My buddy Ted came to visit and we spent a couple of great days at the range.  He had brought a couple of .45-70 rifles that he wanted to play with.  I have the dies, so I loaded up some .45-70 ammo and we were set to go.

Here’s the first rifle.



It is imported by Navy Arms Co. and is a Pedersoli Rolling Block action.  It is a very nice rifle.



This is what the action looks like after firing the rifle.



You can then cock the hammer.



This allows the loading gate to be opened.



You can then insert another cartridge and you are ready to go again.



The rifle has a nice covered post front sight.



And a nice adjustable aperture sight on the rear.  This sight can be easily adjusted for elevation.



The barrel is an octagon shape for the first half of the length and then becomes round until the end.



I really enjoyed shooting this rifle as it was heavy and the recoil wasn’t too bad.  But mostly because it shot where I aimed it.



I was even nice enough to let Ted shoot his own rifle.



He had also brought a Marlin .45-70 Guide Rifle.



This lever action has the enlarged lever loop.  I honestly do not know what advantage this offers except maybe if you were wearing thick gloves.



The Marlin action is a good, solid lever action system.



It has a side extension for the hammer so that if you wanted to install a scope, you could still thumb cock the rifle.



The front sight is a bead post and the rear sight is the standard buckhorn sight.  Very quick to use at close ranges.



Ted shot it standing on his hind legs, which is how it would most probably be used.



I shot it mostly from the bench.  It kicked pretty hard with heavy loads.



That brings up an important advantage of loading for a .45-70.  You can load any type of load you desire from a light, easy shooting load to a heavy, bone breaking load.

This day we shot some 405 grain lead bullets at moderate velocities (on the left).  We shot some Jacketed Hollow Point 300 grain bullets at high velocity (in the center), and some 515 grain heavy cast bullets (on the right).



After getting pounded with the light and JHP bullets, Ted was not interested in trying the 515 grain loads in the lever gun.  But my experience is that the heavy bullets can often be the most accurate.

Here is a sample 50 yard target from the Marlin on the left (three shots) and the rolling block on the right (five shots).



The lighter Guide Rifle has a lot more recoil, regardless of the load. And a heavy load would be punishing to shoot very much.  Of course, if a big bear was charging at you, I doubt you would be worried about the recoil.

Oh well, a good day at the range.  It’s fun to shoot stuff.

"Best" as in most accurate?  Believe it or not, probably black powder.  Black powder has a very tight standard deviation and in long range shooting will often out-shoot smokeless powder.

Of course, I don't like to shoot black powder as it is messy and a pain to clean up.  I have had very good accuracy with Accurate Arms 2495 in my .45-70 rifles.  IMR 3031 is also a good powder in this caliber.

In all honesty, the .45-70 is a very easy caliber to load and is very "forgiving" in regards to the brand of powder used.

Certainly possible.  But if you want that light of a load, just buy a carbine in .45 Long Colt.

There is just something about launching a big 500 grain chunk of lead that is a lot of fun.

I have not, but I am sure it would work fine for the right loads.

In my Sharps, I like that 515 grain bullet shown over a warm load of AA-2495.  It shoots right where I aim it.

I can see how that might be a benefit.



Many thanks.

You bet.

My work here is done.

No kidding.

Thanks O_P!

Yes, the heavy, relatively slow bullets can have quite an arc.  But it can also have a very low standard deviation in the velocity and the results are bullets striking the target very close together.

Thanks old buddy.

Oh, no doubt about it.  Cleaning the brass is more trouble.

If I really wanted long range consistency in my Shiloh Sharps, I would shoot black.

You want one.  You NEED one.  That's not my fault.