.45-70?

[Auburn1992]

Hello all,

I know there are certain calibers that are compatible w/ eachother; like the .357/.38. I was just wondering, are there any cartridges compatible with the 45-70? I was thinking that a .45 colt may work due to their close diameters but wasn't sure if the casing is too different to work. Also, what other calibers are compatible aside from the regulars?

 

[Vicious-Peanut]

Nope, .45-70 doesn't have anything like a 'short'.

.460 S&W and .454 Casull and .45 Colt

.327 Federal and .32 Magnum and .32 Long and .32 Short

Edited to add .460 and .327

 

[SoCalShooter]

You might be able to consider a 45-70 a short of a 45-90 and a 45-120

 

[Auburn1992]

Are those cartridges compatible with the lesser ones? Can 45-120 shoot 45-90 & 70?

 

[Thernlund]

.454 Casull and .45 Colt

...and .460 S&W.


-T.

 

[mnrivrat]

Are those cartridges compatible with the lesser ones? Can 45-120 shoot 45-90 & 70?

I'm not the last word on this but I believe the answer is NO . I think those are all tappered case cartridges if I recall correctly.

.460 S&W - .454 Casull - .45 Long Colt

.44 Magnum - .44 Spl

.357 Max - .357 Mag - .38Spl - .38 S&W

.327 Mag - .32 H&R mag - .32S&W Long - .32 S&W

 

[jrfoxx]

I'm not the last word on this but I believe the answer is NO . I think those are all tappered case cartridges if I recall correctly.

I had to double check myself, but that appears correct. the cartridges appear to go from a base of around .505 tapered down to .480, so I would have to think you are correct. I'm sure a .45-70 fan will come along to tell us for sure though.

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd4570government.jpg

 

[catfish101]

The 45-70 is one of a few of the old cartridges that have survived from the 1800's. Yeh there are several still around but they are probably the most popular.

We shoot allot of 45-70 stuff. You can load it light and have fun or load it heavy and take anything on earth. The heavy loads are limited to curtain guns. Ruger #1s, Shiloh 1874s . There are a few others. You won't want to shoot it much with a bullet in the 500 grain or bigger category.

 

[oneshooter]

.357 Max - .357 Mag - .38Spl - .38 S&W

The 38 S&W will not chamber in a 38spl/357mag!! The case is short enough, but the diameter is too large. The 38 S&W chamber is too short for a 38spl to fit.

.460 S&W - .454 Casull - .45 Long Colt

Add the 45 Schofield to this one.

.44 Magnum - .44 Spl

Add the 44 Russian to this one.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

 

[SoCalShooter]

re:catfish101

What is a curtain gun?

 

[Onmilo]

You can shoot .45-60 WCF in a .45-70 chambered rifle or handgun.

 

[Rachen]

What is a curtain gun?

I think he meant certain guns.

 

[SoCalShooter]

Oh i was gonna say...what are these curtain guns and where can I get one?

 

[catfish101]

Sorry about that guys.

 

[SaxonPig]

SoCalShooter nailed it. The 45/70 is the short version of the 45/90 and 45/120.

 

[Tommygunn]

I believe that if you have a rifle in .45-90 it will fire a .45-70 but there will be a lot of leade.
I don't know about .45-120.
While the infantry carried the Springfield Trapdoor rifle and used .45-70 from @1873 into the 1890s, the cavalry used carbines and the ammo they were issued, while the same size and length as the .45-70 was downloaded to .45-55 and the volume that remained empty in the cartridge was filled with cork or cardboard space.
There were a lot of .45-XX cartridges, and Winchester had some of its rifles chambered in them, and others were used in Sharps and Rolling Blocks; not all were compatible.
So I wouldn't blindly interchange them unless I had good infor that it was possible to do so.

 

[txgho1911]

Where do we find the old military surplus?

 

[Eric F]

several of the 40 cal rifle rounds were shortened/bottle necked versions of the 45-70 even front runners in some cases. the one that best comes to mind is the 40-65 bottle neck. the 45-70 and 45-90 can be fired out of the same rifle but it is not advisable from a safety stand point.

 

[35Rem]

The 38 S&W will not chamber in a 38spl/357mag!! The case is short enough, but the diameter is too large. The 38 S&W chamber is too short for a 38spl to fit.

The 38 Special is a lengthened 38 S&W, the 357 Magnum is a lengthened 38 Special. All can be fired in a 357 magnum.
You might be thinking of the 38 Colt, which, early on, was slightly larger in diameter than the 38 S&W, but has since been "standardized" to fit the 38 Special, as that round became the "standard"

 

[Jim Watson]

Sorry, .35Rem, you have it precisely backwards. The .38 Special is a development of the .38 Government which was pretty much a .38 Long Colt.

The .38 S&W is shorter but larger in brass and bullet diameter. It has no shorter or longer counterpart, in spite of the once-common store counter exchange "Give me some .38 shorts for my Ivory Johnston."

There are a lot of people who want to buy big and shoot small, for various sound or dumb reasons. You can shoot .45-70 in .45-90; it was done a good deal before .45-90 got to be available again. Not unsafe, but you could not count on much accuracy. OK for woods hunting if you wanted to exercise Grandpa's rifle, I guess.

 

[Dain Bramage]

Quote:
.44 Magnum - .44 Spl

Add the 44 Russian to this one.

And you can add .445 Supermag to the left side of the equation.

 

[mainmech48]

There was one "long" version of the .38 S&W, Jim: The .38/44, an old target cartridge made for use in New Model No.3 revolvers around the turn of the last century. Not to be confused with the later .38/44, which was a sort of +P of the .38 Spl. made for use in heavy N-frame S&Ws.

Sort of an interesting cartridge though. Made with a case which was the full length of the cylinder and had the bullet seated entirely below the mouth, a la the Nagant.

It had some limited popularity among serious bullseye shooters of its era. Chevalier Ira Paine had revolvers in both .38/44 and .32/44 which he used to shoot some pretty impressive 50 yd. groups. Especially considering the sights he had to work with.

 

[Jim Watson]

mainmech48, it just so happens there is a No 3 New Model Target .38-44 in the next room, as Henry Stebbins used to say. I had described it in my previous post but deleted it so as to not confuse the discussion of buying big and shooting small.

I made brass for it by cutting off .357 Maximum to cylinder length and loading it as though a .38 wadcutter. The brass was undersize but it expanded to fill the S&W size chamber and I resized with a .38 Super die so it stayed fireformed.

There was a collector here who wanted to shoot his without the expense of burning collecor ammo or the trouble of setting up to form brass and load for it, so he just plinked with some .38 S&W. Didn't hit much, as is usually the case with way short ammo, but at least he knew it worked.

 

[Papaster]

Let's not forget the venerable .22 rimfire!
.22 LR-.22 Short-.22 Long

 

[mainmech48]

No offence intended, Jim. I've been toying with the idea of converting an extra cylinder assembly I have for one of my Dan Wesson 15-2s to accept a trimmed .357 Max case and full or semi wadcutters for a while now. Idle curiousity, mostly. The concept would seem to have some merit on its face, though I doubt that the results would offer any significant improvement in accuracy over conventional .38 WCs. It'd be diverting, if nothing else, to find out.