The 45 70 loads that the forest service dropped way down were not the "ruger/marlin only loads'' that you can easily find in any reloading manual. The loads tested were the old nearly black powder equivilent factory loads that are available.
The current boutique loads like buffalo bore and similar limited production ammo really move the 45 79 into a different class, I have seen some 45 70's in modern reproduction (japanese) 1886's that manage a 500 grain hard cast lead at just about 1850 FPS, which is darn close to factory .458 ammo. 430's at close to 2000 fps and 350's at 2200FPS in hard cast. This is serious medicine for big animals.
I had a 95 winchester copy that rebarreled to .416 alaskan, basically a 405 case with less taper, a bit of a shoulder and able to shoot much more available (and africa game tested) .416 barrels. I n ever got a chance to use it up in Alaska, but that rifle spent a season up there and it was more than adequate for big bear, It is not yet back from Africa, but a few emails have said that on a lion, it was devastating. One shot, hit front shoulder, broke that, exited opposite side of the animal at the left hip, and it broke that on the way out. With two flats on opposite corners, the animal was down, a second shot ended the noise. I bought that rifle thinking i was going to be able to afford more trips North or east, but those are no hold for now. It travels with a good friend who really really likes it,
As for the ultimate bear carry gun, I would too think the a layout much more similar to the Trapper look would add a round, without adding too much weight and with the slimmed down fore arm of the trapper as well, to fit in to a sleeve case like the old timers. One of the more accurate portrayals of this type of gun use was in the bad movie with Michael Douglas "Romancing the Stone" he was a poacher who carried an 870 (IIRC) in a sleeve scabbard attached to his backpack. When I was living up North, many of the true woods guys did the same.
