Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 45-70 Gov't "pet" loads....what cha' got?

I am going to start loading for 45-70 and was wondering if anyone ha any pet loads, or can recommend effective powders for this caliber...? Perhaps one that may burn cleaner than another, and produce effective results as well?

I have both a 22" bbl 1895 and a SS ported Guide Gun.

Thanks in advance.

Geez Gun Oil,!! It would be helpful to have an idea of what your parameters are. Easy round to load for and responds nicely to a pretty decent range of powder and slugs.

Marlin 1895 45-70 22" barrel
300 grain Speer UniCor hollow point seated to 2.53" COL and crimped with a Lee Factory Crimp Die
Winchester brass, 2.1" trim
CCI 200 primer
55 grains H4198
2170 fps, approximately 28,000 CUP

Marlin 1895 45-70 22" barrel
405 grain Remington JSP seated to 2.54" COL and crimped with a Lee Factory Crimp Die
Winchester brass, 2.1" trim
CCI 200 primer
55 grains compressed H322
1940 fps, approximately 40,000 CUP

You don't need a 45-70 for shooting pets, unless of course you have moose for pets.

350 grain bullets, each loaded over 50 gr H4198 and fired into water-filled milk jugs at about 20 yards. Left bullet is the Swift A-Frame bonded, right bullet is the Hornady FNSP. MV on both hovered around 2050 fps from a 22" 1895.

Jackfish helped me when I started loading for the .45/70 six or seven years ago. Got me going on a good track.

I've happily used both Reloader 7 and H4198 with bullets from 300 - 405 grains. A lot of velocity is NOT necessary for a lot of killing power with these big bullets.

Regards, Guy

Rem 405 bullet
52gr IMR-3031
W-W case
CCI-200 primer
Lee Fac crimp
This load is for modern 45-70 leverguns

Two.

52 grains of H4895, Fed 210 primer, WW case, Speer 400 grain flat point. Out of my SS guide gun, scoped, 3 shot groups run 0.5 to 0.6 inches center to center of the widest 2 holes at 100 yards.

47 grains of IMR 3031, Fed 210 primer, WW case, RCBS 405 grain gas checked flat point with a Hornady gas check, Rooster Zambini lube, sized .459. Groups run about 1.25" at 100 yards with iron sights ... factory bead, Williams receiver.

Tom

405 remington bullet over 50 grains of IMR 3031 or 40 grains of IMR 4198 , and a standard rifle primer always worked well for me

I'm shooting a 350gr Hornady flat point over 57 gr of H322 in Winchester cases with Winchester large primers out of my Marlin 1895. I average about 1.5" at 100 yds. This has been more than enough to do what I need.

340mag, do you have an idea of the velocity of that 4198 load? I have a new Guide Gun and want to try that load with the exception of the bullet being a 425 grain Beartooth.

I take it your load has been found to be pretty safe in the Marlin rifles ?
What I noticed is that it uses 50 grs. of powder rather than something like 60 grs. of powder that other loads use. I take it this results a less recoil for these loads ?
Which bullet penetrated further ? Looks like the SAF bullet would. Appears to have less of a cross section, didn't open as wide. E

I don,t know what the BEARTOOTH bullet will do but the remingtons punch out at about 1570fps and are very accurate.
you can easily get more velocity, but those loads shoot very tight groups in my old marlin 45/70

(naturally start a bit lower just in case and work up) and don,t worry about the "low VELOCITY" they zip thru and kill very well out to 200 plus yards

Thanks. I am looking to get in the 1550 to 1600 fps region. Conventional wisdom says the cast lead should go a little faster than a jacketed bullet, all else being equal. Hard to say, I won't know until I run it over the chrono. That looks to be a good load that would probably work on anything around here, have reasonable recoil, and able to reach as far as I can shoot where I hunt, 80-90 yards being about the limit of visibility.

Thanks again...Vic

I have a Siamese mauser in 45-70 Gov. Have only shot it a couple of times. When I traded for it, it had scope bases on it and no sights. It is drilled for a shorty ramp sight, one hole, so I put one on it. It is also drilled and tapped for a receiver sight. So I put a Lyman 57 on it and tried some 300 gr. cast bullets in it sighted it in and that is it. Would like to shoot a heavier slug. Any suggestion, gas checked or not. Round nose or semi flat? What is a good speed to push it at? Or should I run jacketed bullets through it. Would like to shoot a deer in the back woods, but wouldn't carry it to Alaska!?.

Light load - 25 gr of 2400 and a Speer 400 or other 400 - 1350 fps

Heavy load - 53 gr of 3031 and a Hornady 350. 1875 fps.

These are jacketed bullets. If you use the heavy load with cast it will need a gas check the lighter load could be either.

You can shoot some serious big animals with a 400+ grain hard cast at fairly moderate velocities (1500-1800 fps) with that caliber, and that rifle is more than capable of doing that.
I would recommend a gas check.

A 525 grain hard cast at 1600 fps out of your rifle would work just fine for bigger game than deer. The upshoot of it is that such a load is not overly destructive on smaller game,... such as deer. I don't think you would have problems with 1800 or so fps, but it really isn't necessary.

Just have some lanyards on your dentures if you push it to the limit...

If I wanted that kind of preformance, I will go to the 458 Win. mag. Then take your teeth out before you shoot, but serious my Dad had a Siamese action laying around my whole life and was always going to build a rifle like I traded for. When he saw it he odered a barrel, and stock. He has barreled his up and test fired it in the barrel vise. He told me he is working on the stock as we speak. So we will probably go kill a hog when I get home. Just 4 months to go!

Back in 2003 I did load development for my 1895GS in 45-70. I worked with the following bullets and powders ....

Bullets ....
300 BB Hard Cast sized at 0.459
405 BB Hard Cast sized at 0.459
405 Remington JSP

Powders .....
AA XMR2015
H335
RL7
IMR 4189
Universal Clays

I end up with the following observations ... Of all the powders IMR 4189 works good over the widest range of loading for both powder and bullet weight. Also it was the cleanest burning and lowest smoke powder of the bunch that I used.

Also I use a Lee Factory Crimp on all my 45-70 loads, light to moderate on the Cast and heavy on the 405g JSP.

I end up with three loadings

300g BB Hard cast (this a very accurate and mild practice load)
Rem cases
Rem 9 1/2 Large Rifle primer
14g Universal Clays

405g BB Hard Cast (mid range and accurate load)
Rem Cases
Rem 9 1/2 primer
38g of IMR 4189

405g Rem JSP (moderate hunting load and very accurate)
Rem Cases
Rem 9 1/2 primer
47g RL7
**** This load holds at 1 to 1.2 at 100yrds ****

I found that H335 is impressive in the 45-70 for raw power but the muzzles flash from the Guide Gun was even more so impressive. Even on the brightest days it seemed as I was shooting a flame thrower so I gave up on that powder.

Hope that this helps

A couple to add to the list...

350 gr Speer flatnose
52.0 gr Vihtavouri N-133
Federal 210 primer
Starline brass

405 gr Remington JSP
48.0 gr Vihtavouri N-133
Federal 210 primer
Starline Brass

As always, start low and work up...

These are by no means max loads, but they carry enough power for most "pets" you'd care to load for...

In my guide gun: 400 grain speer flat nose; 54 grains Varget; CCI 200; Starline; heavy roll crimp; unpleasant to shoot; has killed a truckload of deer...