Time to chime in. A new 1895 literally just followed me home a few minutes ago. I chose the .45/70 cartridge. I handload, so that's not an issue and I would suggest you do the same. With the .45/70 you have better versatlity over the .444 and .450 factory loads. Right off the bat you can easily get factory loaded 300-405 grain ammunition. The other 2 are more limited. There are also a few manufaturers who offer +P loaded ammo to give you the extra jam. I might also suggest when your talking about these cartridges, don't even bother looking at ballistics charts. The cartridges don't listen to them. They have a tendancy to do things paper says they shouldn't, like kill buffalo from 1000 yards and such.
I have long lusted over one of these and just recently I decided I needed a big-bore rifle. I was in a tight race between this and a completely different animal, a .375 H&H. In the end, I decided the lever to be a more useful rifle for what I want to do with it. And I must add the thing that really had me intruiged was an article I read awhile back. The fellow loaded his 1895 up with some heavy weight ammo by Cor-Bon and went to Africa to shoot a cape buffalo. In the end, he shot two...with one shot. The bullet penetrated the first bull, passed completly thru and entered a cow that was hidden behind the first bull. It double lunged her and I belive stopped on the off side of the cow. That is amazing penetration that I doubt any .30 caliber super whizbang ultrasuperdupper magnum could acomplish. And again, according to the charts this rifle barely has enough energy to kill a deer, if you could hit it at all with it's pre-historic rainbow tragectory.
My suggestion to you is this; Throw away anything you have read. Don't study ballistics charts or energy tables. Buy yourself one of these in .45/70 and then buy yourself a loading press. Build your own ammo, tailored to how you want to hunt. Then take your new rifle for a walk and enjoy it the way it was meant to be. Good luck.
I have long lusted over one of these and just recently I decided I needed a big-bore rifle. I was in a tight race between this and a completely different animal, a .375 H&H. In the end, I decided the lever to be a more useful rifle for what I want to do with it. And I must add the thing that really had me intruiged was an article I read awhile back. The fellow loaded his 1895 up with some heavy weight ammo by Cor-Bon and went to Africa to shoot a cape buffalo. In the end, he shot two...with one shot. The bullet penetrated the first bull, passed completly thru and entered a cow that was hidden behind the first bull. It double lunged her and I belive stopped on the off side of the cow. That is amazing penetration that I doubt any .30 caliber super whizbang ultrasuperdupper magnum could acomplish. And again, according to the charts this rifle barely has enough energy to kill a deer, if you could hit it at all with it's pre-historic rainbow tragectory.
My suggestion to you is this; Throw away anything you have read. Don't study ballistics charts or energy tables. Buy yourself one of these in .45/70 and then buy yourself a loading press. Build your own ammo, tailored to how you want to hunt. Then take your new rifle for a walk and enjoy it the way it was meant to be. Good luck.
