I have numerous rifles to hunt deer, boar, and bear, but I always end up with a 45/70. I have several guns in this caliber and I like to hunt with my 1895GS. It is handy and compact and it works well in thick timber. I limit my shots to 200 yards by choice but I do practice with it on my range at 300 yards.
I have found that the two Marlin guide guns that I own shoot well. I have been able to put 5 shots inside 1/2" at 50 yards with a 525 grain hardcast Beartooth Pile Driver. It will shoot 300 grain and 350 grain bullets under 2" at 100 yards. Someone posted here about the 45/70 not being an effective caliber for quick kills. I have found that certain bullets (most 300grain HP) are not designed to be pushed over 2,000fps. These lead core bullets act like varmint bullets when pushed at 2,300 fps. At this velocity the 300 HP will turn the front shoulders of a deer into mush. I have been experimenting with pushing the Barnes 250 and 300 bullets to top velocity in a Ruger #1. My father has reached 2,600 fps with the 250 grain bullet safely from the data in the Barnes reloading book. He used the load to take a decent 8 pointer at 225 yards and it worked very well. The hard cast bullets from Cast Performance and Beartooth are designed to penetrate and penetrate they do.
Buy the 45/70 and if you don't like it, you can always sell it.
