here in the old days the German immigrants used their .43 Mausers to knock down moose. CIL used to load a .43 Mauser with a 385 gr lead bullet at 1360 fps.
 
Pete took the words out of my mouth but just to add. Ammo can be made out of the 45-70 (though a bit short in L) / 45-90 (though a bit long in L).
I had some 45-70s modified for my 71-84s. FWIW --- John
 
John303 said:
Pete took the words out of my mouth but just to add. Ammo can be made out of the 45-70 (though a bit short in L) / 45-90 (though a bit long in L).
I had some 45-70s modified for my 71-84s. FWIW --- John
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for reasons that escape me, the ejector pin on the 71-84 sticks out a bit when the bolt is closed; that means that you need a shell with a rebated rim to accommodate the ejector. Yes ejector because it pushes the shell out sideways after the extractor pulls the shell back. If the ejector is ground back a bit, it still works as I recall. The model 71 was a single shot and did not have the ejector and can use flat based rims. You have to turn the gun sideways for the shell to fall out

cheers mooncoon
 
Yes mc that is correct, the rims on the 45-70 etc. need to be ground,from the back, (as in tapered slightly) to work properly.
This taper is about 1/16" from the edge towards the primer, it also makes the rim a bit thinner. Not sure why other than let the ejector ride over the rim???
--- John
 
John303 said:
Yes mc that is correct, the rims on the 45-70 etc. need to be ground,from the back, (as in tapered slightly) to work properly.
This taper is about 1/16" from the edge towards the primer, it also makes the rim a bit thinner. Not sure why other than let the ejector ride over the rim???
--- John
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Beveling the rim that way causes grief with head spacing. Make a little die and punch to push the outer part of the rim up toward the mouth of the case. This usually does two things. It allows the ejector to work as designed and gives the proper head space.
 
There is no North American big game animal that cannot be ethically taken with a. 45 caliber or larger black powder cartridge rifle. Take your 50/70 case and fill it with black and seat a 400 plus grain bullet, chamber a round aim and fire. The end result if you do your part is a big game animal on the ground!
 
quaticman said:
there is no north american big game animal that cannot be ethically taken with a. 45 caliber or larger black powder cartridge rifle. Take your 50/70 case and fill it with black and seat a 400 plus grain bullet, chamber a round aim and fire. The end result if you do your part is a big game animal on the ground!
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amen
 
To me, all good points above.

Nothing wrong with your 50-70 thoughts or as others have said, the good old 45-70 and 43 Mausers.

Is your rolling block a New York State Militia issue?

Myself, I would pick a nice MK IV Pattern Martini Henry in 577-450, but thats me. :yingyang:
 
cigar_man said:
To me, all good points above.

Nothing wrong with your 50-70 thoughts or as others have said, the good old 45-70 and 43 Mausers.

Is your rolling block a New York State Militia issue?

Myself, I would pick a nice MK IV Pattern Martini Henry in 577-450, but thats me. :yingyang:
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from my limited test the 480gr bullet out of the martini is a thumper it would probably go through a moose no problem
 
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