Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Best bullet for PA Whitetails with 45-70

I've got an 1895SS which I have shot a lot but have yet to take a deer with. I'd like to try it this year.

What is the best bullet for PA whitetails? What's the best velocity?

I've done a lot of shooting and handloading with the Remington 405 JSP bulk bullet, from light "trapdoor" loads to full power loads at 1900 fps that really thump my shoulder.

I don't think the full power loads are needed and was thinking to use the 405 Remingon bullet at about 1500 fps for a good combination.

Opinions and experience please. Thanks.

GLC,
Let me say first, I'm NOT a hunter, but I do have an understanding of terminal ballistics. The two most important factors in making a clean, efficient kill is bullet placement and penetration.
Many a deer have been killed with far less than the lightest projectile that is loaded in the .45-70. Our forefathers put a lot of venison on the table with nothing more than a .45 or .50 caliber ball at around 1500 FPS with a muzzleloader.
I know for a fact that, if you put a 300 gr. soft or hollow point in the RIGHT PLACE, your buck will go down like a bag of wet sand.
Work up a load for accuracy and concentrate on putting that bullet in the pump room. Might better take a look at your freezer and make sure there's room for a load of venison!

Jim

A WW 300 grain hollow point will indeed put them down. I like to say it's like a bolt of lightning.
That's exactly what I used for my first season before I started to reload.
My first deer was standing behind a ceder tree showing his head only. The sights went back into the tree limbs, and boom! He was done. WW 300gr. hollow point factory loads.

There is no best bullet I'm afraid. It's All Good!
If you desire distance from your reloads go with the heavier bullets. If you shoot in heavy cover, heavy bullets (350 and up).

This year I'm trying out Hornady 350 FP. Going for around 2000 fps or better.

regards,
Perry

The Remington 405 grain JSP at 1500 fps will work wonderfully. You found your Pennsylvania whitetail load!

Thanks for the responses, keep em' coming.

No question, shot placement is everything. I shot three deer this year, all one shot stops. I don't shoot at game animals unless I am certain of a kill. Check the deer harvest post in this section for my response there.

Where I hunt in PA, the woods are thick, and a 100 yard shot is rare. My rifle shot this year was 87 paces with a 25-06. Last year in exactly the same place I took another deer at about 40 paces, again one and done.

I'm not too worried about long distance since where I hunt limits my range anyhow. I am also very familiar with the rainbow trajectory of the 45-70. I frequently shoot it at 200 yards at my range and have quite a bit of fun practicing hold over and ringing the steel gong out there with the Marlin.

I've shot the 300 JHP bullet some but my 405's always seem to be a little more accurate off the bench. But still, I'm only splitting hairs because either will shoot minute of deer reliably at 100 yards and beyond.

On a deer, will the 300 penetrate completely? I'm sure the 405 would or should go completely through given a heart/lung broadside shot on a calm deer which is how I like to take my shots. I really don't like to shoot at running animals out of respect for wounding one and possibly loosing it.

Thanks for the responses, I've got about 9 months to play with this combination.

Every deer I have shot with either the 300 grain Hornady or Sierra have passed completely through the animal. Muzzle velocity has been at least 2000 fps and the few that were shot through the shoulder were pass throughs as well. Farthest shot was probably 110 yards, closest 30 feet. The 405 grain Remington JSP at 1950 fps is a dramatic killer on deer, black bears, hogs and moose. Should do well on all of those animals at 1500 fps as well.

The Speer 400 gr bullets are slightly more accurate for me than the Remingtons, but I'm sure that with more load development the Rems would work just as nice. It's more a matter of what I started with. I push them to about 1600 fps. It's been a great combo for deer in Kansas and Arkansas. This is an honest and consistant 1.5" load for me at 100 yards. The Speers seem a little softer than the Remington 405's and open up a little more on impact.

Besides, the first rifle I tend to grab is the 444, which is very accurate.

I use the Barnes 250 XFN in my 450 Guide Gun. It is devastating on deer. I get 2220 fps out of my 18 in. barrel. It is quite accurate making it a very good 150 yd. gun, maybe 200 if you need to stretch it a little. Recoil is easy, actually fun to shoot.

I get 2.5 in. groups @100. POI is +.5 @ 50, 0 @ 100, -3 @ 150.

GLC:
The Remington 405 at any almost any speed over 1000 FPS will likely punch through any PA deer on broadside shots. Too much mass and momentum and very little animal to slow it down. The 1500 FPS load sounds very reasonable for the job. I tried the Speer 400 when I first started with the .45/70 and found them to be pretty kicky at 1600-1700 FPS in my Marlin. I later tried the Hornady 300's and 350's and am convinced that those two will take care of everything I need to do with a .45/70. At 1800 FPS the 300's are surefire deer slappers and at similar speeds the 350's are penetrators on bigger, tougher animals. I also like the fact that you can load them to shoot close enough to make them interchangeable without a re-zero. One thing is for sure though, a .45/70 will do deer about as well with one bullet as it does another. A deep .45 caliber hole is all it really takes.AW

I've been studying up on .458 bullets for my 45-70 and 450 Marlin. I'm not much on jacketed bullets out of the Marlin BBs and have had outstanding performance with hard cast bullets from my 444.

I'm going to use the Beartooth 425-grain WLNGC. I'm going to work with 44.5 to 46.5 of H322 for a velocity of around 1800 FPS out of my Guide Gun.

Just load the factory 300 gr. HPs, sight in, and go hunting. Guaranteed that no PA whitetail will walk away from a hit by a 300 HP at 1800+ fps.

I second Ranch Dog, check out www.beartoothbullets.com. I will be using the 405s myself this year for small alabama whitetail. Big hole in, big hole out, lots of blood, dead deer.

"Expressly designed for the Marlin 1895 series of .45-70's! Widest meplat that will reliably feed through these guns! Outstanding accuracy coupled with unsurpassed on-game terminal performance!"

The above is the description given by Marshall @ beartooth Bullets for the bullet Ranchdog (and I) are using. He has a strong preference for H322 with this bullet.
John