Well, it seems that either the search function is malfunctioning today, or no one has ever brought up the 45-70 in the title of any post on this forum. So let me take a whack at it!
First of all, I have done a lot of Googling on this old round, and most of the discussions that can be found on other forums are mostly useless. It seems like whenever someone asks about the range of a 45-70 the first reply will be "100 to 150 yards with open sights" and someone else says "That's not right, Sandy Hook shot 2 miles" Then someone mentions how quickly the energy falls off, only to have the following comment say something along the lines of "puny modern rifles and lazy hunters need fast bullets and energy; but our old big-bore rifles kill anything at any range with sheer penetration" In the end, there isn't much real information.
I would like to avoid those opinions and focus on the facts, preferably gathered from those who have actually used a 45-70 to harvest an animal. And since there can be such a wide range of mild, warm, and hot loads, why not avoid quoting distances, and instead talk about impact velocities of the projectiles used.
While we are at it, lets ignore for a moment trajectory, drift, and flight time, since presumably most of us understand those and how they apply to choosing a proper time and place to take a shot.
Ok, first real question. What is the preferred shot placement (shoulder, broadside, spine, etc) with a high mass, low speed projectile? (such as a 300gr round vs deer, or 400 to 450gr round vs elk/moose for example)
And what is the lowest velocity that people have experienced successful/ethical kills with?
A note about the construction of the bullet would probably be a good thing to include as well. (was it a soft jacketed Remington, a modern solid monolith, or an old soft/hard cast, for example)
This doesn't really cover all bases but lets see where the discussion takes us.
First of all, I have done a lot of Googling on this old round, and most of the discussions that can be found on other forums are mostly useless. It seems like whenever someone asks about the range of a 45-70 the first reply will be "100 to 150 yards with open sights" and someone else says "That's not right, Sandy Hook shot 2 miles" Then someone mentions how quickly the energy falls off, only to have the following comment say something along the lines of "puny modern rifles and lazy hunters need fast bullets and energy; but our old big-bore rifles kill anything at any range with sheer penetration" In the end, there isn't much real information.
I would like to avoid those opinions and focus on the facts, preferably gathered from those who have actually used a 45-70 to harvest an animal. And since there can be such a wide range of mild, warm, and hot loads, why not avoid quoting distances, and instead talk about impact velocities of the projectiles used.
While we are at it, lets ignore for a moment trajectory, drift, and flight time, since presumably most of us understand those and how they apply to choosing a proper time and place to take a shot.
Ok, first real question. What is the preferred shot placement (shoulder, broadside, spine, etc) with a high mass, low speed projectile? (such as a 300gr round vs deer, or 400 to 450gr round vs elk/moose for example)
And what is the lowest velocity that people have experienced successful/ethical kills with?
A note about the construction of the bullet would probably be a good thing to include as well. (was it a soft jacketed Remington, a modern solid monolith, or an old soft/hard cast, for example)
This doesn't really cover all bases but lets see where the discussion takes us.