Man, I would buy a frame and the barrel if H&R/NEF every offered a .50-70. They should go with the Green Mountain barrel, as I have heard the barrel and the twist rate shoot incredibly well. This is America's first centerfire military cartridge, and it is what William F. Cody used in a surplus Trapdoor to earn his nickname, Buffalo Bill, supplying meat for the workers on the Kansas & Pacific railroad.
But for some reason the manufacturers treat it with no respect.