I very much enjoyed reading through this thread. Cool guns and hunts. I have a Marlin 1895 SBL 45/70 and have killed 5 Whitetail does with it when I was living in Michigan. Where I was hunting I had to shorten the case back to a maximum of 1.8" so I had a local machine shop shorten my sizing die accordingly and I bought a custom Lee Factory Crimp Die. I used 48 grains of H4198 and the 325 FTX Hornady bullet seated out to 2.56" so no real powder capacity loss. I was getting 1900 fps. Obviously much more than I needed for those deer but that is what I had to use. I did use my 45 Colt Ruger Bisley on a Whitetail doe my first year in Michigan before I realized I could use the 45/70 as long as I shortened the brass.
I hope to take a Roosevelt elk and/or black bear with it now that I live in Roseburg Oregon. I will likely use full length cases and the Cast Performance 405 grain bullet though. I have a Leupold 2-7x scope with additional aim points below the reticle which helps for shots at 150 and 200 yards.
