I finally got my hands on some 45-70 dies. SOOOO, i am thinking of good bullets for deer. I'm considering mostly 300 grain bullets. The Hornady and Speer 300gr HP, 300gr Nosler Partition and the Barnes 300gr flat base X-bullet. It has a pointed rather than flat nose. I know a couple of you guys have this chambering. Mine is in a Contender with a Super 14 hunter barrel. Any experiance with these or other suggestions?

for deer any of the above would do, I'd probably start with working up loads with hornady and speer and see what you get for accuracy. If you decide to go for elk or bear I'd look first at the partition and then at the barnes.

I.M.H.O. the 45-70 is way over powered for whitetail. I lost a Texas hill country whitetail that I shot through a thick bush at about 30-40 yds. We found a bright red streak from the bullet exit and found the first blood drop 40 yds. from that. The blood "trail" was a dime sized drop or two every 30 ft. After 5 hours we had to give up. I'm thinking that bullet just cut a clean hole through that 90 lb. deer. All that kinetic energy was useless when there isn't mass to obsorb it. I've shot Nevada Mulies with .44 mag and 30-30, (much larger animals). All were one shot kills that didn't travel more than 35 yrds. If you have your heart set on the 45-70 I would suggest the lightest hollow point with a light powder load, but there are many others members that know way more about hand loading than me.

I know its way more than i need. Thats why i am looking into the light hollow points. At 17-1900fps they should expand. Even if they do not expand well they are punching almost a half inch hole.

Crew....try some XMP5744 and 300gr Hornady HP's. Shoots awesome from my SSK 45-70!! In my 1895 Guide Gun, IMR4198 and the same 300gr bullet gets the nod. The Hornady's are very good bullets and do well on deer...probably leveled somewhere around 8-10 deer.

Spend your $$ where you like...but I do not see the need for a "premium" bullet in the old-70.

I dailed mine down to make it more "fun" to shoot. At 1500 FPS the 300 Hornady HP works great on whities, and would be a good black bear load as well. That's the great thing about the 45/70, much flexibility.

38.0 grains of IMR 4198 and a 300 grain HP is an approxmiate factory equivalent load. Both this load and a factory 300 grain HP go in the mid to upper 1500 FPS range. Winchester says this load is 1880 FPS but not so in a Guide Gun.

I'm waiting for a 10" or PC 12" BFR in .45-70/.450 Marlin, that I hope can come in three or four months: which kind of loads you guys think can be better for this handgun?
Have to know that in Italy we have no problem to find what is necessary for the reloading.
Thank you all

El Che, if you like'm hot try 51gr of Hodgdon Benchmark behind a 440gr Cast Performance hard cast. I was getting 1600+ out of my 7.5 inch 45-70 BFR. Recoil is brutal but with a 2x Leupold I'd occasionally shoot moa off the bags and consistently go under 2 inches.

I have the 45-70 16" barrel with the muzzle tamer and love it. Since I do not reload I use factory ammo. I have been well pleased with the 3 deer I shot with it. The first two was with the Remington 300 grain hollow point. The blood trail was short and easy to follow. The other one was with the Federal 300 grain bullet and this deer dropped in his tracks. I currently shoot the new Hornady Leverevolution but have only shot paper.

As a note: I put a Federal and Hornady round in my pocket and shot each with out looking to see what was in my gun to see if I could tell the difference. Without a doubt the Hornady is hotter. It also produces tighter groups.

Hey DeerDad, I'm going to try the Leverevolution also. Going to use the 160 gain 30-30 for Antelope and Mule Deer and the 325 grain 45-70 for cow Elk and Alaskan Black Bear. I agree that the new Hornady rounds are hotter and still kept tight groups comprable to handloads. Let's compare notes after the hunts............

I've used the .45-70 for 35 years and find it to be a superior stopper on NA game. That means that most animals have a dramatic reaction to the hit and usually go no more than a few steps. I have used the 300-grain Hornady and Remington HPs almost exclusively, with a few animals (brownie, moose) taken with the 350 Hornady.

The large diameter blunt noses of these bullets seem to impart higher energy/momentum/etc. transfer to the animal. Impact velocites ranged from 1850 fps to 1200 fps and I have had nothing to complain about in about 25 animals. Of course anything can happen when shooting game, but experiences with one or two animals proves little or nothing.


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Thanks for the input fellas. Sorry i haven't replied to you guys. No internet at the new place yet. I have been using the Remington an Winchester loads. They leave a lot of unburnt powder in the barrel.

H4198 gives good velocity with low pressure in .45-70. I worked up an accurate load using Hodgdon data that is about halfway between what they list for the min/max charge with a 300 gr JHP. My load gets the same velocity as Winchester factory ammo from a rifle and will do about 1.5" at 100 yds.