I really like the Hornady 325 FTX for factory ammo in case I need to reach out a bit further. But like you, I've got a variety of cast and jacketed in various weights that I've loaded myself. In cast, I've got from 300 grains to a 540 grain monster that will kill anything. I've got some real purty Nosler Black Ballistic Tips loaded in nickel cases that I show off sometimes. Love my 45-70!

 

I love the looks of those Noser silver tips.
I'd love to have another box just to load 300BLK for no other reason than they look badass.
Just a bonus they are an excellent bullet!

 

At least as far as the .45-70 is concerned with whitetailed deer, there's practically nothing I could shoot that wouldn't be effective.

Now do Sasquatch

 

My Sons and I have been using the Hornady 300 grn jacketed hollow point, that I load, for years in the north woods. It serves us well.

Dave

 

Honestly it’s hard to imagine anything standing up to any .45-70 bullet. Buffalo hunters were taking several hundred yard shots with blackpowder and nearly made the species extinct. When it comes to what kills, the answer is all of it. Now if you’re looking for accuracy in reloads then that opens up more debates, what’s the actual vote diameter yada yada.

last year a guy I know went hunting with his 1894 .357, and in the dark he grabbed some 158gr JHP…38spl. And at the end of the day he had a deer in the bed of the truck.

 

I have shot deer with my Marlin 1895 with a 300 grain XTP with dramatic results and I shot one with an original 1886 SRC with my cast 405 grain RNFP when she fell over after 20 yards she didn't have hardly any blood left in her. Which was more effective? DUNNO I was happy with both. Now to confuse things a little my 458 SOCOM load is using the 325 gr FTX and I hope to see what it does on deer and hogs by mid December.

 

Judson,

Regardless of jacketed or cast with gas check, a bullet weight in the 300-325gr range would be more than you need for a whitetail.

If you have not seen the cast offerings by GT Bullets, you should. They offer HP and wide meplat cast options excellent for hunting. Only issue, production time. I just received an shipment from from an order placed on April 29th yesterday, Oct 30th. Possibly something to consider for next season.

 

Oh yes, 300 grain bullets will kill deer deader than 3:00 a.m. Since I’ve been in the heavier end of the spectrum, playing with some lighter bullets would give me an excuse to spend more time at the range.

 

GT Bullets 320 gr gas check offering, my favorite.

 

One works as well as the other so I say either .

 

I’ve had great success with the old Ranch Dog 365 grain cast bullet. Bought it on a group buy at castboolit website years ago.

 

My cast 405 gr. bullets work so well on deer and hogs that I sold all my jacketed bullets! I use AA 5744 to push them at ~1,450 fps. That's plenty of velocity shooting them out of my 1895 Cowboy. I don't think I would be happy with more "fun" if I pushed them much harder.
I also load a cast ~300 gr. RNFP over Trail Boss for ~1,200 fps. This load is for plinking and just plain fun shooting.

 

Anything 45-70 will work lol.. I have taken a lot of deer and hogs with my suppressed 45-70 shooting subsonics from 300 gr expandable to 405gr all under 1200fps suppressed … and on the wild side I have killed them with 300gr loaded to 2200fps and 405 to around 1900fps… they all kill them dead… pick what your gun and your shoulder likes and have a good time..

but I will say I shoot subsonic suppressed the most … with my 300gr maker expandable they act as if they are hit with a broad head from a bow… they run about 30 yards and look around like somthing stung them as the bleed out from a 1 1/2” exit hole….

 

45-70 = Dead, Dead, Dead. Only a measure of blood shot meat at some point!

 

This is the only one I have ever recovered from the dozens I have killed… 99.999% get a pass through .. that one busted through both shoulders, 4 ribs and was under the skin on the other side … with blood trails like broad head and golf ball size exits

 

Who makes this round?

 

I have used both the Hornady 300 grain hollow point and the 350 grain round nose with success in the 45/70 on deer. I agree on deer, anything of .458 diameter would work if properly placed.

 

I took a big doe two years ago with my 1881, 405gr home cast bullet on top of 35gr 0f IMR 3031 (made by a hunting buddy, I now make my own). Despite taking out the bottom half of the heart, she ducked into a snotty swamp and went about 75 yards. I guess no one told her she was dead. All I had to do was follow a big red line on the ground. My 3 1881s ( 45-70 and two 40-60s) and my 1895 in 38-56 are coming to deer camp this year.

 

It would be nice if Vista Outdoors would now supply in bulk the 405 grain jacketed soft point bullet that was so ubiquitous for years.

 

I've shot deer & bear with most bullets from my 45-70. Overall, I like the Barnes 300TSX @ 2,000fps the best for whitetails. However, the last two years I've used the 250 Hornady MonoFlex bullet at 2,330fps. Sighted in at 100yds, there is only 4.5" of drop at 200yds. You could stretch things to 250yds with 15" of drop.

They all exit whitetails.

 

I mostly shoot subsonic loads through a suppressor but really like the old Remington 405 grain JSP. Because of bullet drop I restrict shots to within a hundred yards but have never recovered a bullet from a deer. I have not tried this load on hogs but am guessing if I put it in the right place it would work fine. Recently picked up some of the Hornady 410 grain Sub-X and loaded some test rounds. Hoping to go to the range tomorrow to try them out..

 

I've had enough jacketed bullets fail over the years that now, outside of a few specific brands/designs, I refuse to hunt with jacketed bullets. I've never lost an animal to a cast bullet or had a long tracking job.

 

I will add my $.02 from my experience loading and hunting with a 45-70 since the mid 70's. In the early years I thought fast and jacketed was the way to go. I loaded 300 JHP, Remington or Hornady over a pretty much case full of IMR4198. Muzzle velocity was over 2000fps from the 22" barrel of the 70's model Marlin 1895 I had at the time. Recoil was nasty from that light weight Marlin but was nearly always a bang flop on whitetails. You did not want to shoot one through the shoulders unless you wanted pre ground burger. Later on I began casting my bullets and obtained a Lyman/Gould HP mold, Lyman #457122. I cast these pretty soft, 20/1 and load them to 1450-1500fps duplicating the black powder express loads of long ago. This load is very effective on whitetails and doesn't pulverize your shoulder in the process. I no longer have the Marlin (wish I had it back) but have several other 45-70's. The one i hunt with now is Miroku/Winchester 1885 with a 24" barrel.

 

I've done deer with both jacketed 405's and cast 405-460, in 22" and 18" 1895's. On deer it really doesn't matter if a jacketed or cast makes impact, what matters more is where you make impact ant the path inside the animal. I prefer cast but jacketed works just as well.

 

Deer doesn't matter.
Now when I go for T-Rex I use cast on the older ones and JSP on the young one.
But thats when hunting over bait.

 

Bolt guns = jacketed
Lever guns = my hard cast powder coated

I did cast for bolt actions but mainly for plinking

 

Hornady 325 FTX

 

At least as far as the .45-70 is concerned with whitetailed deer, there's practically nothing I could shoot that wouldn't be effective.

Agree. In fact, there's practcally nothing you could shoot out of the .45-70 that wouldn't be effective on any and all north american big game.

I used to handload a lot of 45-70 but I haven't for a long time. However, I just aquired an 1886 so I intend to begin handloading 45-70 again soon.

I only like loading jacketed bullets in this cartridge. I'll occassionally shoot cast factory loads. But I consider handloading cast bullets to be unnecessarily messy and I don't like playing with gas checks.

For a long time, I favored 300 grain bullets over 400 grain(ish) bullets because they can be fired at higher velocities with flatter trajectories. If you zero and shoot your rifle at 100 yards there's not too great a difference between trajectories to cause a problem. But if you zero at 100 yards then shoot at 150 or 200 the difference in drop becomes significant. Alternatively, if you zero them both for 200 yards the 400 grain bullet is unacceptably high midrange.

Then I discovered the Hornady 350 grain round nose. It's the best of both worlds. It shoots significaltly faster and flatter than the 400(ish) grain flatnose. It can't be shot as fast as a 300 grain bullet but the round nose helps it keep velocity downrange. So, it ends up shooting about as flat as the 300 grainers.

I refrain from shooting FTX polymer (gummy) tip bullets. They have an aerodynamic advantage but pull the tip out and you'll see they're really just a massive, quick expanding hollowpoint. I have no plans to handload any of those.

Bottom line, I choose the 350gr roundnose over all else.

 

I don't own a 45 70 anymore, but if you want an opinion I would say go with jacketed. I have had pass throughs on deer with a 243 so really any 45 70 bullet is going to go through a deer. I just don't like barrel leading and I just prefer jacketed bullets over bullets that were cast, even if they have a gas check. The exception are handgun bullets. I will use cast pistol bullets.