I have a Browning 86 carbine in 45/70 and I recommend them highly

I have a JM marlin, Great bush gun.
Took this Buck with it in some thick stuff, less then 30 yards.

I really like the Leverevolution ammo in mine.

I have a SBL. Quality on the new ones is great. Tipped over a Bison no problem this fall. Carry it mostly for bear protection but its quickly becoming one of my favorites. Seems to do well with everlution ammo. I am able to clip a grouses head off with it. Order a safety delete from beartooth mercantile if using it for bear protection as the cross bolt safety is redundant and in a location on the slab sides that it can easily be accidentally engaged. Also get a brass shell follower and if you really want to do it up right order a bearproof extractor from wild west. Then load up the bolt and action with metal polish and get your pay your favorite child 5 bucks to cycle the action a thousand times while they watch TV.

Plus its as fun as 2 monkeys to shoot. My wife even likes shooting it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfxV51bTYs4

Yep I've got a 444 carry the 270 more often than not because of this

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DO it...you'll have no regrets.

I had a marlin 45-70 stainless lever action guide and it was an awesome fire stick! lots of punching power! you will not be disappointed! :sHa_shakeshout:

I think the cartridge is great but it depends on the gun, a lever, sure. I have a Billy Dixon Pedersoli and is about 4 feet long and heavy. Accurate like crazy but a bit long for the bush for me.

IMHO nothing beats a handy Savage 99c lever action in .308 or 7mm08. You have a nice carrying lever action rifle that still has a bit of stretch.

I have a Savage 99F, I didn't know they ever made a 7mm08. That would be a great 99. I have a 45-70 and 444 made in the 70's, both are great for a "bush gun".

Those 250 gr. are varmint bullets! Maybe I'm stretching it, but not by too much.

Never heard of anyone having a problem with those bullets. I'm acquainted with a fella that uses a 480 gr. Lyman bullet in his with no issues.

I have no problem cycling the 350 gr. Hot Cor, 375 gr. RN cast, 400 gr. FN cast, 350 gr. Hornady all loaded to max COAL or slightly over. And the 405 Remington in factory ammunition as well. Maybe, I didn't use the cannelure, as I have the factory crimper for a couple.

Great cartridge, does it's work without excess blood shot meat, and muzzle blast. I would plan on shooting cast for it.

Reviving an old post but I recently got a 45-70 1895GBL and I love it.

One asthetic issue on the butt pad but that's about it. Cycles great and shoots great.

I am not the best with semi buckhorn sights. At 50 yards I can hit 5 inch gongs no issue with these sights.

I read a test where pressures were pushed until they both blew.
The 1895 and the 1886 barrels failed before the receivers did.

I don't have a 45-70 but I do have a marlin 444 and love it..
I think that both are great bush guns.

I've heard that the 1886 were stronger as well. Not sure, but they are both beefy toggle link actions. Have heard from guys that have shot the 1895 loose from an extended diet of hot loads. You don't really need to push it to the max though to have a serious big game rifle.

No doubt that the 1886 are stronger at the barrel/receiver connection. The 1895 barrels are fairly thin where they join.

Pushing big bullets faster does not improve their killing ability and with the round or flat nose you aren't going to make a long distance round out of it. Push a 350-400 grain bullet at 1500 fps, very tolerable recoil which also provides far faster followup shots, usable ballistics to 200 yards and it will go through a Moose or Bear length wise. I know this for sure, done it many times on bear and a few times on moose. Have shot bear with the 45-70 at 1200 to 2100 fps, beyond 1500 or 1600 fps I can see no difference in knockdown power or killing efficiency.

With large bore rifles, it is the hole that kills. They will penetrate just fine so hit them where the hole will do a lot of organ, nervous system of blood flow damage and whatever you shoot will die very quickly.

Forgot to mention that the 1886 isn't just a toggle link, but that it has a strong twin bar lock up similar to an 1892. I believe that it would be a stronger action as the 92 is very strong and acts similarly to a falling block. Though I wouldn't compare that to a true falling block action.

I don't believe there is load data that favours an 1886 as an action stronger than an 1885 though.

The 1886 is not a toggle link action. Nor is the marlin 1895. They both operate with a solid bolt and beefy locking lugs, similar to the win 1892 and 1894.

The original Henry, the 1866 yellowboy and the 1873 are toggle link actions that are only strong enough for 44-40 and saami spec 45 colt loads.

Colin

No, you're right. I didn't mean toggle link, and should have termed it differently. I believe the correct term might be a camming action. Both pretty similar (between 92, 94, 85, 86) but the locking lugs of the 1885 only coming up part way into the bolt and the 94 using a solid "sheet" behind the bolt. It is a strong action, and a good gun, but I'm not sure I'd call the lock up beefy. It's a 336 that handles a longer shell, and there's nothing wrong with that.

My point being that they were a similar type. And while we call them strong actions, they aren't rotating bolt. Thanks for the correction and chance to put forward more accurate information.

I'm using 405 gr hard cast at around 1750fps.
If that don't get it done then then I don't know what will.
I've loaded hotter but shooting some beef in the head and finding the bullet far past the shoulder .
Your right you don't need to push it to crazy speed to get great penetration.

M96 9.3x57 w/ 285 grain bullet may be a good budget alternative. Not 500 grains but...

It's an old thread revived, but I can't resist a 45-70 post. Love the caliber. I had a gbl that I put the xs ghost ring and long rail on. That was a great modification. BTW - SOME marlin's are prone to jamming with the lever all the way open. Do your research. It takes a bit of slicking with a stone, and tuning with a small screwdriver, but they come nice and smooth. I think they have it solved in the new ones.

Went through my .45-70 and .444 Marlin stage about 20 years ago. Got tired of being hamstrung by these cartridges with game that needed a longer poke so those rifles started staying home more often than not. Conditions don’t always allow a good decent stalk to reel those yards in for a big thumper. When I lived in Fort McMUrray and Edson when prime hunting was mere minutes away it wasn’t a big deal to see a nice buck way out there and go home thinking tomorrow’s another day. But when it’s 3.5 hours one way to go hunting I have to take advantage of every day out as those days are limited now due to travel...

Practice
 

I have never felt the need for more reach when hunting with my 45-70. The receiver peep allows me to hit 8" plates out to 250 yds. Add a low power scope if you can't use irons acc get er done. 250 is about as farthest range anyone NEEDS to take game at in normal hunting conditions. And this is coming from a long range guy.

Do any of you nail polish the front irons with white or orange? I can't seem to focus the black or bronze.

That being said, my fav rifle right now is a Winchester 94 30-30. Light and accurate enough.

Yeah, that's plenty. Probably about perfect. I've been guilty of wanting to push it a bit, and for a while I wanted a high velocity 300 gr. bullet at around 2400 just to hit the magical 4000 ft./lb. mark. I realized later that this was kind of nonsensical, but maybe fun for non-edible game. Momentum with heavy bullets is where it's at; and just my personal opinion, and not necessarily based on pure data, but I feel that 400 to about 430 grain is kind of a sweet spot for both taking advantage of the cartridges ability to launch heavy, yet still have reasonable velocity for normal-ish. Have heard of guys cracking 2000 fps with 405's but that is probably where guns loosen up. And it's those high velocities that are more punishing for the shooter, probably more so for the lighter bullets at higher speed.

One of my reloading books has a story of a cape buffalo hunt with a 45-70, using 405 gr. bullets loaded warm out of a Marlin. Short story, is that a good bull was seen and shot broadside, and 2 more pumped into it just to do as much damage as possible before tracking a dangerous animal. The tracker announced two animals down; a smaller cow was behind the bull. The bullet penetrated through both animals at the shoulder and was dug out just under the offside shoulder of the cow.

Had a long conversation with Bill Bagwell, as he used to be a factory Goex shooter, and long time reloader for the 45-70. He loads all BP or equivalent loads with cast bullets. I believe his load is about 1300 fps with a 480 grain Lyman cast FN. Apparently the big Lyman works fine in an 1885 as well. He has a video of a zebra hunt, where the zebra shot at about 160 yards drops like a rock. It was supposed to be a tough enough animal that it was going to ruin his rifle's reputation for complete pass throughs according to his PH, or guide.

Bill had told me as well that with penetration tests that the best penetration was at about 1300 fps. I believe it has to do with fluid dynamics, but not completely sure, and have read about this before. And seems independent of bullet deformation, as that is the first thing that is brought up.

Haven't nail polished any of my rifles, but I put some orange on the front sight of a pistol that was hard to pick up, and it helped.

A fiber optic front sight might be a help, too. Have a "dangerous game" upland shotgun that wears one, and it's a nice improvement. And also a pistol, that has benefitted from it.

Another option is a peep sight. My eyes don't adjust between the sights very fast I think, and have a scope on most of them, but a peep works sort of similar, in that you don't focus on the peep, unlike an open rear sight.

I actually always drifted out the front site and replaced it with the Tru Glo fiber optic one. That combined with a Williams peep site was a nice combo...

Currently in the lever action brush gun phase myself.
Rossi 92 in 357mag for fun and still hunting deer in thick woods.

Now wanting either a Rossi 16” 454casull for flexibility (45lc and 454 full power)
Or the go to 45/70 in a 18” length