Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles boredom poll: hunting with a 45-70

What have you killed with a 45-70 and, just for entertainment's sake, what's the biggest game you'd take a poke at with a 45-70?

Killed a number of deer, including a nice Mule deer buck with a .45-70 and cast bullets backed by black powder.

Stoke one up with the right bullet in a Ruger #1 and I wouldnt think twice about using it on Cape Buffalo. ( and yeah, Ive hunted buffalo, so I know what I'm up against...)

Well, it was used quite successfully on bison.

Ingwe - Ruger #1 because it can handle hotter load or because on a Cape hunt you'd have a PH backing you up? (I've never hunted Africa, so this might be a dumb question, but I was surprised by a single shot.)

Wtf - Yes, it was. Though a little later on the scene than Marlin marketing reps might have us believe. 😂

Just a few whitetails with 300gr and 350gr jacketed bullets. Anything I’d hunt, I’d hunt with a 45/70.

Ingwe - just went down a Google rabbit hole on Ruger #1
... answered my own question about the action.

2 deer with a cast 420 grain slug. Oh and a squirrel that made the mistake of incessant scolding when he saw me.

A few whitetails and one bothersome armadillo. Worked as expected on the whitetails, 405 gr cast thru the lungs resulting in a 40 yd death dash. The armadillo had me in high tension thinking a deer was browsing through the thick stuff up a hill toward me. When that wart ambled into sight I was so pizzed that I shot him head-on. the result was a thoroughly shucked out armadillo shell....

I had a preconceived idea that the big slug would knock a deer flat. Other than one that was spined and required a follow up, they all ran a short distance. Those big slugs are lethal and always exit leaving a huge blood trail. But, when paced through the lungs, they don't produce shock and awe like you would think.

The 45-70 was introduced in 1873. Bison were almost gone by then and laws were passed in 1874 banning bison hunting to preserve the handful left. I'm sure it killed a few, but in the 1870's 45-70 was considered under powered for game larger than deer. Those original loads were about the same as a 45 caliber muzzle loading rifle, which is the legal minimum for deer in many places and not legal for game larger than deer in many places.

Modern loads are a different story in rifles that will handle them.

I had one of the Marlin 1895's shortly after they re-introduced them in the early 1970's. Added a guide gun later, but sold both about 15 years ago. Never killed anything but one deer. It was dead, but I never really warmed up to the round. I did like the older Marlin rifle though. With milder loads it was enjoyable to shoot. But I felt hotter loads recoil was out of proportion to the performance. If I'm going to get hit that hard I'd rather move up to 375, which has less recoil than hot 45-70 loads.

Not so sure I'd want to hunt cape buffalo with one either. I watched Tony Makris on the hunting show "Under Wild Skies" take one with a 45-70. It took 6-7 shots to put it down and no telling how long. They kept cutting away and trailing the animal then fire another shot etc.

I agree, re: the 45-70 being late to the bison slaughter party. But I'm not sure it's fair to generalize that it wasn't considered adequate for anything bigger than deer in the 1870s. It was competing with other powerful (big and slow) rounds: 50-90s, 56 Spencers, various 44 Remingtons and Sharps... but I would guess it was considered a better option, even in blackpowder iteration, than the 44 Henry (rimfire) or even the 44-40 WCF by professional hunters. In decades *after* commercial bison hunting ended, people considered cartridges like the 32-20 or 25-20 adequate for deer and those aren't even in the same galaxy as a 45-70 in the 1870s.

Also, bison hunting continued after 1874, well into the 1880s. Various laws passed at the state level in the early 1870s outlawing the "waste" of bison meat. Some states/territories passed bans in the 1880s, but they weren't enforced. Legislation was introduced and eventually tabled in 1873-74 that would have restricted the "wasteful killing" of bison, elk, antelope and other game on "public lands." Ironically, Dawes -- the same guy who engineered the final blow to Indian sovereignty with the Dawes Act, helped shut it down. Not a coincidence. It reappeared in 1876 and got buried in committee. That said, a law was passed in 1894 that outlawed bison hunting in Yellowstone.

I hunted elk with a Browning reproduction 1886. I killed two bull elk with it.It more than did the trick, but even at 13 pounds fully load recoil was no fun. I decided I needed a lighter rifle to hunt elk at higher elevations

Anything, anywhere.

Not one damn thing. I had my fill of hucking ponderous hunks of lead at game back when I hunted deer in the shotgun zone.

Several whitetails with both 405gr hard cast and 325gr Hornady flextips. Properly loaded I’d hunt anything on this continent and most things in Africa.

This made me laugh out loud.

A couple of whitetails only, both with the 405 JSP Remington bullet at less than 1500 fps. One was shot from the front and exited the rear and the deer dropped on the spot. The second was shot through the lungs and made it about 20-30 yds spraying blood. It is a fun round to play with.

Ok. Ive actually shot a #1 stoked to the gills...near .458 stuff and it was no fun at all, but it was accurate and yeah, if need be, I'd use it on a buffalo. And as for being backed by a PH if you are using a single shot...yes, you will be backed by a PH, even if you're carrying a Gatling Gun. You dont just roll into Africa and go off on a buffalo hunt by yourself. Ive got two friends who have successfully hunted Buffalo with a Ruger #1 ( in other chamberings) it being a single shot is really not much of a consideration if you've spent enough time on the trigger. ( one is our esteemed Mule deer)

I'll agree the 45-70 was late to the Bison party, and I dont know where these laws were passed in 1874 that you speak of, cause the remaining bison were still being hunted in the 80s and later ( TR killed one about then...) The 1873 Springfield was the poor mans buffalo gun for a short while.

And as for Makris and the buffalo...the .45-70 wouldn't be my first choice but the annals of buffalo hunting are full of stories of multiple, multiple shots with stuff a lot more potent than a .45-70, and just as full of stories of quick kills with 7x57, .30-06 etc. With buffalo there are lots of variables.

As for buffalo and the 45-70, the northern herd wasn't hunted to near extinction until the earliest 1880's. The "Buffalo War" that took place on the southern plains was in 1876, when the Billy Dixon shot was made. The 45-70 was around in plenty of time to participate in the buffalo hunts. I have read that the Army on the plains would give buffalo runners 45-70 ammo to use but that the runners mostly broke it down for the powder and lead. I can't recall where I read that so I have no source to quote nor do I know it for a fact....but it's certainly a possibility.

I've take whitetail and hogs with the 45-70. I used a 450 gr. Lee bullet cast of Lyman #2 over....I think 36 grs. of IMR-3031 in an original 1886 Winchester. Never recovered a bullet. I'd hunt anything up to and including moose, within the cartridge range limitations. in my 45-90 with its 480 gr. bullet...I believe I would trust it for about anything on the North American continent.

I know next to nothing about single shot rifles (obviously)... how much stronger is the Ruger than the new Henry single shot models?