45/70

[Dogmann]

When shooting the 45/70 out of a Contender is 14inches of barrel enough to capitalize on the strengths of this round? I have ruled out a 10 inch barrel , what  length would you suggest for this round?

[Gavinator]

 I have a 14" Hunter (Contender) and it does OK, I only fire 10 rounds at a time. I hear more bragging about the Super 16 but I couldn't shoot that long of a barrel off-hand. If you want the chrono numbers I could pull them off the other computer, ask.

[Dogmann]

That would be great. Just post them on this thread.

[Redhawk1]

When shooting the 45/70 out of a Contender is 14inches of barrel enough to capitalize on the strengths of this round? I have ruled out a 10 inch barrel , what  length would you suggest for this round?

With a contender you do not capitalize on the full potential of the 45-70 round. The contender cannot handle the upper end loads of the 45-70. But the Encore will.
But as far as potential in the contender, the 14 inch barrel will server you better than a 10 inch barrel.

[poncaguy]

My 45-70 Contender barrel is 17 1/4 long, came with a muzzle brake installed,it's just under 16" if the brake were removed.

[rickyp]

The contender can only handle the trap door level 45-70 loads, When I talked to T/C tech about the encore he told em that T/C official policy to to keep the encore down to trap door level then he told me that the contender Can take the 1895 level with no troubles and to stay away from the high pressure loads out.

I have a 15" 45-70 with out a break and am using a 405 gr cast bullet at mid to upper 1895 loads (by no means is it a max load) and I will tell you it is a handful very fun to see the look on the peoples face when I put a round in the barrel and then the look of fear when I fire it and they hear and feel the blast.

You will do fine with a true 14" barrel

[Dogmann]

Can the Contender handle Corbon or Garret 45/70 loads...that is what I had intended....

[rickyp]

I doubt it corbon loads some warm rounds.
best thing to do is to tell them just what you want to do with the rounds and ask them if they think it is safe and have it in wrighting

[Redhawk1]

Can the Contender handle Corbon or Garret 45/70 loads...that is what I had intended....

I don't think it is a wise idea. The Corbon or Garret 45/70 loads are at the bottom and sometime at the upper levels of the Ruger #1.  You may want to consider getting a Magnum Research BFR in 45-70 if you want to shoot them Corbon or Garret 45/70 loads.

[Dogmann]

If thats the case- Am I right in assuming that when not using hot 45/70 loads- the 45/70 out of a pistol is not an effective 100 yard deer gun...I  should just use a 44mag loaded with hot Hard casts- Garret, buffalo bore, cor-bon....

[Redhawk1]

I would not count out the 45-70 with upper trapdoor levels for a 100 yards gun. You don't have to use Garret, buffalo bore, cor-bon to get the velocity to do the job at 100 yards, a good cast factory round from Federal will work. Personally I would highly consider reloading. That is the best way to tailor your loads to your needs and have the ability to use the bullet you want.

You will still be shooting a 405 gr. bullet with a 45-70 at upper trapdoor levels faster than you can shoot a 300 gr. 44 Mag.  If you loaded up some 300 gr. bullets in the 45-70 at trapdoor levels, you would not be able to touch them with any 44 Mag load with a 300 gr. bullet.

[rickyp]

MR J.D. Jones of SSK states in several wright ups that he considers the 45-70 out of the contender to be the best 150 yard sledgehammer you can get.

[rickyp]

1895  level   22” barrel with 300 gr hornady bullet (hornady reloading manual 4 th edition page 454)
powder: Imr 4198- 46.2 grs at 2000 FPS. 1 load back from max load

T/C contender 16” barrel with 300 gr hornady bullet (hornady reloading manual 4 th edition page 648)
powder: Imr 4198- 45.9 grs at 1800 FPS. max load

so you will loose about 50 FPS for every 1 inch of barrel that is cut off.

T/C 14”barrel with hornady 300 gr bullets
powder: Imr 4198- 45.9 grs at 1700 FPS. max load




             100 yards     150 yards     200 yards       250 yards      300 yards

1859-      0.0               -3.8               -11.7              -24.4            -43.1
 Ft LBS   1782            1450             1183               979                837

16” T/C-   0.0               -5.0             -14.9                -30.8             -35.7
FT Lbs      1431             1169            968                  823              721

14” t/c      0.0                 -5.7              -16.8               -34.6             -59.8
Ft LBS     1276             1049               880                 761              677

With a T/C  pistol barrel at a max load you will have over a 1 foot and ½ drop at 200 yards
And if you drop back to a starting load of 1500 FPS

100y 0.0 with 1008 ft lbs.   150y -7.4 with 851 ft lbs,  200y -21.5 with 741 ft lbs,  250y
-43.4 with 662 ft;lbs,  300y -73.7 with 602 ftlbs

[Dogmann]

I have a 10inch 44mag barrel that I shoot the Corbon HC & Corbon Penetrator loads thru & they KICK! It is a stiff hard shot. I do not know anyone who has a 45/70 handgun so I cannot compare the two. Is the 45/70 really that brutal out of a handgun? I have Pachmayer Grips on my TC, but how much that helps with the 45/70 I do not know.   I sure wish HOGUE would make a grip for the Contender...

[powdersmoke]

I have a super 14 contender barrel that I bought several years ago out of a short run of 45-70 barrels that was not in their catalog until a few years later. I have always used the 1895 marlin reloading data for 340 and 405 cast bullets I stay on the lower half of the reloading info. It is a handfull and I am not recoil shy. I put pachmayer grips on it to soften the recoil but the bolt that holds the grip on would bend. I called pachmayer about the problem and they told that the 45-70 contender was the only one that had ever had this to happen. That I had to much gun for their grip, but this has maybe changed over the years.

[huntnut]

I don't think the recoil is bad I'm loading 300gr hp in the 1895 mid range loads out of my encore 15" muzzlebrake barrel and factory rubber grip. I havn't loaded any 405 cast bullets yet they might be stouter.  The only thing that hurts when shooting this load is my index finger getts hit on the side of the frame, and because the frame is so squared it well cut you if your hand is not in the right place but I took care of that buy wareing gloves.