45-70 shooters--Explain this!
- Thread starter JohnKSa
- Start date
From the one side, there's a group that says that the .458 Win Mag isn't really enough for cape buffalo, etc.
It isn't. Capstick wrote of a hunter emptying his .460 into one. I believe he was on his second mag when the bull went down.
From the other side, there's a group that says the hot-loaded .45-70 will easily take cape buff's.
It will. Capstick wrote of a lady- a fantastic marksman- who took one with a 7x57mm- with one shot.
with the right loads, a .45-70 will break both shoulders on a cape buff or shoot all the way through one LENGTHWISE.
I hope this has been explained to satisfaction. I remember seeing a picture of J.D. Jones with a buff he had taken with a .45-70 from a Contender years ago. JD called the .45-70 "the best 100 yard sledgehammer".
Randy gets a lot of respect from me. I believe he knows what he's talking about. I hope you can tell from the two examples given, that the HUNTER is the big variable.
It isn't. Capstick wrote of a hunter emptying his .460 into one. I believe he was on his second mag when the bull went down.
From the other side, there's a group that says the hot-loaded .45-70 will easily take cape buff's.
It will. Capstick wrote of a lady- a fantastic marksman- who took one with a 7x57mm- with one shot.
with the right loads, a .45-70 will break both shoulders on a cape buff or shoot all the way through one LENGTHWISE.
I hope this has been explained to satisfaction. I remember seeing a picture of J.D. Jones with a buff he had taken with a .45-70 from a Contender years ago. JD called the .45-70 "the best 100 yard sledgehammer".
Randy gets a lot of respect from me. I believe he knows what he's talking about. I hope you can tell from the two examples given, that the HUNTER is the big variable.
Factory loads from mainstream manufacturers are almost all downloaded to be safe in antique weapons, sort of like factory 8mm stuff. Randy Garret's stuff is in a different class, with pressures approaching 40kpsi. It's optimized for penetration, and does really well in that arena. For DG however, most folks I've heard, rely on a combination of penetration and KE for a kill. While a Garret loaded 45-70 may be adequate for DG, I still think I'd want something in the "overkill" category. Instead of Garrett, I'm thinking Barrett. 
Fire once. Spend remainder of day gathering pieces of former target.
Fire once. Spend remainder of day gathering pieces of former target.
Mike Irwin
Staff
Sensop,
Quasi-inside joke to JohnKSa from a thread in another forum a couple of weeks ago.
Quasi-inside joke to JohnKSa from a thread in another forum a couple of weeks ago.