Which bullet would be best for shots under 75yds out of modern rifle in 45-70 going in the 2000fps range. The Hornady FTX 325 flex tip, or the Hornady Mono Tip 250gr flex tip? Don't know anything about flex tips. At 75yds they will all be minute of heart.

Thanks.
Doug

How about the Sierra 300gr HP? That one seems pretty popular. Under 75 yards, a Flex Tip is no advantage.

Thanks Pappy, all are out of stock, very little to choose from. I've got plenty of 400gr bullets, just looking to try a lighter bullet. With more expansion.

Looks like Flex Tip for the win, at Midway anyway.

I have some of the Sierras as well as the Nosler BTs, for use in sabots in my ML. At one time, SPS was selling over-run BTs with sabots for about $7.50 for 15, pretty cheap in the ML world.

Better decide quick in this crazy situation.

Do you have any 400gr Speers or Remingtons? IME they’re softer than either Flextip offering. If not the 325 expands plenty for deer.

300gr Remington been my long time favorite.

Got a ton of 400 Remington. Was just thinking of a lighter bullet. Not really pressing. It's for Louisiana primitive, so it would be a NEF. And I won't be using it again for a year. Just found some 350gr.

So thanks for the help.

From what I’ve seen the 325 is a good bullet, I can’t imagine the 250 not being a good bullet.


I think with either you’ll have to shorten your brass




I’ve used these quite a bit, excellent bullet and very tough.


https://www.gunbroker.com/item/884782567

I did quite a bit of reading on the flex tips some time ago and read about them coming apart pretty good at higher velocity. That said, I don't think any of the available bullets are wrong for chest shots on deer. Are you already set up for reloading?

The Speer Unicor/Plinker has been the best one I've tried when going north of 1900 fps. The others tended to start expanding rather rapidly, but the Speer has held its integrity to 2200 fps, the fastest I've pushed them.

Penetration was better and there was less bloodshot meat, but the others were still usable.

I have not tried the gummy-tip.

Did order 1 box of the 325gr "gummy bears" will test them on pigs, figuring a small pig=average Louisiana deer in way of penetration. But I was looking thru my reloading room and found some 350gr. I'm golden.

The main thing I found out with the .45-70 is that you really don't need smokin' velocity. It's not going to be a flat-trajectory rifle in any guise.

300 grain bullets help reduce the recoil and are more than sufficient for pig, black bear and deer. If you want more penetration, an LBT hardcast around 425 grains is up to the job, and if ultimate penetration is needed, go 500+ grains.

My opinion is that around 1800 fps with the 300s, 1600 to 1700 with the 425s, and 1250 to 1550 with the bigguns is enough, though the latter two weights at the higher velocities will result in heavier recoil.

I've gotten to where I really don't like the heavy recoil. It's just not worth getting beat to death for a 150 lb deer.....

Your 350s ought to fit into the scheme of things just fine. Given the size of animal you have stated that you'll be shooting, gummy tips oughta be just fine.

Enjoy your rifle!

If you're loading the Flex-tip or Mono-flex, you'll need the shorter Hornady brass and likely the Hornady dies so the tips aren't smushed when seating.
I really like the Mono-flex.
Of the conventional bullets, I'd be happy for the rest of my days with the 300gr Speer.
They shoot well, don't over expand like some other 300gr and recoil is less than a 400gr.

I use a 525gr cast bullet and black powder 1250 FPS it’ll go through a bison longways.

What Borchardt said.

I Like the 325gr FTX. Also the Barnes is very good

one thing i find interesting is that rifle shooters are going to lighter bullets in traditional cal, while pistol shooters are going the other way. somewhere there is a hunter with a 45-70 loaded with 300 gr bullets along with a 45 colt loaded with 300 gr bullets.

At one time, I had a .45-70 Guide gun and a .44 Mag rifle, both loaded with 300 grain bullets.

I still have the .45-70, but a friend had to have the .44 Mag., a Ruger 77/44.

The reason for the 300 grainers in the .45-70 was recoil, I had been in a pretty severe vehicle accident that injured my neck and shoulders and it was very painful to fire my usual load, a Beartooth PileDriver Jr at just under 1700 fps.

I have been using Hornady 300gr interlock at about 1450fps. It will go through just about anything, why beat yourself up.

I use the old Remington 405 JSP bulk bullets for my 45-70; moving along at a modest 1500 fps, it will take any deer North America has to offer. Any feral hog. Anything up to the great bears. And would probably go end-to-end on them, too.

I have harvested a few white tails with factory horn Andy FTX ammo.

No complaints

I use 46 grains of reloader 7 with a 350 grain hornady

I have both the 250 and 325 FTX. This year I'm trying to get something with the 250's

It's a 45/70.

I shoot 300g bullets at 1600-1700 fps and they die.

I have seen no real difference between cast or JHP on deer.

As someone else mentioned, no matter what you do with a .45-70, it’s not going to be a flat shooter. I’ve no interest in trick bullets and tend to prefer “standard “ bullet weights in most calibers. Thus I use 400 grain Speers or 405 Remingtons in my Guide Gun at around 1750 FPS. They are both more than accurate enough and kill deer about as dead as anything else.

Virtually any .458" bullet is sufficient for whitetails. Lighter bullets shoot flatter and generate less recoil.

Just for the heck of it I've been loading some Hornady 250gr MonoFlex bullets. I can get them to shoot well at 2,330 ft/sec (18.5" bbl) which shoots MUCH flatter than my usual 400gr loads. I took a nice size buck at about 90 yds with this load a few weeks ago. The buck was knocked sideways for a second as he spun around and bolted for the brush. Fortunately, he laid dead 30yds from the shot. The light mono bullet exited.

Use whatever you've got.