Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 44 mag or 45-70 for Iowa deer

So we drew Iowa deer licenses for this coming season, what is the change that they have made? They now allow .45/70 rifles?

I don't see in the Iowa regs that the .45/70 or .44 is allowed in rifles.

I don't have much experience with lever gun, but I have killed a few deer with a 44 mag and 45/70 in a single shot rifle. From my experience, there is no comparison in killing power. The 45/70 puts them on the ground much quicker than a 44 mag.

Icw,depends on the bullet and the location of where the deer is hit. I've had them run 150yds. when heart shot with a 45/70 and had one drop in it's tracks,with the only movement being a slight twitch of the ear when shot with a 44 mag.

A high shoulder shot with the 44 mag.

I'd opt for .44 mag, if I could get a Ruger auto (sporter).
Not great shooters, not good trigger...............but good looking and usable.
Cool factor way high IMHO.

From My experience the 45-70 is a far better killing cartridge especially on large Whitetails ( like Midwest Iowa Whitetails).......Good luck in Iowa......Hb

My understanding of the new Iowa law is that you have to use handgun ammunition in any rifle, that would seem to eliminate the 45-70.

Edit: it looks like it is on the list in the Iowa DNR regs.

A Marlin 44 magnum with a Leupold 1-4 scope sounds good to me.

Any thoughts on the .38-55 cartridge, straight wall not pistol tho.

Yep..I'd opt for the 45-70....just in case...

Were it me, I would build a single shot in .357 Maximum. 200 grain bullet at1800± fps out of a 24" rifle barrel- what's not to like?

.375 Winchester?

Just about any straight case generating sane recoil levels is going to have a rainbow trajectory way out there, in some of those rolling Ohio hills.

well I did not do either I ended up with a 444 Marlin

I plan to purchase a 460 S&W Encore barrel for the upcoming Iowa deer season.

2900 fps out of a rifle barrel, with 200 grain bullets, should do the trick at some distance.

Hornady 200 grain

460 S&W video, around 2900FPS

Pistol calibers now legal for shotgun seasons 1 & 2 (others may well be added).



Iowa DNR Regs

Not a bad choice, either.

The only negatives I can see that is if you don't handload, ammo will be harder to find than the other two. Not impossible, just harder.

If you handload, be sure to use bullets that can handle the velocity.

It's a .44 mag on steroids, supercharger, and nitrous oxide.

I think he will set for a long time.wink

It seems that this is a recent addition to the regs. Great news overall. Looks like the old Marlin .45-70 will get some action this year.

I killed one deer with a 44 Magnum carbine. Beware factory ammo meant for revolvers--if you move it 300 fps faster, then bullet performance gets erratic. Don't ask me how I learned that.

Also, I learned pretty quickly that having 3-4 rounds in the tube is plenty. More just makes the gun heavier.


Okie John

I have zero hunting experience with the 45-70 cartridge but I've downed 19 deer with my RUGER 44 MAG carbine. None got away. I've had my quickest kills shooting Hornady hollow tip bullets and weight does not seem to matter. 200 grain or 240 grain bullets hit hard within reasonable distances. All of my shots have been taken at about 100 yards or less. One year, I loaded up some 270 grain Speer Deep Curl bullets for wild hogs and found that this combo out penetrates all other bullets I've tried. It's a better choice for tougher animals than common deer in my opinion.

Ballistically speaking, the mighty 44 MAG is a fairly short range cartridge compared to .308 or 270 but this is not a handicap to a patient hunter who selects his ambush locations carefully.

Sherwood