Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers 45-70 hunting questions

There is a lot to be desired with the 45-70 as a game killer. I have killed lots of game with those older Black Powder cartridges and the way they performed best was larger frontal area on the bullet and larger bullets with more powder.

I love those guns and cartridges, but they basically put holes in things and where the hole is, is what determines how quickly the animal dies.

I have shot buffalo with them and they will completely penetrate 2 buffalo if you have them lined up. Momentum is the driving force with those big slow bullets and penetration is the result.

If you do hit the spine, heart or brain, it will put them down quickly. Especially the brain and spine. A heart shot is certainly lethal, but I have seen buffalo go quite a ways with a bullet through the heart.

Shot through the lungs with a high velocity expanding bullet, an animal will drop much quicker than with the 45-70.

I think the best way to put game on the ground with the 45-70 is an immediate kill shot or structural damage. A 45-70 will certainly damage bone structure and that is hard on animals.

There is more than one reason that hunting cartridges have changed over the years and velocity with expanding bullets do have the advantage.

This 45-70 model 1886 with 405 grain hard cast bullets, completely penetrated this bull and went through another cow and hit a third buffalo in the leg. Youj can't shoot at them lined up like that.



I put 4 rounds through this bull and he didn't drop from any one of them and I was using Hornady 500 grain dangerous game bullets on him. the 4th round did tip him over, but that was a 405 grain cast bullet through the back of his head, into his brain...




This cow was the same thing, but I shot her through the shoulders with the first shot and it slowed her way down. Broken shoulders kept her from moving far, then another through the brain finished it...




This deer was one shot through the neck, lights out. There is no getting away with one through the spine, anywhere...