45-70 questions ?

Question

What 45-70 round is the best on the market ?
What all would be good to hunt with a 45-70?
Could I hunt a Cape buffalo ?
and Why are they so high all of a sudden I mean they jumped like $4 a box ?

Answer 1

The .45-70 Government will work with a large variety of bullets, from modern jacketed bullets to hard-cast lead. What you want to do with it will dictate what the best bullet on the market will be. A tough hard-cast, gas-checked, flat-nosed lead bullet will provide the penetration needed to harvest even the most dangerous African game. So will the well-constructed jacketed bullets from Barnes, Swift, and Hornady. The best ammunition for hunting big game, WITH THE RIGHT RIFLE, are loads produced by COR-BON, Garrett, and Buffalo-Bore.

What would be good to hunt with the .45-70 depends on the gun you're using, because there are three different classes of firearms chambered for this cartridge.

First are the 'trapdoor' Springfield (and replicas thereof,) old H&R single-shots (the 'Shikari' rifle,) Remington Rolling Block and Winchester 1886 rifles. These are good for deer, medium, and some large game within relatively close ranges. The reason for this is because these old-timers have miniscule operating pressures.

Then you have Marlin 1895 leverguns, and NEF Handi-Rifles. These are good on the biggest, baddest North American game. These rifles handle about 10k PSI more pressure than the old-timers above.

To hunt big, dangerous African game, you need a Ruger #1, Ruger #3, or properly converted 1898 Siamese Mauser bolt-action (there have been analyses posted that show the NEF Handi-Rifle may belong in this category too, but the Handi-Rifle is a lightweight gun. Firing a Ruger-class load from one would be...interesting.) These guns will handle double the pressure of the Marlin 1895s, and will drive a bullet of a given weight to around 90% the velocity of the African safari-proven .458 Winchester Magnum. Dangerous African game suddenly becomes accessible to the shooter with a steady hand, good shot placement, and a healthy tolerance for recoil.

Ammo prices have increased due to increases in price of the basic components of ammunition. Copper's gotten so expensive that the U.S. government has stepped in to stop people from melting down pennies for their copper, and people break into abandoned buildings to strip out the copper wiring, for example. There may be a fair bit of politically-induced speculation as well, but the cost of raw materials is likely responsible for much of the price rise we've seen.

Answer 2

Cape buffalo with a .45-70??? I wouldn't. The .45-70 is a buffalo gun from the Eighteen hundreds. People use dangerous game rifles (read that 'elephant' guns) for cape buffalo. The minium dangerous game rifle in Africa is the .375 Holland & Holland.

Good luck.

H

Answer 3

Greed is responsible for the price hikes... I personally would not attempt to hunt Cape Buffalo with the 45-70....Suggested ammo you got me...

Answer 4

Well it would not be my first weapon of choice, but if that’s what I had and one was charging yes, I would take my best shot.
Now believe it or not it has been use in Africa on everything but elephants to prove its ability.
But as I said before there are better calibers for that job.

Now as to ammo I would say hands down for the money Remington is the best on the market for quality and price that I have found and I would use the 350 grain for best trajectory and performance in North America.

Now as to price, it’s supply and demand with the war going on most if not all ammo manufactures contract or subcontract to the military for all forms of bullets and the majority of the manufactures have keyed in most of their equipment to feed the demand by the military there for what few machines not in that job must feed the civilian market and that will in turn run the prices up some.
But my supplier tell me that most of the price jump is the shipping prices that the manufacture must pay and he passes it the distributor and then the distributor pays to have it shipped to him and add that on to the price also and it all evolves around fuel prices jumping up so high.

You might look in to reloading for that 45-70, I cast my own 350 grain hollow points and reload them at a fraction of the price you are paying for factory ammo.
You get better ammo that is tuned to your weapon and the savings goes back in your pocket.
I for one enjoy reloading for all my weapons, it’s a fine hobby that saves me a bundle for all the weapons and calibers I shoot.
And it is easy.

D58

Answer 5

Bound's hubby here:

My .45-70, while a modern Browning Highwall, it is a Blackpowder Cartridge rifle used for target and hunting.

I use my own Blackpowder or duplex loads with my own 525 grain cast bullets.

If your ifle is approved for modern loads, I would rely on Remington ammo.

With respect to game ... I would limit myself to that game found in North America. Using smokeless loads and jacketed bullets, my choices would be:
Deer and boar with have me using 300 grainers.
Black bear, moose, and elk would probably find me using 405 grain bullets.
Polar bear would probably find me using 500 grainers.

I would NOT take a .45-70 against African game, but that is me.

With respect to the increased cost of ammo, many people say it is the war, others feel it is the upsurge in the global metals market, while others say it is due to Communist China''s increased military spending and build-up.

Good luck!

Answer 6

It all depends what you are doing with the round. I use 300 gr. cast bullets is some of my Cowboy Action Shooting. The 300 and 350 jacketed bullets are pretty good hunting rounds. A few of my friends who shoot long range matches (1,000 yards) favor the 405 gr. bullets.

I suspect the reason the price has gone up is the demand for the bullet has gone up.
I reload everything I shoot.

Answer 7

its good for large deer species ,hogs, but i think i would use more power on a cape buffalo

Answer 8

Rossi and H&R are good brands but if you want capacity go for a nice Rossi stainless steel lever action