Pelican Parts Forums - tell me about the 45-70

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins (Post 7341446)

I've heard of some rather severe cases of tissue rejection when others have attempted this. The metal parts start to rust, the wood begins to dry out, and all manner of malfunction begins the plague the poor thing. Folks have had to resort to some rather drastic measures in an effort to make this marriage a happy one, up to and including the use of those modern whiz-bang Leverution plastic-tips bullets. There is no telling what else they may have tried, when no one was looking. Truly heart-breaking stuff.

Just kidding... How would you even do that? I assume it's an angle eject, or there would be no way at all to pull it off. Forgive me, but I know less than nothing about laser sights. I've seen them on those evil black rifles and some pistols, but it seems to me they are all mounted on Picatinny rails. Actually, when I think about it, I think XS Sight Systems makes such a rail, at least for the Marlins.

the hornaday 325gr "plastic tipped" POINTY whizz bang bullets knocked a 3x4 bull elk six ways to sunday, as in DEAD! TODT! KAPUT! ADIOS MOFO!

its called BETTER "BC" ballistic coeffiecient. and sometimes...............ya just cant argue with technology................as IN POINTY vs blunt.

and the kicker here..............it was my younger kid on his 1st elk hunt EVER!

so nanny nanny BOO BOO!

oh yeah.................they REALLY EXPAND NICELY! that plastic hydraulics right into bottom portion of bullet and spreads it nice and WIDE!

try a pointy hornaday plastic whizz bang and see how ya group at distance.

357's
44mags
.30/.30
.450 marlin
45/70

and i think a coupla other calibers.

i like 'em.

black bear yes.........brown/grizzy bears/polar bears -NO!

Hat's off to your boy, oddjob. Had to be one hell of an excited young man, and one hell of a proud papa.

My personal preference, however, will always run towards hard cast bullets in revolvers and straight wall rifle cases, like the .45-70. I've had extremely good luck with them. They won't expand, but they will give deep, straight through penetration, usually exiting from any angle from which you care to hit the critter. I have never recovered a bullet launched from a .45-70, with each and every one giving full penetration and exiting. That's what I want to see. Even at sedate black powder velocities, when launched by black powder from my old Ballard. Hell, I've even killed a few deer with the .45 Colt loaded with black powder, launching the RCBS .45-270 SAA bullet at about 900 fps. Full penetration and exit on broadside shots, even breaking the near shoulder on the way in. Not bad for such "low" velocity.

Part of the charm of using these old calibers, for me, is using them in the traditional manner. High tech is great, and I certainly use my share of plastic tipped bullets (in things like the .223, .220 Swift, etc.), but when used in these old girls they just strike me as trying to make them something they are not. I feel the same way about saboted bullets in stainless steel, sealed breach, plastic stocked, scoped "muzzle loaders" as well. Just doesn't seem right. If I'm going old school, I'm going old school. If I'm going modern, I'll go about as modern as anyone, taking full advantage of today's wonder bullets and powders. I just don't cross-polinate like that.

ya know around here FINDING 45/70 is a PITA anyday even when theres NOT a panic on due to its popularity. especially in my neck of the woods being so damn close to ben avery range which hosts SASS every year and all the kawboy shooters. when i can find 45/70 no matter whose the mfg i usually grab a box or 2 just for my stash. so in other words, i grab it when i can here.

cabelas sells herter brand in bulk and i have read some poo poo reviews on it and its reloads.

so for now i am building my 45/70 once fired brass collection so when the day i march into dillons reloading and order me up the mega reloading setup for all my evil calibers................45/70 will probably be the 1st caliber i reload for along with .338 win mag/.308/.44 mag/.357/.30-.30/.45. i already have my .338 and .308 dies from years of shooting them and reloading for them.

i can easily blast a 100rds of 45/70 in a afternoon. just as long as its NOT on the bench! dinking around off my truck tailgate plinking......................NO PROBLEM! its the bench that just plain SUCKS with 45/70. and i dont shoot from a secure cradle. just hang the barrel over the range bench, snug the hell out of the stock into my shoulder and try like hell not to anticipate recoil before i pull trigger. remember i put a thicker padded buttstock to increase my LOP, and that helps some. with a jacket on...........PFFFT no big deal.

now the cool thing is............is when a competent shooter with years of experience EXHALES before his trigger pull, the INCREDIBLE MUZZLE BLAST of a 45/70 will FORCE AIR BACK INTO THE SHOOTERS LUNGS @ HYPERVELOCITY thereby NOT allowing shooter to become LIGHTHEADED due to lack of OXYGEN!

muzzle braking a 45/70(which marlin factory did for a few years and aftermarket) IS JUST PLAIN NUTZ! cheese and rice does that BLOW SOME EARDRUMS and CREATE A FLASH!

any 45/70 will clear benches on either side of you at the range samo as my muzzle braked .338 win mag.................I LOVE IT!

rodney dangerfield may not have gotten ANY RESPECT................but YOU SURE GET A HELL OF A LOT OF RESPECT LIGHTING OFF A 45/70!

speaking of tired old eyes(yes i wear glasses now) and i used to be able to read the bottomline of an eyechart when younger.............skinner sights makes various SIZE APERTURES for their sight setup in various flavors. brass/bronze/stainless/blue sight setups.

the aperture fits on the sight and you can change out simply by unscrewing in the field and screwing the other one back onto sight. no fuss no muss.

sorry i dont have a pic of any of mine since i went to skinner sights on my 1894's and 1895GS.

skinnersights.com real fast delivery excellent customer service and real quality Q.C. on their product.

simple recipe for these:

quality sights
quality trigger job
quality ammo
bearproof WILD WEST GUNS EXTRACTOR and or spare oem spare extractor

and i swear by the Wild West GUNS BIG LOOP LEVER! man with gloves or not.............its the katz ass for racking rounds IN and OUT FAST!

there usually is some custom fitting with any big loop lever its not bolt on instant gratification. aka SOME FITTING REQUIRED!

Chuck,

Not sure I would use a Dillon multi-stage press on a .45-70 round for reloading. This is not IMHO something you want to be trying to load 1000 cases an hour with but thats my viewpoint.

Always loved this round and its gotten worse and worse with age!

Joe A

Yeah, Marlin didn't port the Guide Guns for long. The porting rules out cast bullets, and most .45-70 shooters will eventually want to use them. This round really shines with cast bullets.

Joe, the older I get, the more I see the value of the old .45-70. Shooters like to endlessly discuss the "what if you could only have one rifle..." scenario - for me, it would be chambered in .45-70. Haven't decided between the #1 and the Marlin, though. That would be tough...