Seeking advice on the .45-70

beauduke.rose5

Beginner
Jan 21, 2017
6
0
Hello all,

I have an H&R single shot chambered in .45-70. I've been shooting Hornady Lever evolution (if I remember that right) in a 325 grain weight. I find it stout. I am considering attempting to hand load a few rounds to attempt to lighten the recoil, but don't want to loose any reliability. Has anyone ever successfully tried this? If so, knowledgeable input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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The beauty of the 45-70 is that you can load it from mild to wild.
Try loading a 300 gr bullet at 1800 fps. It is still a power house load but
Without the excessive recoil.

JD338
 
Can I still take a shot out to 125-150 yards JD338?
JD338":3sdi635a said:
The beauty of the 45-70 is that you can load it from mild to wild.
Try loading a 300 gr bullet at 1800 fps. It is still a power house load but
Without the excessive recoil.

JD338

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No problem shooting out to 150 yards. You will just have to zero and verify at the distances you intend to shoot. I shoot a Marlin 1895G 45-70 with the 300 gr BT at 2200 fps. My zero is 100 yards and I have shot at 200 and 300 yards. My 200 yard hold is the top of the bottom post in the duplex reticle I wouldn't hesitate to take a 200 yard shot on a WT deer. My 300 yard shooting is Kentucky windage holds on the gong.
Hope this helps.

JD338
 
It does a lot. Thanks for the help. Good luck hunting this year.

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Can I still take a shot out to 125-150 yards

LOL! The 45-70 was originally a black powder cartridge propelling a 500 gr bullet at 1150 fps on average. In 1873 when the Army was testing this round it was fired at 6 inch thick pine logs set at 1000 yards to check penetration. The bullet went through the logs and into the sand behind them a foot deep. I shoot this basically same load in my Sharps replica rifle with open Vernier rear sight and you would not want me to take a shot at you at 1000 yards. It all depends on learning your rifle and how to set your sights.
Two good deer loads that I and friends have used in different rifles come from the Sierra manual as the suggested hunting loads.
For a 1800 fps load 41 grs IMR 4198 with the Sierra 300 gr HP. For shots out to 150 yards sight in your rifle to hit 2 inches high at 100 yards. With this zero you will be about 1 1/2 inch high at 50 yards and about 2 inches low at 150 yards allowing you to hold dead center on a deer and not worry about missing.

For a 2100 fps load Sierra suggest 49.9 grs IMR 4198 with the 300 gr HP. With the same 2 inch high at 100 yards zero you can hold dead center on a deer out to 175 yards with no worry of over or under misses.

Be aware that the Hornady lever evelition cases are slightly shorter than the average 45-70 cases so the suggested COAL from loading manuals will be off if you seat the bullet in the crimping groove of the bullets.
 
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