Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots 45-7 question

I am thinking about adding a 45-70 just for the cool factor and I like the old round.I do have a Encore and adding the barrel would be easy. With the Encore are the factory barrels ok or would I be better off custom and if so who's?. I would like a Ruger No1 and may go that way. What are the pros and cons of either. Thanks all

I couldn't tell you much about the technical pros/cons of those two platforms.

If you go the No.1 route, there was a special run made for one of the distributors (Davidson's or Lipsey's??) with a 26" bbl, and I think a slightly heavier bbl contour than the standard 22" model. One of the members here was showing his to us a while back. Really beautiful rifle.

I'm a 45-70 fan myself, but mine is a Marlin GBL. I'd like a No.1 someday too though. I might even slum a handi-rifle and enjoy it.

MGM barrel for the Encore and you will love it.

Slum a handi-rifle??? Come on MontanaMarine, dollar for dollar, the handy-rifle will shoot along side of any of the fancy, hi priced production guns.
Twink

I know, I was just trying to be snobbish.......grin.

I wish I had a No 1 in 45-70, but I'm having to get by with a Marlin Guide gun. I've been firsthand around 2 of those, and they are scary accurate.

I have three 45/70 rifles and love them all a#1 a danish krag and a bailkel .The 45/70 seems to fly to the bull eyes out of all of them just a damn good round

For pure cool factor - along with thye ability to take ANY game on ANY continent (Even Cape buffalo) a Siamese Mauser bolt action just can't be beat. I have had mine for close to 50 years - it wears a great piece of walnut, a Leupold scope and shoots just about everything into cloverleafs at 100 yards from the bench on a good day. With a 300 grain HP it drops everything smaller than buffalo in their tracks - but buff are another level of tough.

Terry

The H&R Buffalo Classics are a great buy for the $. Have one in 38-55 and will maybe someday snag a 45-70 version.

And yes the Siams are nice too. Here's mine:

I have not shot either the Encore or a #1 in .45-70. However, I'm always surprised when someone who does says the .45-70 recoil is a real issue. I do shoot a lot of .45-70, but I wonder if these particular rifles have a configuration that is just not pleasantly compatible with that cartridge.

There are other .45-70 platforms that are more traditional and seem to be much less likely to bring up the recoil issue as a problem.

Perhaps this is all just so much speculation but it is a pattern I've seen for a while.

My #1 is on the left side of this photo



So far all I've run in it are heavy smokeless loads, with 300 gr TTSX, pushing 2300 fps. It has managed some decent groups at 100 yards. Recoil is not trivial, but is not horrible, either. I have little doubt it would also work with heavier, slower bullets, or even mild loads with 300 gr hollowpoints.

As to recoil... With my Marlin and factory rounds packing 400 grain slugs, recoil is a non issue. Those run about 1,250 fps. When I hop 400+ grains slugs up to around 1,750, however, the recoil does get ones attention.

My #1 has been a fine, reliable, productive rifle. Of several #1s, the 45-70 is the best feeling #1 I own. It is a fine shooter and is capable of running with bigger dogs in this action. And that is where its handy weight and balance demands its ransom!

The reason I bought my encore was to reduce recoil on an injured shoulder. The flex tech stock really works for reducing recoil and as such my encore recoils much less than any of my marlins do.

I have 6 45/70s including a BFR pistol. The pistol is a little hard to handle, as far as recoil on the rifles I dont think it is that bad.

If you're shooting factory loads in the hand gun and the same in the rifle, it's a cake walk. Don't try one of my .405 Remintons moving at just under 2000 fps from a rifle in the pistol. They get your attention in a rifle. It's one of those "Hey buddy, wanna try a shot with this".

My .45-70 is one of those, cheap, mediocre, lowly 22 inch Handi Rifles. It's one of 14 Handis. The best I can do with it is three shots inside 2.5 inches at 300 yards...I guess I ought to get rid of it, break down, spend a grand or two and get something good.

Pete

What type of sight do you have on it?

+1 on above. I have my 45-70 on an Encore "flex-tech" stock with a limbsaver pad and recoill is very manageable, but impact plays hell with deer innards, usually a soupy field dress.

The scope is nothing fancy. I bought the rifle used locally about six or eight years ago. It came with a Simmons Eight Point, 3-9X50. I thought that I'd change it when recoil destroyed it. Hasn't happened. It's still working fine and that hunting load is heavy.

I live on our farm with woods and fields. I've got to be ready for 400 yard shots, so everything we own is pretty much this way. These are all Handis with two Marlins,one Ruger and one Savage thrown in for flavor. The .45 Colt and .445SM sighted 100 yards. The three.357 Maximums, .38-55, .356/.358. and two .30-30s are all sighted at 200. The rest,from .223 to .45-70 are sighted for 300. I use the Allen nine cartridge butt stock holders. I keep a 3x5 card under the holder with the load and ballistics for the rounds in the holder. When I pick up a rifle to hunt, I pull the card to refresh my memory. It reminds me what it's sighted in for, the load, velocity, and what my rise and drop is from 25 yards to 100 beyond sight in distance. There's no way I could remember all that....even for one rifle.

Pete

I have a Ruger #1 in .45-70 Govt. with the 26" tube. It was a special run made for Lipseys, and I love it!





They came with Circassian Walnut and I find the extra length to give it a better balance.