I like my .45-70

[.444 Marlin]

I know 25yd aint much but when you have a big bore gun that puts every 350gr bullet in the same hole....you get to liking it real fast :grin:

 

[Matador]

Yep, real good round. I have a 45-70 barrel for my Encore. I have also killed 3-4 bucks with that round with a New England single shot.

 

[Hogbear]

Those 405 gr Rem softpoints will stop an armadillo in his tracks every time.

 

[Whelen Man]

I used to have a 45-70 but eventually traded it off. I've kept three boxes of factory loads in my cabinet for a few years now with the thought that maybe they'd someday reproduce into a new Marlin but it hasn't happened yet. I like that caliber better than any of Marlin's bigbore offerings. Someday.....

 

[skynimrod]

Got'a love them Big Boars!
Not much tracking/following blood trails.

 

[.444 Marlin]

If I had to choose one round to hunt everything classified as big game, it would be the 45-70. It has done its job very well for 135 years. It can be loaded to shoot with little recoil or loaded for the most dangerous game on the planet. My old trapdoor won't take the high pressue loads but it will shoot cloverleaf patterns and it was manufactured in 1875! My Handi-rifle will shoot any load you feed it with amazing accuracy. I rolled a 250 lb black bear with a direct hit to his shoulder with a 405 grain soft point over 49 grains of Reloader #7. Deadly! A barnes 250 grain X hollow point over 51-59 grains of Reloader #7 shoots fast and hits HARD! Recoil is a bit stout but I hit a buck at a hair over 200 yards by holding on his spine. The bullet dropped about 2 inches and he dropped in his tracks! You have chosen wisely!

Ive had this gun about 2 years and only made one kill with it and that hog didnt run 5 or 10yd, he spun that far :grin:

 

[UTGrad]

What's the effective range of that caliber? I have a Marlin 30 30, but I love leverguns.

 

[oneshot4570]

I have liked mine so much that we have been together going on 15yrs.

 

[TiminTN]

I`d love to have an 1885 Browning or Winchester falling block. I hunt Mississippi where these are legal primitive weapons and can be used in place of a muzzleloader. Uberti makes a decent one, but I`m holding out. I may give in and get a Handi for this year, just cause it is so much better than any muzzleloader.

 

[rldel]

135 years, didn't count them but it is truly an amazing round. I have an NEF w/a MagnaBrake installed in the 450 marlin where I shoot the 300 gr Barnes Spitzer (in this single shot) and the accuracy of the round/gun combo is nothing short of amazing.

I do have a mercury recoil reducer shoved up it's butt and for hunting I take the brake off. The longest shot I have made with it was on a coyote at 129yds w/no compensation.

300-350 grains seems to be the optimum bullet weight but a lighter loaded 250 gr Barnes X is very shoulderable and still a stopper. It is a big round and effective for big critters like moose, elk, bison, but mule deer and whitetail and even hogs seem strangly allergic to its muzzle. The 45-70 is just versitile as hell!

I am selling off the NEF, with two other scoped barrels to build up annother in 450 (probably - I like the new brass and I have 3+ boxes in stock) but still have Hornady dies for both it and the 45-70. This time in a MagnaPorted 26" hvy S/S Encore to add to an existing frame. I might go 45-70 just cause I don't currently have one.

The 45-70 is special. Not like these flash-in-the-pan super-shorts and Ultis created to be soon forgotten. Maybe the 450 Mar will go the way of the 458 x2 Rem/American and other attempts to improve the original. Lawyers are the real reason for the 450. The 45-70 didn't really [IMHO] need improving.

 

[mr.big]

my brother melts his own bullets and they are big and heavy,,with the tang sight on his Sharps,,is amazing

 

[UTGrad]

I used to have a 45-70 but eventually traded it off. I've kept three boxes of factory loads in my cabinet for a few years now with the thought that maybe they'd someday reproduce into a new Marlin but it hasn't happened yet. I like that caliber better than any of Marlin's bigbore offerings. Someday.....

I used to have a 45-70 but eventually traded it off. I've kept three boxes of factory loads in my cabinet for a few years now with the thought that maybe they'd someday reproduce into a new Marlin but it hasn't happened yet. I like that caliber better than any of Marlin's bigbore offerings. Someday.....

Have you checked Marlin's website? They have excellent selections of the 45-70.