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Excuse me if I put this in the wrong forum. I'm going to start reloading for my 45-70. I'm looking for a good load for deer hunting. What are your guys favorite loads ? Bullets , powder how much and what kind, primers . I also shoot a single shot not a lever action. Thanks

With the 45-70 you can load mild trapdoor safe loads to bust your shoulder near 458 win mag. loads. Obviously the heavier bullet and powder charge the more recoil and ft. lbs. of energy you'll get. There are quite a few powders that work well with the 45-70.

I made up a relatively mild load for my wife's 1895 guide gun consisting of a 300 grain Hornady jacketed HP bullet with 46 grains of H4198. Velocity is close to 1850 fps and about duplicates Federal's and Winchester factory 45-70 loads with 2300 ft. lbs. of energy.

My 300 grain loads for my 1895 & Browning High Wall are quite a bit stouter, 56 grains of IMR4198 & 60 grains of Varget.
My 400 grain load is the same one Elmer Keith used, 53 grains of IMR3031.
All 3 hurt on both ends.

I'm not to keen on cast bullets so I can't offer much there.

For a strictly deer load it would be hard to beat the 300gr HPs available from Hornady, Speer, and Sierra.

My favorite 45/70 powder has long been H4198. Always gave me good accuracy from mild to wild with bullets from 275-400gr. I just always used any old large rifle primer.

I’ve worked up a couple of accurate loads for my Marlin 1895 CBA that deer just hate. A 300 grain Speer JHP over 58 grains of Varget and the same 300 grain Speer over 67 grains of H335. The H335 load is a handful in a 6 lb rifle, but it sure is fun to shoot

Thanks for the info guys. I have a lot of imr4198 that's what I use in my smokeless muzzleloader. If a guy was going to use a 300gr bullet what would you recommend for how many grains of imr4198 ? I shoot 60grs in my smokeless muzzleloaders with 275gr bullets.

4198 is good medicine.

I like using cci 250 primers.

I don't have my data in front of me, but in my Marlins they all handled book loads easy.

Lyman 457125, 30:1 alloy, LRP, duplex load of 6 gr SR4759 and 60 gr Swiss 1.5 FG, .030” card wad. Works on all critters. It’s good for 1.5 MOA (5 shots) with elbow rest from my rifle.

Unique

2400

5744

H4198

RL-7

ALL work well for me.

300 Speer or 300 Hornady

48.5grs imr4198

I have a very light weight 45-70 Marlin and a heavy 45-70 1886. What feels OK in the 1886 hurts with the Marlin.

But the Marlin with deer loads work well. You don't need heavier than 300 grain bullets for deer. I have several molds for the 45 caliber up to 500+ grains. But with jacketed bullets I've only used IMR3031 and admittedly have not spent much time with jacketed bullets in the 45. I believe the other users answering your question likely have spent much more time working up jacketed loads and I would go with their recommendations.

But I will say that the 45-70 works very well with cast bullets - even for bigger game than deer. My favorite cast bullet is 405 grain FN GC and if I were stuck with one bullet for the 45-70, that would be it.

That there is a good recipe.

For deer hunting I use 43gr of 3031 and a 300gr Hornady. Soft shooting and will go through any deer. It is a very accurate load in my 1895.
I think 3031 is a very versatile powder and during this powder shortage it might be easier to find than some of the other more popular ones. I also use it in my Savage 99, 300 Savage, with excellent results.

In my Marlin 1895 45/70, I use 300gn Speers and 51.5gns of H4198. It works for me.

If you are hunting deer at typical woods ranges, no need to push the 300gr bullets beyond 1,800 fps.

A 300gr Hornady at 1,800 will really dump them if you hit anyplace close to ideal.

Or you could follow Dan's advice and use a soft-ish cast bullet. I am tempted to hunt deer next year with the 457125 as well, in 30-1.

Soft paper-patched load below.

I shoot the 300 JHP over 50g of Varget in my Marlin and it goes through deer just fine without thumping me as well.

Granted, 50 yards is a long shot in the woods, so "trajectory" isn't a big issue.

For sure, IMR 4198 is an out standing powder in the 45-70. I cast my own & a 400/405 gr cast with a "Gas Check & 34 grs of IMR 4198 gives me about 1500 fps, 24" bbl of my Marlin XLR. If this sounds like a mild load I assure you it is not . It is a thump-er on the bullet end. Not just deer but an elk thump-er also.

Dang, when I carried my 45-70 on Montague Island here in Alaska I used my normal load, a 405 grain Kodiak Super Bonded bullet from Alaska Bullet Works on top of a case full of H322. It kills deer just fine, brown bear too I'm thinking,

Dang, when I carried my 45-70 on Montague Island here in Alaska I used my normal load, a 405 grain Kodiak Super Bonded bullet from Alaska Bullet Works on top of a case full of H322. It kills deer just fine, brown bear too I'm thinking,

I just chronographed some IMR-4198 loads in my 18.5” Henry lever, 45-70. I had previously loaded light loads for the trapdoor with 27/28 grains of IMR-4227.

Both loads were with 300 grain cast bullets, the 4198 loads used a cast bullet with a GC, Cast Performance, .458, 300 grain.

I loaded at 44, 46, then 48 grains of IMR-4198, they all averaged over 1900 FPS with my 18.5” barrel.

The 44 & 46 were in the mid to 1975 FPS range, sorry, I think I mixed up/in one load with another, effected the average.
The 48 grain loads averaged 2030 FPS, recoil was noticeably higher.

I’ve never seen data waiver so much as with the 45-70, I’m not just talking the common ‘3 levels’ listed in most manuals. Some manuals have different pressure limits among the 3, over 10 grains of powder difference on similar loadings. That’s part of the reason I wanted to use the chrony.

I have most common reloading manuals, several editions of many. The one manual that seems most in line with my chrony results is Hornady, I don’t have the edition in front of me. For me, I see little reason to go above 46 grains IMR-4198 with a 300 grain bullet, ‘modern lever action’. Not saying it would hurt a gun, but 51+ grains of IMR-4198 with a 300 or so grain bullet seems rather high, in some manuals, well over max.

I’m just putting my results out because of the range of data with the 45-70. I have decades of reloading experience but new to this round. I remember one writer mentioned while I was researching, he said his ‘Ruger #1 loads’ became ‘unshootable’ in the relatively light gun, recoil.

I own a Marlin 1895XLR and an original Trapdoor carbine. The Marlin gets loaded to Level II. Trapdoor stays at Level I.
I have a bunch of nickle plated brass that I use ONLY for the Marlin loads so as not to shoot them in the TD and ruin a 141 year old gun. Recoil can get snotty.
I load a 405 JSP in the Trapdoor (It was relined by Bob Hoyt with a new steel liner) at 1350 fps. The Marlin takes as 300 JFP at 2060 fps. It is a much more effective deer killer as they collapse right there with the Marlin loads. With the Trapdoor loads, they run a short ways but ususally fall within sight.

For deer I'd load a 400gr hawk at 1400 ft/s with H322 and call it done. Unless you have very large deer you'll get pass throughs.

You can load hot in a single shot, but I wouldn't bother.

It will depend which single shot - some are stronger than others.

FWIW I've found a 300 gn SP or HP loaded over a brisk load of H4198 will give about 2200 fps in a Marlin 1895. Recoil is stout, and the effectiveness on deer-sized game very impressive. A 400 gn hard-cast SWC, gas-checked and powdercoated, could readily be driven at 1800 fps and would go through a big deer lengthwise. The loads in question would be stiffer than recommended for some single shots though, and you'd probably find a milder load would do the trick anyway on small deer like whitetails, save that you'd give away some flatness of trajectory (which is a relative term for .45/70 loads). There'd be good numbers of these very convincingly killed with 300 gn SP at factory load levels, a load which gives comparatively mild recoil, provided you are getting close enough that the trajectory will not be an issue (or are a good judge of distance and holdover).

Hit a deer at 1200-1300fps will be just as dead as one hit at 1900fps.

Cast bullets is where its at in the 45-70

Yup.

Only the stars will be missing. The ones you see pushing a 436 grain bullet 1800+ fps in a guide gun.

They have their place, but are not really necessary for deer.

Vic said "Only the stars will be missing. The ones you see pushing a 436 grain bullet 1800+ fps in a guide gun."

They have their place, but are not really necessary for deer.

AGREED! 450 grain NF bullet at 2150 fps MV is OK in this 10 pound 1886 45-90 rig:

IMR 4198 or IMR 3031 with a 430 grain cast flat nose bullet from the levers.
Steve Brooks 500 grain flat nose with 1.5F OE from the single shot.

Shot a mule deer at about 70 yards with a 405 grain FNSP Remington bullet handloaded to about 1650 fps via Reloader 7.

Worked great! Through both shoulder blades and broke the spine. Yup, that was a mighty quick drop. I suppose the bullet is still buried in the hillside beyond.

I kinda suspect that I had a lot heavier load than necessary for deer.

Regards, Guy

This latest post bring in a good point about placement. Such a shot will drop them with lighter cast bullet loads. I am one who shoots deer in the chest/lungs. Thus my preference for a higher speed 300 JFP. ALso explains why they run a bit ater being hit with my Trapdoor loads.

When I first started using a 45-70, I used 300 grain JHPs at 2200 fps. And it would flatten deer right now. My preference was the 300 grain Unicor/Plinker.

My next bullet was a 420 grain CastPerformance hardcast bullet at 1650 fps, then the Beartooth Piledriver Jr at 1679 fps. The kills with these were less dramatic if lung shooting, but bones could be broken without worry for penetration. I also tried the Piledriver at 1542 fps, but liked the trajectory of the 425 grain bullet better, and they did just as well with the deer and 300 or so pound bear around here. i pushed the PJ Jrs to just over 1800 fps, but they killed no quicker than the slower ones.

Then I was involved in a pretty severe auto accident in 2017 that left me unable to use my 45-70 due to the recoil level of those loads. I've since recovered, but I found that I really like to shoot my rifle with 28.5 grains of 5744 and either a 367 or 405 grain hardcast bullet, it's noticeably more comfortable.

My only concern is the load has a trajectory that is anything but flat, but if I stay in the woods, it shouldn't be a problem.

I still have components to load all the loads I've mentioned, so if I change my mind....

I'm currently out of the .45-70 biz (waiting to see what Ruger does with the Marlin rifles) ... in the past I had 2 loads I used a lot. 52 grains of H4895 and Speer 400 grain flat points shot well under MOA. 47 grains of 3031 with 425 grain RCBS gas checked bullets shot around 1-1/4" at 100 yards. For that matter, Remington 405 grain factory ammo shot sub MOA in every Marlin lever action I tried it in.

Tom