Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers 45/70 - What are you shooting in your's?

My load for my 45-70 is a 300 grain Nosler partition, ww brass, CCI LG rifle primer and 52 grains of H4198. I just got the rifle a year ago, have not got to try it on any animals yet but punched alot of paper! Hoping to draw my bear tag this year and really test the ballistics!

Dad is shooting a GG in 45/70 with leverevolution and shot a doe this year just over 225 with it, Dropped her flat. We both shoot the LE ammo him out of his 45/70 and me out my BLR 450 and it smacks out to 300... consistently on a 8 inch plate.

My 1895 Cowboy likes 54 gr IMR 4350 under a Lyman 457193 WW cast bullet or 65 gr Goex Ctg under same bullet cast 30:1 or 40:1. The deer don't like either load.

My Win '86 does nicely with Buffalo Bore's 350 grain +P load. The bullet is a Speer 350 gr flat point @ 2100 fps.

I plink around using a hardcast bullet in 330 grn weight. My rifle likes those 405 grn Remingtons. If I were to go after something big and mean, it would be those Beartooth hardcast bullets, they will penetrate a bison end to end.

I use Winchester 300 grain Partition Gold. Good accuracy from my Marlin Guide Gun. I used it on a black bear in Oct 09. It was up a tree, 37 yards straight up. He looked to his left so I aimed under his right ear: The bullet went in under the right jaw and came out the left ear and the bear was dead before it hit the ground. - Hunter308

I'm shooting 420 gr Garrett Hammerheads, knocks stuff down and they don't get back up.

I found a new load my 1895G likes, 350 Hornady RN - WW Brass - CCI200 - 59.0grs H4895 = 1922fps and great accuracy.

350 gr speer/ jacked flat point 2300fps on my choney..hurts on both ends...(1885 hw)..don't try this at home

Barnes 250 @ 2365fps with H4198.

My 1886 Extra light weight gets the Lyman 457122 (Gould HP) cast at 346 gr. over 37 gr. IMR 4198 for about 1675 fps. With the Lyman peep I get about 2" at 100 yards with it. Haven't shot a critter yet.

405 grain slugs and 55 gr of H4895. They step out around 1,700fps and are quite accurate. One should warn folks about recoil though before handing it over.

Ranch Dog TLC460-350RF air cooled wheel weights, Starline brass, CCI200, 55.5gr IMR8208XBR. 1.25" at 100 yds with a 2x scout scope on my 1895GS. Haven't chronoed yet, but 20 rds in an afternoon is enough for me.

How do those 350g Speers expand? Speer say they were designed for the .458 Win and may not expand at 45-70 velocity. I have some loaded up, but haven't used them yet.

.458 lott if i remember rite..i load them "fast" (read: hurts on both ends) they leave a .458 hole and come out the other side of a moose i shot with it. on the AOD site i had posted a few pic's..went thur a mess of wet phone books (over 13") and came ont so i never recoverd the bullet ;(...

I've been using both 400gr and 300s, factory Remington loads, in an H&R Springfield trapdoor reproduction, mostly offhand target shooting at 50 or 100 yards. More accurate at 100, oddly enough, probably because I take my time.

I'm learning to handload and am aghast at the limited selection of factory bullets and recommended loads for the Trapdoor. Serious fun rifle to shoot, if you can shoot it (got it for a song because the owner, a good shot, couldn't hit anything with it).

My hunting partner uses an 1895 as his bear gun, mostly with 400s and Hornady LeverEvolution rounds. He's witnessed a deer kill with the same model gun (placement, placement, placement)...

REmington 405 and 300 grain for sighting in, home/property defense and SHTF, and buffalo bore 430 grain for bears, have put a box of the 400 and 300 grains thru it also. The 300 grainers bruise up your fingers in the lever pretty good if you don't have a good tight grip, the recoil on those is the most intense... its more of a slap, where as the 400 and 430 grainers are more of a big push and bigger muzzle rise. But if you have big loop lever no worries

In my 1895 Marlin 45/70 I been using the Hornady 265 grain Leverevolution ammo, making this a 200 yard gun on whitetail deer. Now for Hogs I use the Remington 405 grain bullet simply put. The plinking is done with 300 grain bullets.

I've been using BuffaloBore's +P 45/70 load with the 350 gr Speer @ 2100 fps. Fun to shoot in my "86 EL Miroku. Should be good at dealing with the local critters.

Ordered some Hornady 350 FP's and with 59.0grs H4895 I got 1912fps and great accuracy.


Hopefully I will be picking up some 350gr Cast for plinking around with soon.