45-70 --> why?

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Richard.Howe

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Something about the good old 45-70 keeps drawing me back in. I get severely tempted to go out and buy a No.1 or 1895 about every other month, but stop short when I consider -- what the heck am I planning on doing with this thing?

It's a classic chambering that refuses to die. The No.1 is a beauty. Big, heavy bullets moving at moderate velocities tend to be pretty doggone accurate in my experience. I have every reason to buy one except an appropriate target.

Advice?

Rich
 
I feel your pain brother! In fact, when I mention buying a 1895G, the general response is: "What are you going to shoot with that?" My response?

"Whatever . . . I want!" :D
 
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Here's a good 45-70 story I posted on glock talk. It's about the Hollywood Shoot Out, but I go a little OT.

1st post

I would have loved to see these guys go up against a friend of mine who's a LEO with a local Indian Reservation, they can carry ANYTHING that they can qualify with, pistol, rifle or SG.

Everybody else on the force went with ARs, but not Gary, he wanted something with a little bit more authority, so he bought a Marlin in .45-70. He got ribbed about it by everybody until they had a guy pinned down behind a dumpster. The firefight hadn't been going long but the ARs couldn't penetrate the full dumpster. Gary pulls up, gets on the bullhorn telling the guy he was going to fire ONE WARNING SHOT, BOOM, right through the dumpster. The guy gave up one second later.

2nd post

No chance of over penetration, the dumpster was in front of a hill. The main reason for Gary to carry a .45-70 is to put down animals hit by traffic and he does carry an AR, he just won’t use it. The Rez is very rural, and larger then Delaware, also the Tribal Police is set up in two groups, one group patrols the towns and the other patrols rural areas. Most of the rural guys carry some sort of hunting rifle to put down wounded animals and if any of them had arrived before Gary, they would have ended the shoot out. Gary doing it with the Marlin makes for a better story. BTW the guy was pinned down by the others with their ARs, so he knew he could take a shot at the opposite end of the dumpster.

What the guy told Gary later was a good laugh, "Fu@&, I ain't fu@&ing playn' cowboys and fu@&ing indians with you anymore, you take it too fu@&ing serious."

link
 
Warning shots are not allowed in modern law enforcment. We either shoot to stop a threat or we don't shoot. Another problem I have with the store is the 45 70 is not a good penetrator on metal haveing a large metplate. Not saying it could not do it but I have my doubts. I may have to do some expermenting at the range.
Pat
 
...is the 45 70 is not a good penetrator on metal haveing a large metplate. Not saying it could not do it but I have my doubts. I may have to do some expermenting at the range.
Pat
Click to expand...


May we have pics to go with that test? I'm curious too and I can't find anyone that wil donate a dumpster.:D
 
Is going to be hard to get a hold of a dumpster. The 45 70 is a good gun as a bear protection weapon when fishing.
Pat
 
.45-70 will easily penetrate ballistic glass capable of stopping multiple .308 hits, so I'd be surprised if it didn't do a nice job on dumpsters as well. What can you say? .45-70s are just sexy - the original 1,000M rifle.
 
355sigfan said:
Warning shots are not allowed in modern law enforcment. We either shoot to stop a threat or we don't shoot. Another problem I have with the store is the 45 70 is not a good penetrator on metal haveing a large metplate.
Click to expand...

Errr...MEPLAT? lol

Not saying it could not do it but I have my doubts. I may have to do some expermenting at the range.
Click to expand...

Dunno about penetration on metal....but was reading an article a couple or three years back about a new caliber the military was testing. Said round penetrated twelve layers of 3/4 plywood from 1200 yards. They didn't tell you til the end of the article was that it was written back at the turn of the century, or that the new caliber was the .45-70. All I want to know is how the hell high did they have to hold to hit that plywood at 1200 yards with a
.45-70?????????
 
Richard.Howe said:
Something about the good old 45-70 keeps drawing me back in. I get severely tempted to go out and buy a No.1 or 1895 about every other month, but stop short when I consider -- what the heck am I planning on doing with this thing?

It's a classic chambering that refuses to die. The No.1 is a beauty. Big, heavy bullets moving at moderate velocities tend to be pretty doggone accurate in my experience. I have every reason to buy one except an appropriate target.

Advice?

Rich
Click to expand...

The whole idea is to set up a target where theres lots of brush and small trees. You know, so you can just barely make out the target. Then proceed firing with 350 gr FN hornadys at 2150 fps...Its a hoot to watch the crap fly....I had em both and stayed with the marlin.Faster and believe it or not more accurate
 
A few years ago, JShirley went to a TFL get together up in Missouri. He took his Marlin Guide gun. They were shooting various firearms at various targets.
John shot a ballistic vest with his .45-70. It didn't penetrate the vest. It did drive the vest several inches into the railroad crosstie the vest was draped over.
 
Richard.Howe said:
It's a classic chambering that refuses to die.
Click to expand...

That is the only reason I needed to buy my Marlin 1895G. It is also great fun to shoot, especially if you load your own ammo. On any given day I can shoot full power Marlin only loads or light cowboy action type loads.
 
The 45-70 cartridge is for those times when a 'rifle' is not enough, and an 'artillery piece' is too much! As someone said on a different thread, "When you are throwing a brick, you don't need much velocity".

I like the 45-70 because of its history, the rifles it comes in, but mostly....have you ever hefted one of those 405 grain bullets! Put a .308 165 grain in one hand and a 45-70 405 grain in the other hand!

Another thing I like about the 45-70....it takes longer to fill up the bullet mold:neener:
 
When someone comes up to me asking what I am shooting out of that tiny little Contender carbine...and I show him a 45-70-405...and then ask him if he wants to shoot it...the look is trully a priceless moment. :)

Of course, this has indeed become my "Buddy gun"...I always carry some factory loads...I keep them in a seperate box. :evil:

I keep my bunny busters and trail-boss loads for me to shoot. :neener:



And if you REALLY want to test penetration with a 45-70...then go with some of those Barnes 450 gr. Solids, or 350 gr. X FB bullets.

I feel that those or even some good, hard-cast GC'd bullets would treat a dumpster very badly...

and even if it DIDN'T penetrate...can you only imagine what it would SOUND like on the other side of the bloody thing? The old drum with sledgehammer comes to mind.

D
 
Meplat my arse.

Not all .45-70 rounds are flat-nosed, lest we forget...

4570bullets.gif

Will have to sample those 500gr spitzers against a dumpster, or an equivalent thickness of metal and garbage, soon.
 
Byron Quick said:
A few years ago, JShirley went to a TFL get together up in Missouri. He took his Marlin Guide gun. They were shooting various firearms at various targets.
John shot a ballistic vest with his .45-70. It didn't penetrate the vest. It did drive the vest several inches into the railroad crosstie the vest was draped over.
Click to expand...
The fact that the bullet didn't penetrate the vest would be little comfort to the man wearing it, I think. ;)
 
How about that, with the proper selection of factory or handloaded ammunition, it'll take virtually any game animal that walks this continent when used with skill and within its practical range limitations?

The added "plus" is that, in the Marlin 1895G at least, the whole package isn't any more burdensome than a 336 in .30/30 or .35 Rem. with very similar practical range limitations. Pachmayr and Limb Saver make very effective recoil pads that replace the stock unit directly, if you're particularly recoil-sensitive. The factory porting on my older model '95G also helps a lot. With it, 300 gr. Federal Premium HPs actually feel "softer" to me than 200 gr. .35 Rem. loads in my old 336.

IMO, versatility is one of the main reasons that the old .45/70 refuses to die. You don't really need to limit it to a specific task.
 
I have no problem buying the dumpster penetration statement. My first outting with my Guide Gun and 405 grain factory ammo completely penetrated the paper target, the railroad tie it was stapled to, the 12" diameter tree the tie was secured to, three 55-gallon drums lined up behind the tree, and burried itself about a foot deep in the hillside behind. I dug it up. I'll post a pic of the bullet if I can find it. Even after all it penetrated it was remarkably intact. Oh yeah, the shooting distance was about 75 yards.
 
Did anybody mention the cartridge as being extremely easy to reload and capable of taking any and all animals on the American continent?
 
American and several other continents as well, I would venture to guess.


I haven't been to the "dark continent" to hunt...but for most of the critters over there...I don't think you would be under-gunned if you had a 45-70.

I have seen what it will do to buffalo...and it was some good medicine.

D
 
Gewehr - lovely pic of projectiles :)

Those two 2nd and 3rd in from right - some info? I have yet to use anything but the regular 405, per the 2nd from left.

Oh and BTW - the 3rd from left - with gas check. Do you have a mould # for that one?
 
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