thinking of getting rid of my .45/70

[troy_mclure]

I've got a t/c encore in .45/70. its a 20" barrel with XS sights.

the gun is way too light for any load worth shooting.

i was planning on using it primarily as a short range/brush gun for deer/pigs.

i recently got my grandfathers 336 in .35rem. a much better gun for the purpose.

this leaves me no real use for the barrel, and its not one i really enjoy shooting that much.

should i keep it, or get rid of it?

[DLCTEX]

I agree with your assessment in this configuration. Shooting should be fun, not painful or inaccurate. I got rid of a Savage Stryker as it was too short to be a rifle and too long to be a pistol. It was in 22-250 and I traded it for a New Stevens in 22-250 and have not regretted it.

[10 ga]

http://www.smokelessmuzzleloading.com/Send it to SMI and have it converted to a smokeless muzzleloader. You will discover more great fun and another activity to eat up your $. 10 ga

[Wayne Smith]

Mine is on the ProHunter stock and I can shoot heavy loads in it with only a little discomfort. I can see how a wooden stock could hurt.

[jlchucker]

You'll like the 336 in 35 Remington. You'll like it even more once you shoot some 200 grain boolits through it.

[Trey45]

Have you tried using 1873 Springfield load data? I have an H&R Buffalo Classic that's been professionally shortended, it weighs around 6.5 pounds now. The recoil's not bad, and it will do everything you want it to do on pigs and deer.

[AZ-Stew]

Lighter bullets, lower velocities. A lot of folks think a 300 grain projectile from a .44 Magnum at 1200 or so fps is powerful stuff for the game you hunt.

Consider getting it ported, if it isn't already.

Regards,

Stew

[.357]

throw a break on that thing and then load down, but you don't like it then hell go get a barrel you don't have.

[No_1]

A couple of things you can do. Loading to trap door levels has always and will always get the job done no matter what you are shooting in the USA. If you don't believe me then I ask you this: When is the last time you have heard of ~ 2 million buffalo ranging wild?

Adding a mercury tube to your butt stock will reduce felt recoil also. This is cheap and something you can do yourself.

Add a muzzle break will help some but increases noise level and cost more than the other 2 options and has to be performed by someone that knows what they are doing.

I have 4 different 45-70 guns. A Siamese Mauser, a Marlin Guide Gun, a Ruger #3 and a 16" Contender. They are listed in order of heaviest to lightest. The same load has different felt recoil in each rifle as you can imagine. The Speer #12 manual shows 3 different levels of load data: Trap doors, Levers and Modern bolt actions / single shots. I like 3031 for this cartridge mainly because I have more of it than I know what to do with and find that any load at the Trap door level (45-49 grains) shoot as accurate as I need in all the above rifles.

Robert