I have been looking on and off for 'bout a year for 14" 45-70 barrel for my TC G2. Well I found a complete TC Contender G1 with a 14" SSK 45-70 barrel with their Arrestor muzzle break. The whole package is at a great price. Now I'm getting some cold feet before I pull the trigger and buy it.

Anyone here have any experience with a 45-70 single shot pistol? How bad is the recoil? I have shot the 375 JDJ out of a Contender before and managed. I wouldn't shot it all day, but the 375 is workable in 3-8 (max) shots at a time. Also, has anyone hand loaded for the 45-70 with a 250 grainer?

Thanx in advance.

the 45/70 is versatile, and you can handload it to any level you are comfortable in shooting. The TC brake is fairly effective at reducing muzzle flip, though you still get a fair bit of straight back recoil with upper end loads.

i shoot the .375jdj as well, and several of the 45/70 loads loads i shoot using 300's are more pleasant to shoot than full-house .375jdj loads.

i never went below 300's in my 45/70 barrels....i shoot mostly 300's for deer/hogs, and 350's for larger stuff.

if you are a handloader, dont let recoil concerns stop you if the rig is priced right.

I had a 12" SSK on a G1. It was Magnaported. The recoil wasn't bad with Trapdoor level loads. It was highly accurate. The Remington 405 factory load probably wouldn't be bad.

I was shooting a G1 SSK375JDJ at the same time a buddy was shooting a G1 45-70. The recoil from the 375 was fast and straight back.
The 45-70 also had a brake with holes all around (don't remember the make) and it's recoil was IMO not as fast and the barrel jumped up a little at firing.
Not bad to shoot the 45-70, the 375 was much less fun, and is gone even though it was stupid accurate.
My buddy was having trouble getting all the powder to burn in the 45-70. (we layed a tarp on the ground in front of the pistol and fired)
I remember we tried some light Alpha Le Frank .458 spitzers.
Wrong, what was needed in his barrel was a 400 gr bullet with a heavy crimp to help get the pressures up so the powder burned properly.

The recoil increased but so did the accuracy and consistency.

These days I do wonder about the Hornady 250gr Mono Flex bullets though.
I'll be trying them in an XLR Marlin myself, with short Hornady brass of course.
Good luck!

P.S. a good shooting glove does wonders.

Thanx for the info so far. Sound like the 45-70 should not be any worst than the 375, and likely better. It is interesting that the heavy, by weight, loads sound to shoot better. I guess my follow up question would be, has anyone reloaded any semi-spitzer type bullets? If so any better results? Less drop, better groups, anything. I'm thinking Barnes Original, TSX or TTSX or Hornady Mono Flex or Flex Tip, etc?

I've also fired an unported .444 Super 14 with Remington factory ammo. It was worse than my .45-70.

i have loaded for spitzers, bought a few to try in my #1-s for chitts & giggles......but in the end, in keeping recoil manageable in the TC (moderate powder charges & velocties) spitzers arent going to significantly increase range, and were no more accurate in my barrels than a good FP, RN, or HP load that the gun liked.

the 45/70 rocks, very versatile in performance...one of the best woods-calibers for the TC's...but has its range limitations. but, it kills the hell outa stuff within its effective range.

ditto for my .445supermag with 300's....hard & fast vicious recoil smack.

PM THOMASMAGNUM. He has one and has spent quite a bit of time with it.

Ed

I run an 11" .45-70 Contender with no brake, and its really not that bad. I have two loads now that I have basically settled on for my set-up.


One load is essentially a duplicate of the 405gr cast cowboy level load. Its sort of my plinking load for the gun.


The other is a load I worked up with the intent of hunting something big and nasty. The bullet is the 420gr WLN from Cast Precision over RL-7. Its certainly more recoil than the above load, but still not a wrist wrecker.

So says the man with wrists like telephone poles...

Ed

Well... yeah there is that.

I am sure one can load the 45-70 to painful levels, but Remington 300 grainer to 1565 fps is a pussycat.