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.45-70 Big Power At Close Range
Shooting Times ^ | May 1997 | Rcik Jamison

Posted on 10/29/2003 2:00:09 PM PST by 45Auto

High in the Oregon Cascades, I squinted into a wet, blowing snowfall for the antlers of a bull. I could see elk moving through a couple of gaps in the young fir trees about 60 yards away, when I caught sight of a bull. I flipped the cover off my scope lens and waited for the bull to show in the next opening.

As the bull reappeared, I could see antlers distinctly through the brush. I shouldered the rifle and tried to look throught my scope, but the lens was covered with wet snow. I swept it off quickly with a wet, gloved thumb. When I looked up, the bull had passed the opening and was out of sight.

That was not the first time that happened to me. I've lost game several times because a scope was rendered useless by either rain or wet snow. Thinking back about my elk hunting during the last few years in this wet, thick-wooded region, nearly all shots have been less than 100 yards. All this got me thinking about changing my rifle choice.

One hunter I know bought a Marlin .45-70 for elk and fitted it with a receiver peep sight. He was so successful with the cartridge and receiver sight that several of his friends bought the same combination. Local hunters also reported one-shot kills with the 350-grain Hornady roundnose and 400-grain Speer flatnose bullets in handloads. The performance of these bullets on elk-sized game was reported to be awesome.

When you think about it, it makes alot of sense. The rifle/cartridge/sight combination seem like a good match, particularly for elk under these conditions. Big heavy bullets have the mass to deal a powerful blow to an elk even after passing through a fair amount of heavy ferns and light brush. And what better cartridge is there for big bullets than the .45-70?

Iron sights are plenty good for the effective range of the cartridge and the relatively short shooting distances encountered in dense brush and timber. So I decided to give the old .45-70 and a new Marlin Model 1895 chambered for it a chance. The Marlin Model 1895SS is an easy-carrying fast-cycling lever gun. I knew from past experience with lots of Marlins in other calibers that these rifles are plenty accurate.

While everything so far sounds good, there are clinkers in this peep sight and .45-70 plan. First, while a good receiver peep sight is fast to use, there is no denying the fact that a scope gathers light and is a better performer under low-light conditions. An optical sight works earlier and later in the day.

Second, many middle-aged shooters have a problem with iron sights due to far-sightedness.

Third, the .45-70 is loaded mild at the factory, and rightly so, in deference to the old and weak actions are chambered for this round, so if you want high performance from this cartridge, it's a handloading proposition.

SAAMI specs on the .45-70 call for 28,000 either in pounds per square inch (psi) or copper units of pressure (cup). On the other hand, Marlin's lever actions are known to be strong rifles. Marlin's own .444 round, for example, carries a pressure spec of 42,000 psi, same as the .30-30 Winchester. The newer .356 and .375 Winchester cartridges, rounds the Marlins have been chambered for in the past, have maximum pressure standards of 52,000 cup and psi.

SAAMI/ANSI specifications are relatively mild for the .45-70 cartridge in general, handloading manuals have separated .45-70 data into catagories that match the various rifle action strengths. Nearly every major loading manual has plenty of good data developing pressures specifically for the strong Marlin rifles.

I shot several varieties of factory ammo and its performance could be safely exceeded with good handloads in every instance with the Marlin rifle. So, while SAAMI standards limit factory load performance, this is not a problem for a handloader with a strong Marlin and reliable shooting data.

Fourth, the .45-70 shoots large diameter, blunt bullets at relatively low velocity. While these are killers at close range and great for busting through brush, they make for a lot of drop at any distance. The blunt bullets with poor ballistic coefficients (B.C.) not only drop a lot over short distances, energy is also rapidly dissipated for the same reason - blunt bullets. I was interestd to see the downrange drop and energy figures after I determined the velocity to be had from the loads in my rifle.

Putting the .45-70 To The Test

I figured that iron sights were plenty good for 200 yards, and I like to hit an elk with 1500 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) of energy. While shots are generally close, I want to be able to take an elk out at 200 yards in case the opportunity presents itself. Would the .45-70 shoot flat enough and have enough energy to do it?

Just for test purposes, I mounted a Tasco 1.75-5X scope on the new Marlin. I figured a more honest load comparison could be had with the greater sighting precision of a scope. The scope could be taken off, and the iron sights mounted, after I completed the accuracy testing and settled on a hunting load.

Four factory loads were fired from Federal, Remington, and Winchester. Five bullets and eight powders were tried in handloads. I experimented with several propellants including VV N130 and N133, AA 2495, 2015, and 2520; Varget; H322; and RL 7. As it turned out, my chosen hunting load was 50.0 grains of RL 7 with bullets weighing 300 to 405 grains, which are plenty heavy for elk.

With the components selected, loading and shooting soon revealed the performance of the handloads with my lots of components in my rifle. The highest velocity loading fired during the test series was 2173 fps from a 300-grain Hornady hollowpoint ahead of 61.0 grains of W N133. The case was a Winchester, and the primer was a Remington 9 1/2. The same 300-grain Hornady hollowpoint loading produced the greatest energy at 3145 ft-lbs.

(Excerpt) Read more at membres.lycos.fr ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 4570; bang; banglist; elk; hunting
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1 posted on 10/29/2003 2:00:09 PM PST by 45Auto
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To: 45Auto
This article is 6 years old?
2 posted on 10/29/2003 2:05:33 PM PST by Redbob
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To: Redbob
This article is 6 years old?

The passage of time sucks.

3 posted on 10/29/2003 2:07:10 PM PST by Lazamataz (PROUDLY POSTING WITHOUT READING THE ARTICLE SINCE 1999 !!!!)
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To: Redbob
Cut him some slack, the .45-70 is atleast 120 years old.
4 posted on 10/29/2003 2:08:13 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim (SSDD - Same S#it Different Democrat)
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To: 45Auto
45-70 as in old breech loaded rifle? In Iowa they use to use the cartige to plow fields. Nothing stops it.
5 posted on 10/29/2003 2:09:37 PM PST by RLK
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To: RLK
Makes my shoulder hurt just thinking about it.
6 posted on 10/29/2003 2:11:12 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: 45Auto

7 posted on 10/29/2003 2:15:09 PM PST by Shooter 2.5
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To: 45Auto
This is a great art., thanks for the post. Have you ever gotten a chance to shoot the old .45-90 or .45-120? I think the only rifle chambered anymore are the Sharps or some clones. That would be a fun hunt, elk with a single shot rifle.
8 posted on 10/29/2003 2:16:07 PM PST by exnavy
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To: Redbob
Yes, and I came across it from a Lycos site in French. Still, the cartridge is 130 years old, so the passage of time has not taken much away from the venerable .45-70.
9 posted on 10/29/2003 2:17:56 PM PST by 45Auto (Big holes are (almost) always better.)
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To: exnavy
I shoot the .45-70 in this:

Ruger No. 1 falling block.

10 posted on 10/29/2003 2:20:48 PM PST by 45Auto (Big holes are (almost) always better.)
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To: 45Auto
When Fineswine, Boxer, and Einsatzgruppenfuehrer Schumer hear about this, they will want to ban .45 cal rifles too as too destructive.

I think that .458's have a place for 21st Century Minutemen, including WBY's .460.

Free citizens concern limosine librals busy creating absolute power with their "living" constitution's "compelling State interests" voiding our ratified Constitution.
11 posted on 10/29/2003 2:22:03 PM PST by SevenDaysInMay (Federal judges and justices serve for periods of good behavior, not life. Article III sec. 1)
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To: 45Auto
Nice rifle, mine is an old Marlin. I also have a Winchester '94 in 45 colt that is fun to shoot, but I doubt that it would bring down an Elk, a whitetail maybe.
12 posted on 10/29/2003 2:23:03 PM PST by exnavy
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
"Makes my shoulder hurt just thinking about it." Same w/these guys
13 posted on 10/29/2003 2:28:19 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: 45Auto
I use an 1884 Trapdoor in 45-70. It does not kick at all and is an easy shooter. Also, one does not have to register it with the ATF.
14 posted on 10/29/2003 2:30:44 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: SevenDaysInMay
The term "compelling State interest" has magical powers. Whenever a group of lawyer-politicians get together and dance around a fire shaking chickenbones in the air while chanting "compelling State interest!" anything is possible.
15 posted on 10/29/2003 2:31:57 PM PST by agitator (Ok, mic check...line one...)
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To: RLK
45-70 as in old breech loaded rifle?

It can also fire 410 gauge shotgun shells. If you cut the shell into at the wadding, it fires like a slug. Ah, those were the days.

16 posted on 10/29/2003 2:32:02 PM PST by itsahoot (The lesser of two evils, is evil still...Alan Keyes)
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To: 45Auto
What I want to know is why you need a scope to shoot something as big as a Volkswagen and less than 100 yards away?
17 posted on 10/29/2003 2:33:34 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: 45Auto
Me too. I like all the "old" calibers. And Ruger's No. 1 is great.

I think we seeing more and more new calibers as a means to sell more rifles. The super shorts especially.


18 posted on 10/29/2003 2:33:40 PM PST by Ribeye (.50 Action Express....Don't leave home without it.)
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To: *bang_list
Did you know that there is ANOTHER "Bang List"?

Chatty bang_list gun-related posts properly made to the "General Interest" area (as opposed to News/Activism area) are NOT visible when you view the regular bang_list.

If you want to see posts regarding "What gun to buy?", vanities on gun politics, and silly gun-related stories, bookmark this spot:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/finduser?user=%2Abang_list

If you want to post to this chat list, click "General Interest" (aka "chat") in the upper right under "my forums", then post, then reply to "*bang_list".
19 posted on 10/29/2003 2:34:12 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Blood of Tyrants
'Cause if ya don' hit 'em in the right spot, they just run away and bleed somewhere where ya can't find 'em.
20 posted on 10/29/2003 2:40:49 PM PST by exnavy
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