BearBio
Member
The 45-70 is a fantastic heavy duty rifle for taking just about any 4 legged game in N. America. Recoil is not for the shy and unless you are going to reload, I'd stay away from it. Reloading the 45-70 can easily turn the cartridge into a pleasant shooting rifle and an accurate one as well but with Factory loadings I doubt you will want to shoot it much.
I load 300 grain lead Bullets rather than the standard 405 grain and use a reduced powder charge - I can shoot it about 20 - 30 rounds before re-casing the rifle. With the heavy loads it's a 7 round day!
One problem with advice on the web is that people vary greatly. One example is in the area of recoil tolerance. I could shoot several boxes from my Sharps repro and more from my 1895. My 45-90 was even more of a *****cat, especially the old 405 lead loads. It is true that the 45-70 is more of a handloaders cartridge, regardless of recoil tolerance.