Fired a bullet from my RCBS 405gr GC mold cast from WW. Fell from the mold at 422grs. GC applied & PC'ed. From the 24" Bbl of my Marlin 45-70 XLR 24" Bbl right at 1500fps. Shot into the end of a month old Spruce log of about 8 to 10 lbs. Bullet, 10.5 BHN. Range 80 yds. At the shot the log flew back a good 3 to 4 ft. Had the log been anchored in place I'm sure the bullet would have penetrated deeper. Not trying to prove anything. Just showing what happened. Make your own conclusions.

They will go further than most folks think.

At 100 yards they still don't quit.

In 1881 the US Army went to the 500 grain RN bullet for increased penetration at long distance. As I recall, their test was to penetrate 5" of live oak at 1000 yards.

Nice, and they'll punch a heck of a lot deeper in hide, meat and bone, i love the round

Dont remember if it was the 1881 Saeco 500 gr grease groove bullet or the big 530gr Lyman, but one was developed to shoot through the horse killing the indian sneaking along the other side.

45-70, after all these many years, is still a terrific cartridge!

Guy

Years back Brian Pearce wrote about a Cape Buffalo hunt with the Marlin 1895 loaded with the old CorBon 405 Penetrator Solid (discontinued) load at 1,650 fps. His chronograph read out at 1700 fps or so for that load. He proceeded to shoot a herd bull and to his surprise it passed through and struck a matriarch cow and passed through her as well. The PH was awestruck at the penetration of a 405 grain bullet at 1700 fps. Does that help?

Understatement right there. It is a pile of fun too. Never had something that could be loaded for so much fun and then loaded to serious business sorta loads. Just a great thumper.

Try Lyman's #457102 bullet made with linotype or 50 / 50 babbit metal - wheel weights, a whole bunch IMR 3031 or IMR 4064. I doubt there's anything on this continent that it won't shoot trough.

For real penetration with a .45-70, try our method of vetting bullets for an Elephant hunt.

Target = 5/8 inch steel plate
Rifle = 1886 .45-70
Bullet= 450 grain Punch
Velocity of load= 1800-1900 fps
Range = 50 yards
Process = Fire

Result 1 = .458 daylight hole in plate
Result 2 = frontal brain shot went through head into body = DRT

Awesome, but not real unless you have pics lol

Steel plate is fairly accessible! I’ll be looking at EBay and Amazon for an elephant! 😂 memtb

memtb,
If your bullets shoot through the steel plate, it will make a believer of you! I did take pix of the holes in the plate, but that was years ago and they have probably disappeared.

memtb,
If your bullets shoot through the steel plate, it will make a believer of you! I did take pix of the holes in the plate, but that was years ago and they have probably disappeared.

I’m not doubting the ability of the 45-70 with a bullet of decent hardness to penetrate a 5/8” plate of mild steel or of your tests! My post was a missed attempt at humor.... hence the emoji at the end of the post! memtb

mmm Maybe I have been taking this stuff too seriously! I will try to do better.

👍 😁 ! memtb

No pix yet of the steel plate, but here is one of the ele: