Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Favorite 45-70 bullet for deer/Black Bear

I shot a doe with my "primitive" 45-70 BPCR fitted with a VX-3 3-9x40 CDS, set up for the 250 TSX over Vv n-120. It's a Barnes (Marlin) accuracy load at 2,550 fps out of a 24" barrel. I never clocked it out of the 30 BPCR barrel. That big bullet blew thru the deer, scattering pieces of lung tissue on the far side. She made a few leaps, blowing blood like a fire hose before she piled up. It trashed both lungs, blew the top out of her heart.

I shot a pig at 100 yds. The bullet left a pattern on the far rib cage, like a broken window. There was the exit hole, with fracture lines in the rib cage, several inches in all directions, radiating from the hole. I've not seen that before or since. Also blew lung tissue out the far hole.

With the Barnes load and the dedicated CDS, I can put that bullet on a pie plate at 300 yds all day long. That was the requirement at a previous deer camp to qualify a gun for a long shot. Those 300 yd. groups were around 5" or so. Not bad for a big bullet that looks like an ash tray turned backwards.

DF

Not so primitive, primitive weapon. I got it used; it had a trigger job, came with a spread sheet with multiple loads of all kinds. and really pretty wood.