All the talk of 500 gain bullets in the .45/70 takes me back to a time of unlimited culling deer sized feral game in which anything went, including 500 grain Hornady's which I tried in the SS version of the Marlin 1895. Long before Stainless Marlins were available, The SS version had 22" barrel, half length magazine and a rounded pistol grip and lever.
The cartridges hand loaded to seat to the cannelure were too long to cycle through the action but loaded singly without issue. They also killed feral goats with utter reliability though interestingly demonstrated far less flesh disbursement that did the .458 Winchester handloaded with Hornady solids at the time.
Loads tried included:
50gn IMR 4064 = 1491fps
48gn AR2206 = 1434fps (There is a 2206H version today which is a modified burning rate sold as H 4895 in the US)
45gn AR2207 = 1576fps (Sold in the US as H 4198)
46gn Rel 7 = 1584fps
50gn Rel 12 = 1439fps
Interestingly, best accuracy came from 44gn of AR 2207 which generated 1550fps.
