now I want one!! 45/70 questions

[handi270]

I have been reading all the fun some are having with the 45/70.
Now I want one. We don't have any bear or moose down here in southern ok., but we do have a lot of whitetails and hogs and some cougars.
As my handle implies, I have a handi in 270, which will handle all of the above, but you know how it is with guns.

Looked at a new one today, $249, is that a good price?
Drilled and tapped, but no iron sights, do they really need a scope?  (I'm 65 so that probably answers that question)

Some would say no need for a cal. that big here

My first gun was a single shot winchester 22 and I am partial to singles.

thanks, noel

[LONGTOM]

1- I would say a pretty good price.

2- You answered the scope question already.

3- Who cares!
You aren't buying it for them!
If it's what you want then go for it.
I definitely wouldn't be ashamed walking out with a 45-70.
May not shoot as far as theirs but it will get the job done for sure.
Besides I love the looks you get when they see the size of the hole, both in the end of the barrel and in the animal!


LONGTOM

[Chas.]

I have 3 45-70's and the biggest thing I hunt are pie plates.  Why do I have them?  Because they're FUN.

[petemi]

Noel, I kill chucks, fox, coons and coyotes as well as deer with mine.  There's no such thing as "needing a caliber that big."  It simply works.  Why fight it?

I think it's a good price.  I paid 289.00 for mine used, scoped inexpensively.  And yeah, I'm 67, go for the scope!  Pete

[Swampman]

The Nikon Prostaff 2-7X32 is an excellent scope for the .45-70 Handi.

I really like the Remington 405 grain factory load.  It's much more pleasant to shoot than the other factory loads, and very accurate.

[Ditchdigger]

I have been reading all the fun some are having with the 45/70.
Now I want one. We don't have any bear or moose down here in southern ok., but we do have a lot of whitetails and hogs and some cougars.

Noel,just go north of Antler's OK.and you'll need the 4570 for bears.I've seen them up there several times. It will work just fine on the wild hogs on Texoma unless its one of the big one's.It may not knock them down everytime but they will die. I'm in Durant Ok.    Digger

[LaOtto222]

You should STOP reading this forum, all it does is feed your Handiolism

[handi270]

You guys are pushing me over the edge, not that I needed much encouragement.

I went to an auction yesterday, there were quite a few rifles, some 24 ct. gold plated.  Even the used ones were too rich for my blood.
My point is, the handi's are still a good value.

Digger, I am about 90 miles west of you at Waurika.

Tomorow is my day off, so I may need to go get that handi.

At the end of 2009 I will semi-retire and gun buying will probably come to an end, so getting what I can now.

thanks for the replies.

noel

[Badnews Bob]

Load that big bore dowm with some 300grain cast bullets and its like shooting 10 .22 all at once bunch of fun to plink with, I can shoot it and almost have it reloded before you hear it hit the steel plate down range and it will handle anything ya got in OK land.

[Ranger J]

They are great guns, probably the most 'trouble free' of any of the Handis.  Mine will group just about anything I send down the barrel from 300 gr OT hard cast Trail Boss  loads to 300 gr Rem HPs with heavy load of Re #7.  The latter was my deer load for last year and turned out to be 'too much' for the whitetail as it left massive exit wounds although it did drop them where they stood.  This year I am loading down about 300 fps to see how that works. 

RJ

[Mike Britton]

I have four different .45/70's. IMHO, it may be the most versatile round around. Load it up for the big stuff, load it down for pie plates. It's the most fun you can have for that kind of money.
The fact that after 136 years you can find ammo almost everywhere should tell you something.
And it never fails to draw a crowd at the range.

[petemi]

Mike, I wish I could draw a crowd at my range.  We're far from anything.  It's pretty dull shooting alone all the time.  But, it is still fun to see how far you can poke a .45-70 and hit what you're aiming at.  It challenges me every day, and each day I get a little better with it.  Tomorrow's target is a 5 gallon bucket at 500 yards.

I guess one of the most memorable shots was an unloading shot with a .32 T/C Cherokee, iron sights, at the 300 yard gong.  75 gr. Goex fffg and a 103 gr. Maxi-Hunter.  It rang the gong.

I believe they discontinued the .32 Maxis, but a buddy grabbed three boxes for me at the Midland, Mi Gun Show.

[stolivar]

When did they start making them without iron sights on it.


steve

[Mike Britton]

Mike, I wish I could draw a crowd at my range.  We're far from anything.  It's pretty dull shooting alone all the time.  But, it is still fun to see how far you can poke a .45-70 and hit what you're aiming at.  It challenges me every day, and each day I get a little better with it.  Tomorrow's target is a 5 gallon bucket at 500 yards.

I guess one of the most memorable shots was an unloading shot with a .32 T/C Cherokee, iron sights, at the 300 yard gong.  75 gr. Goex fffg and a 103 gr. Maxi-Hunter.  It rang the gong.

I believe they discontinued the .32 Maxis, but a buddy grabbed three boxes for me at the Midland, Mi Gun Show.

I live in a somewhat affluent suburb North of Dallas.
What makes that affluent comment significant is that when you go to the public range here what you see most of the time is whatever the most read gun writer in the most read gun magazine says is the best thing around.
So I show up with antique single shots and lever actions, sometimes target rifles from the fourties or fifties, and these guys flock around as if they had never seen such a thing. Maybe for some of them they haven't!
I went to the range one day and down at the other end a fellow was shooting a plain vanilla T/C Hawken.
He had so many people crowded around him he was having trouble getting focused on his target. I decided I would leave mine at home!

[45-70.gov]

got  to quit coming  here

i  got the buffalo classic

but  i am  a scope guy

and stainlessguy

that laminate  sure looks good on  that varmint gun

talk me  out  of  it.....i  realy need  an  ar-10  if  obama  wins   before  they are  gone

[quickdtoo]

It's sure a good thing there's always room for one more!!

Tim

[45-70.gov]

DON'T DO  THAT TO  ME EVER AGAIN
SHOWING  ME  THAT


well  its  ok . better get  one  before i get another  old lady to answer  to

 what kind of ballistics will  you get if chopped to 16 inches? 
24  original??

[RaySendero]

It's sure a good thing there's always room for one more!!

Tim

Tim, I what one too! - Just like that!

What is it and where do I get one?

[quickdtoo]

Sorry 45-70.gov, couldn't help myself!! I dunno about the velocity difference, but as is it pushes a 300gr TSX-FB over 2300fps with a case full of H4198. I do know that with some powders, the velocity can be 150-200fps faster in the 32" BC barrel than the 22" Handi barrel when shooting 350gr bullets, that's the only comparison I've done, I'm not into short barrels, 20-22" is plenty short in a break-barrel. 

Ray, it's an SS 45-70 Ultra Hunter in a camo laminated stock instead of the cinnamon laminate they come with, the thin factory pad wasn't to my liking, so I swapped it out for the camo lam with a Decelarator pad that I had on my 7x57, much better for me with hot 45-70 loads. I got mine from Bud's, but he's out now, TGS has one in stock tho.

Tim

http://www.hr1871.com/Firearms/Rifles/hunter.asp

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_262/products_id/52896

http://www.thegunsource.com/store/item/74787_HandR_Rifles_Shotguns_H_R_SB2-T57_ULTRA_HUNTER_.aspx

[handi270]

Now you've done it!!!

I want one like Tim's!!!

Please, no more.  I can't take it.

Actually, I'm glad you did. If I had bought the one I was looking at and then saw yours, I would have been very disappointed.

thanks, noel

[jacksrbtr46]

Here's mine, and I love it!!

Jack

[Freightman]

I am older than dirt, can't stand a wimpy rifle love the 45/70 have three a Buffalo Classic , M1867 Rolling Block made in 1883, and a 34" hex barrel Shiloh Sharps, didn't know they made another caliber! By the way they will all shoot less than MOA at 200 yds. You can load mild to wild, the BC and the M1867 like the 405HB bullet, the Shiloh likes 500gr and up to 565 or so.
Get the 45/70 you will not regret it.
by the way I will be 70 my next bd and gun buying don't slow down just because you retire in fact it picked up, you just have to learn to be a good trader.

[quickdtoo]

Heh heh, I've been retired for 6 years, I didn't start gun my gun collecting until I got into Handis, four H&R 45-70s and an H&R 45-120 later and I still love em and am tempted to trade one of my duplicate chamberings for that 45-70 barrel in the classifieds!!!

Tim

[Mike Britton]

I am older than dirt, can't stand a wimpy rifle love the 45/70 have three a Buffalo Classic , M1867 Rolling Block made in 1883, and a 34" hex barrel Shiloh Sharps, didn't know they made another caliber! By the way they will all shoot less than MOA at 200 yds. You can load mild to wild, the BC and the M1867 like the 405HB bullet, the Shiloh likes 500gr and up to 565 or so.
Get the 45/70 you will not regret it.
by the way I will be 70 my next bd and gun buying don't slow down just because you retire in fact it picked up, you just have to learn to be a good trader.

I like being retired. It gives me more time to go to more gun shows.

[wrongpaw]

I also have a hankerin' for .45-70 rifles:
   7-Handis, 4 with wood, 3 with Syn. stocks
   6-Buffalo classics
   1- original trapdoor.
   2- Ruger #1's
   1- Remington Rollingblock
   4- Marlin 1895's

So many guns, so little time.
Regards,
wrongpaw

[ohiobenito]

My brother had a FFL, I had just turned 18 and wanted the biggest gun that I could buy for $100.  He told me to get a NEF 45/70.  I've shot the rifle a little and have always liked it.  It's name amongst my brother and I is the Whaler.  They got a fairly stout recoil with some factory ammo. and if you hand load the recoil can border into brutal territory.  My advice... get some high rise scope rings and make sure you have good eye relief.  Cuz I got a scar on my right eyebrow from a Weaver scope.  The rifle is the perfect hunting rifle.  The length of the barrel let you carry it almost like a pistol without the muzzle coming close to the ground, and the balance and weight make it very fast handling.  Mine prints about 2" @100yds. and it likes the Winchester 300gr sjhp factory stuff.  There aint much one good shot of this medicine won't cure. 
Enjoy  and congrats on a great decision

[petemi]

You know, Tim, you are a disease carrier and a scourge on the earth   I've got a perfectly good .45-70 that shoots excellently.  Now, I've got to have that stainless beauty.  Why do you do that to people   Have you no compassion  

I'm already thinking, if I "gave" the blue one to my wife, I could justify buying the stainless

[quickdtoo]

Yeah, you certainly wouldn't want to buy the SS for her, but if she takes a liking to it, you may end up buying TWO!!!

Tim

[petemi]

Never thought about that.  You're right.  See I told you you were hazardous.  Now you're trying to get my wife infected.

[quickdtoo]