45-70 ammo

[superdown]

I know a few guy's on the forum have 45-70's so i was curious what your choice factory load is? I have winchester 1886 extra light rifle that i am hunting with this year and have shot the hornady lever evolution 325grn.It shoots fine but there are a couple of things i don't like about it first off being that it has shorter than standard brass as i intend to reload at a later date and second from the reading i have done on various forums the meat damage is ridiculous from the pictures i have seen.I have two boxes of the 300grn winchester ballistic silver tips but i am guessing the meat damage is going to be in the same ball park as the leverevolution stuff but at least the brass is standard length.Today i picked up a box of HSM "bear loads" that are 430grn rnfp gas check at 1781fps and plan to pick up another box in a couple of days.   

[theleo]

When was your 86 manufactured? If it's an original without a nickel steel barrel you'd want to tame things down to what the old trap door pressures were. I've known a lot of guys that just used Remington green box ammo.

[Jonathan_S]

I definitely prefer the 300 ish grain bullets.  The 400+ grain bullets are stoppers but they sure do add to recoil.  I prefer to shoot more often and not have a sore shoulder.  When building a load, we also shot Remington, Hornady, and the others (minus Winchester) and thought they all grouped fine. 

Meat damage from this gun will not be significant unless you hit a major bone.  Much more meat damage from bullets going fast than from a 430 grain bullet going 1500 FPS on impact.

[superdown]

When was your 86 manufactured? If it's an original without a nickel steel barrel you'd want to tame things down to what the old trap door pressures were. I've known a lot of guys that just used Remington green box ammo.

My 1886 is a modern manufactured miroku from 2011 thank you for the reminder just in case someone less knowledgeable were to read this.  

[superdown]

I definitely prefer the 300 ish grain bullets.  The 400+ grain bullets are stoppers but they sure do add to recoil.  I prefer to shoot more often and not have a sore shoulder.  When building a load, we also shot Remington, Hornady, and the others (minus Winchester) and thought they all grouped fine. 

Meat damage from this gun will not be significant unless you hit a major bone.  Much more meat damage from bullets going fast than from a 430 grain bullet going 1500 FPS on impact.

Yeah i am 50/50 looking forward to shooting the hsm 430grn rounds but i have the 300grn silver tips also.I got the hsm partially because of the price they were a few bucks cheaper than anything else besides some cowboy ammo and also they didn't have anymore of the winchester silvertips and well i have never shot anything this hot out of my 45-70 yet 

[wadu1]

I load my own with Nickel plated Remington brass that I got from Midway-USA. Other than that the Remington in the green box worked the best for me. 

[ckr]

The Remington 405 factory rounds are nice to shoot too.  Low recoil for a heavy grain bullet.  I have a bunch of those 430 bear loads and don't care for shooting more then a few.  My accuracy drops a bit when shooting them.   

[superdown]

I load my own with Nickel plated Remington brass that I got from Midway-USA. Other than that the Remington in the green box worked the best for me. 

I plan on reloading. I am aiming to get a reloading kit for Christmas.What is your favorite hunting load?

[superdown]

The Remington 405 factory rounds are nice to shoot too.  Low recoil for a heavy grain bullet.  I have a bunch of those 430 bear loads and don't care for shooting more then a few.  My accuracy drops a bit when shooting them.   

Have you shot any game with the 430 bear loads yet?

[theleo]

One thing to remember about the 45-70 is those bullets leave the barrel pre expanded. You'll get a minimum of a .458 going in and out. You'd probably be happy with a 350 grain lead bullet plugging along at 14-1500 fps. You can push bullets faster but your shoulder will really start paying the price.

[wapiti22]

The Hornaday kick too much for my liking, a very sharp recoil.  Love the Remington green box 405's. Easy to shoot, accurate and will do the job. Shot them out of my Marlin Guide Gun.

[Firedogg]

I am a bit partial to Garrett Cartridges. Big hole on both sides every time with the hard cast and now they make them in different power loads if you don't like the shoulder wear from a 420grn leaving at 1850fps. Punches a nice hole right through a shoulder joint, actually both of them, with very little meat loss (my go to drop them there in crowded areas).
They have also added some other loads paired up with different bullets too.

http://www.garrettcartridges.com/4570.html

[BULLBLASTER]

When I had mine I was loading 350 grain hornady hollow points. Not real sure on velocity and I think it was a case full of imr4198. But can't really remember. I sent one end to end through a elk and it actually mushroomed pretty good.

[superdown]

Garrett ammo is great quality stuff but cost about twice as much as the HSM bear load for very similar ammo.when comparing the HSM 430grn bullet @1781 and Garrett 420grn bullets @ 1650 and 1850 respectively. 

[Fl0und3rz]

I load my own with Nickel plated Remington brass that I got from Midway-USA. Other than that the Remington in the green box worked the best for me. 

I plan on reloading. I am aiming to get a reloading kit for Christmas.What is your favorite hunting load?

 I do 300 grain Hornady and Remington at around 2000 fps. I am set up for 45-70 and am in S. King Co.  PM me if you want to load some up before Christmas.