Joe Brennan graciously allowed me to publish this article here. I hope you all enjoy is as much as I did.Dave.45-70 by Joe Brennan - 2008
The .45-70 rifle cartridge, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873 .45 caliber rifle, known to collectors (but never to the Army) as the "Trapdoor Springfield." The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War.
Nomenclature
The new cartridge was completely identified as the .45-70-405, but was also commonly called the ".45 Government" cartridge in commercial catalogs. The nomenclature of the time was based on several properties of the cartridge:
• .45 : nominal caliber, in decimal inches i.e. 0.45 inches
• 70 : weight of propellant (black powder) charge, in grains i.e. 70 grains
• 405 : weight of lead bullet, in grains i.e. 405 grains
The minimum acceptable accuracy of the .45-70 from the 1873 Springfield was approximately 4 inches at 100 yards, however, the heavy, slow-moving bullet had a "rainbow" trajectory, the bullet drop measured in multiple yards at ranges greater than a few hundred yards. A skilled shooter, firing at known range, could consistently hit targets that were 6 X 6 feet at 600 yards — the Army standard target, and a skill mainly of value in mass or volley fire, since accurate aimed fire on a man-sized target was effective only to about 300 yards.
After the Sandy Hook tests of 1879, a new variation of the .45-70 cartridge was produced, the .45-70-500, which fired a heavier 500 grain bullet. The heavier 500-grain bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,500 yards, which were beyond the maximum range of the .45-70-405. While the effective range of the .45-70 on individual targets was limited to about 1,000 yards with either load, the heavier bullet would produce lethal injuries at 3,500 yards. At those ranges, the bullets struck point-first at roughly a 30 degree angle, penetrating 3 one inch thick oak boards, and then traveling to a depth of 8 inches into the sand of the Sandy Hook beach. It was hoped the longer range of the .45-70-500 would allow effective volleyed fire at ranges beyond those normally expected of infantry fire.
Note that while the nominal bullet diameter was .45 inches, the bore was actually closer to .458 inches. Arsenal loadings for the 45-70-405 and 500 government cartridges generally used bore diameter grease groove bullets of .457-.458 diameter. As was standard practice with many early U.S. commercially produced cartridges, bullets were often "paper patched", or wrapped in a couple of layers of thin paper. This patch served to seal the bore and keep the soft lead bullet from coming in contact with the bore, preventing leading. Like the cloth or paper patch used in muzzleloading firearms, the paper patch fell off soon after the bullet left the bore. Paper patched bullets are still available, and some black powder shooters still "roll their own" paper patched bullets for hunting and competitive shooting.
HistoryThe predecessor to the .45-70 was the short lived .50-70-425 cartridge, adopted in 1866 and used in a variety of rifles, many of them percussion rifled muskets converted to trapdoor action breechloaders. The conversion consisted of milling out the rear of the barrel for the tilting breechblock, and placing a .50 caliber "liner" barrel inside the .58 caliber barrel. The .50-70 was popular among hunters, as the bigger .50 caliber bullet hit harder but the military decided even as early as 1866 that a .45 caliber bullet would provide increased range, penetration and accuracy. The .50-70 was adopted anyway, as a temporary solution until a significantly improved rifle and cartridge were developed.
For comparison: a .30-06, .45-70, and .50-90, respectively.
The result of the quest for a more accurate, flatter shooting .45 caliber cartridge and firearm was the Springfield Trapdoor rifle. Like the .50-70 before, it, the .45-70 used a brass center-fire case design. A reduced power loading was also adopted for use in the Trapdoor carbine. This had a 55 grain powder charge.
Also issued was the .45-70 "Forager" round, which contained a thin wooden bullet filled with birdshot, intended for use hunting small game to supplement the soldiers' rations. This round in effect made the .45-70 rifle into a 49 gauge shotgun.
It was last used in quantity during the Spanish-American War, and was not completely purged from the inventory until well into the 20th century. The rifle itself underwent a number of modifications over the years, the principal one being a strengthened breech starting in 1884. A new, 500 grain bullet was adopted in that year for use in the stronger arm. The .45-70 rifle was the principal arm of the US Army until 1893, long after European adoption of efficient repeaters using smokeless powder ammunition had made the American weapon obsolete as a military rifle.
The .45-70 is still used by the military today, in the form of the CARTRIDGE, CALIBER .45, LINE THROWING, M32, a blank cartridge which is used in a number of models of line throwing guns used by the Navy and Coast Guard. Early models of these line throwing guns were made from modified Trapdoor and Sharps rifles, while later models are built on break-open single-shot rifle actions.
Sporting use
A long range tang sight, commonly used on black powder cartridge rifles
As is usual with military ammunitions, the .45-70 was an immediate hit among sportsmen as well, and the .45-70 has survived for one and a third centuries. Today, the traditional 405 grain load is considered adequate for any North American big game within its range limitations, including the great bears, and it does not destroy edible meat on smaller animals such as deer due to the bullet's low velocity. It is very good for big game hunting in brush or heavy timber where the range is usually short.
A graph showing the relative trajectories of the .45-70-405 and the 7.62x51 mm/.308 Winchester out to 1500 yards
The main limitation of the .45-70 is the relatively low velocity which puts a practical limit on shots at game beyond 120 meters or so, despite its ability to kill at many times that distance. The trajectory of the bullets is very steep, which makes for a very short point blank range. This was not a significant problem at the time of introduction, as the .45-70 was a fairly flat-shooting cartridge for its time. Shooters of these early cartridges had to be keen judges of distance, wind and trajectory to make long shots; the Sharps Rifle in larger calibers such as .50-110 was used at ranges of 1000 yards. Most modern shooters use much higher velocity cartridges, relying on the long point blank range, and rarely using telescopic sight's elevation adjustments, calibrated iron sights, or hold-over. Sights found on early cartridge hunting rifles were quite sophisticated, with a long sighting radius, wide range of elevation, and vernier adjustments to allow precise calibration of the sights for a given range. Even the military "creedmoor" type rifle sights were calibrated and designed to handle extended ranges, flipping up to provide several degrees of elevation adjustment if needed. The .45-70 is a popular choice for black powder cartridge shooting events, and replicas of most of the early rifles, including Trapdoor, Sharps, and Remington single shot rifles, are readily available.
The .45-70 retains great popularity among American hunters for the niche it is suited for, and is still offered by several commercial ammunition manufacturers. Although loaded with modern smokeless powders, in most cases pressures are kept low for safety in antique rifles and their replicas. Various modern sporting rifles are chambered for the .45-70, and some of these will benefit from judicious handloading of home-made ammunition with markedly higher pressure and ballistic performance. Others, which reproduce the original designs will take the original load, but are not strong enough for anything with higher pressure. In a rifle such as the Siamese Mauser or a Ruger single shot, it can be handloaded to deliver good performance even on big African game.
In addition to its traditional use in rifles, Thompson Center Arms has offered a .45-70 barrel in both pistol and rifle lengths for their Contender single shot pistol, arguably the most potent caliber offered in the Contender frame. Even the shortest barrel, 14 inches, is easily capable of producing well over 2,000 ft lb of energy, double the power of most .44 Magnum loadings. Recent .45-70 barrels are available with an efficient muzzle brake that significantly reduces the muzzle rise and also helps attenuate the tremendous recoil. The Magnum Research BFR is a heavier gun at approximately 4.5 pounds, helping it have much more manageable recoil.
BFR in .45/70 GovtOnly with the recent introduction of ultra-magnum revolver cartridges such as the .500 S&W Magnum have production handguns begun to eclipse the .45-70 Contender in the rarefied field of big-game capable handguns.
My experience with the 45/70
Joe BrennanI bought my first 45/70 rifle, a Springfield model 1884 I think it is called, from Ralph Laffoly at his gun shop in Melrose Mass. in 1963. On this rifle the cleaning rod was the bayonet; the bayonet could be extended ahead of the muzzle and was held by a catch mechanism.
This rifle was in nice condition, with a bright and shiny bore; and cost $40. Mr. Laffoly threw in a box of ammunition, after I paid, which was his way with the younger shooters.
I was casting and reloading for the 30/06 at that time, and bought a Lyman 457191 305 grain mold to make bullets; but couldn’t come up with the cash for the reloading dies, shell holder and sizing dies for a while.
I cast bullets and lubricated them by hand or pan lubed them, and developed a way to reload at the range. A ground-to-size ice pick, whacked with a stick, removed the primer. A new primer was started with the fingers, the case put in the chamber and the door closed. This seated the primer. Then the case mouth was belled by turning it on the hammer. A home-made dipper, pistol cartridge case and #14 copper wire soldered together, was used to dip a ~12 grain charge of Unique and charge the case. The bullet was started in the belled case mouth, the cartridge was put in the gun, pushed in with the stick, and we were ready to go.
Here are some photos to help explain this reloading method:
Here's a 45-70 case with the Lee de-capping rod and base, and a mallet to operate them,
After de-priming, start a primer in the primer pocket with your thumb. Then put the case in the chamber and close the door, and the primer is seated.
The primer seated in the primer pocket. The primer isn't seated flat with or below the head of the case with every trap door I've ever used this method of primer seating on. I think that this means that the headspace is excessive on trap doors, or that case rims are thinner than they used to be. In any case, the slightly protruding primer never gave me a problem; however I caution the reader to NEVER use a case primed this way in any gun other than the one used to prime the case. NEVER!. This because maybe, just maybe, the primer might go off prematurely in another gun. Use the case in the gun that you seated the primer with.
The hammer on a trap door Springfield is just right for opening up or belling the case mouth; a necessary step in reloading slow velocity loads. Unless the case mouth is belled, the gas will come around the case and dent the case and get it all dirty. Belling the case mouth seals the case mouth against the chamber and keeps that blow-by from happening. There should be a bit of drag on the empty belled case is chambered, not too much to make the case hard to chamber, just enough so you can feel it drag. A short bit of time and anyone can get the feel for this. Again, this is needed only for the lower velocity loads, but it never hurts to bell the case mouth.
After the case mouth is belled, throw a charge of powder in the case and start a bullet with your fingers.
Put the cartridge with bullet started in the gun and close the door. Sometimes you may need to push the cartridge into the chamber with a stick or the mallet handle or whatever you have handy, especially if you got too enthusiastic with the case mouth belling. Open the door, take out the cartridge, and it's all reloaded.
Here's the loaded cartridge. I always had the best results with an unsized big bullet; then the cartridges were fairly strong and could be carried without the bullet either falling out or into the case. Or I shot the cartridge after the bullet-seating step; without taking the cartridge out of the gun.
Taking these pictures and writing this reminds me that I also was able to breech-seat certain bullets using a plugged case and the trap door, that pushed the case into the barrel very nicely.
So that's it, the easiest reloading I've ever done, with the absolute minimum of tools and expense.
I made a new front sight from a penny so that I could file it to the correct height, and this rifle was alarmingly accurate at 100 yards with the fully adjustable Buffington rear sight.
As time went by I got the dies and other stuff for “proper” reloading, but didn’t notice any major accuracy improvement. Somewhere in the ‘60s I tried black powder, which worked fine with a lump of hard grease mashed down on the powder, but required more cleaning and fiddling than I was interested in.
The trap door Springfield must be cleaned from the muzzle, making black powder just too much of a pain in the neck for me.
At some point this rifle was sent down the road, as almost all my guns have been.
Since then I have owned, for a while, other Springfield rifles, a Navy Arms Martini, a Navy Arms Rolling Block, and a H&R rifle, all in 45/70.
I shot the Rolling Block in the Winter League offhand 200 yard matches at the Old Colony Sportsman’s Association in Pembroke MA for a number of years, both with scope and iron sights, and did about as well as with any rifle I used. Not very well, but that’s due to my almost complete lack of ability.
I currently have a C. Sharps Model 1875 target rifle in 45/70, and have owned and shot this rifle since about 1995. This rifle has done reasonably well shooting to 600 yards at Camp Edwards/Mass. Military Reservation on Cape Cod, at the Wilton NY black powder silhouette shoot, (500 yards max.?) and at other shorter ranges.
I have used bullets from 305 to 525 or so grains, currently concentrate on Lyman 457193 at ~405 grains, an Ohaus 45-405 again at ~405 grains, and a Wolf no-grease-groove bullet at ~445 grains.
Black powder never caught my interest, although now and then I’ll load and shoot some black powder cartridges.
I use WLP or Remington 2-1/2 large pistol primers, anneal the brass when there’s a split, and use Unique and SR4759 powders. About 14/Unique or 22/SR4759, sometimes with a Dacron teased nickel-sized wad tamped down on the Unique, is where I find the best accuracy.
I have a set of cartridge cases, originally 100, that are at least 20 years old; and after many loadings and annealing sessions, there are 60 left in good shape-although the primer pockets are getting a bit loose.
While I have shot fluke groups of five shots well under an inch at 100 yards, my averages for five groups are slightly under 2”. While my C. Sharps is a heavy rifle, it still beats me up thoroughly from the bench, perhaps an excuse for the accuracy?
