hey I know I'm off subject a little bit but..
I've got one coming in anytime now in 45-70, and I was wondering what else to get for real game-stopping power
a guy at work that builds rifles (quite well, actually) always talks soooo much about 22-250 like it's magical (we even got into it and I told him that was why captain hook captured tinkerbell once, to stuff her into a muzzleloader and kill the crocodile and peter pan with a heat seaking magic shot out of a .224 bore pistol... )
anyways, I hear it's really bad about tearing up barrels if loaded to max... can the handi handle 22-250 AND 45-70 upper loads for long, especially if I keep switching barrels back and forth (changing the mating surfaces would wear out the latch?) all this talk of shutting down the barrel fitting operation makes me want to send that gun right back and get a new barrel or two NOW!
help quick/tim
I really don't think you need hot loads in a 45-70, at least not for animals under 250 lbs, like deer. You don't need heavy bullets either, unless you happen to get better accuracy with them. (or possibly taking really long shots, but there are better calibers for that) A lot of people like to really push 45-70 loads. I did too when I first started shooting the caliber about 15-16 years ago.
When my son got his first rifle, a 45-70 Handi, I loaded average charges, about like over-the-counter ammo. We soon figured out his mild loads were dropping deer just as fast (10 yards or less) as my shoulder-bruising, brass-cased rockets. All were shot with 300gr Hornady HP's and like I said, no animal has gone more than ten yards and many dropped right on the spot.
Unless you just enjoy getting beat up, there is no real advantage to hot loads for deer-sized game but plenty of disadvantages. Same with the heavy bullets, most of your energy blows out of the other side of the deer. You can only kill a deer so dead.
(Boy, this has really gotten off the original topic!)
