This is new caliber to me. What is the main use for and distance/accuracy. I have seen many of these shells at the range and always wondered what they were from. Tonight I saw a Gibbs modified Enfield at the shop and I was hoping to get some info on that gun or the round.
Thanks

Main use for initially was big assed buffalo & the occasional Indian.

Now, it's mostly elk, moose, bear & some folks use it for deer. There's a great article on the 45/70 in this months issue of Guns & Blammo.

As for accuracy, it has a huge rainbow trajectory after 150-200 yards. Keep it inside that envelope & it does just fine. Of course handloading will wring better accuracy out of it.

You'll want to read up on loading 45-70 there are 3 different levels of loads for the 45-70
1 loads for trapdoor springfields
2 loads for lever action rifles
3 loads for falling block rifles (Sharps, Ruger no1's)
loads for the trap door can be used in any of the three, loads for the lever actions or the falling blocks cannot be used in a trap door,The action can't take it, it'll blow,likewise,A lot of loads for falling block rifles can't be used in lever action rifles same reason they can't handle it,I'm not sure where your Enfield would fit in here, I figure in the lever action area, Like I said, I'd read up a little bit on it...I have a reproduction Winchester M1886 in 45-70,Accurate rifle, I've been shooting 405 gr cast lead slugs through it,lots of fun.. Got a loadbook from midway and this is where I found all this out,I don't think the enfield action could handle alot of the falling block loads, due to the bolt lugs being where they are, on the rear of the bolt...Maybe get yourself a loadbook from midway..lots of loads and info in them...Alot of the people using falling block rifles use black powder, I don't, mainly because of the cleaning needed, and that would be a real pain with a lever action gun, a Sharps can be easily taken apart for cleaning, not so with a lever action, so I use smokeless powder,Works very well, reloading is very easy, 45-70 is like a big pistol cartridge, (you still have to lube the cases)but everything else is like a handgun round, Bell the cases, load powder, seat the bullet, crimp, not hard at all,Some loads with smokeless you should use polyester wadding (polyester batting,bought at fabric store,) all this does is keep the powder down on the primer,and is easy to do 45-70 is a fun gun, would make a excellent hunting rifle if ranges are'nt too long..100-200yds,max, One just has to be a little more careful to match up the load with the rifle it's going to be used in...

This is kind of on the same topic. I've always wondered if you could chamber an AR10 for 45-70.

Larry

I'm not saying it could'nt be done.. but I really don't think it's very feasible, first you'd have to make a bolt that would fit over the rim of the case, (45-70 is a rimmed cartridge)and then you'd have to make a barrel extention for the barrel that would accept the larger bolt and still fit in the upper receiver,build mag from scratch...and overcome any feeding problems that would no doubt arise...I don't know...I think It'd be more trouble than it's worth...