45-70 lever gun load

[Warwick]

I have a new Henry 45-70 lever gun and would like to develop a good bear load for it with Oregon Trail 430 gr gc bullets. The rifle shoots very well with my own 350 and 405 gr bullets, but I can't find any starting info for the 430. The 405s will probably stop a black bear, but the 430s would be better insurance and would be more effective on a grizzly given proper shot placement. I live in northwest Wyoming. Bears are definitely an issue here.

[NSB]

As per the Lyman Cast Bullet manual, I see two loads listed that offer some advantage over the 400g.....but it's a minimal difference. Remember, your bullet AOL will change and you'll need to see if they cycle in your action. Hornady LeveRoluton bullets were developed due to this problem with Marlins. Also, they simply may not shoot as well. These loads are for a 420g cast bullet, not a 430. They're close enough that you can use the starting loads and back the top loads back around 15% to stay safe.
Rel7 at 40.0 = 1493fps
Rel7 at 48.5 = 1828
3031 at 38.5 = 1352
3031 at 47.0 = 1684

If you have good accurate loads with the 405g bullets, I personally don't think you're gaining much, if anything, going to the heavier bullets unless they simply shoot better. I have yet to recover even one bullet out of any deer and some of them were decent size whitetails. Millions of buffalo were shot with lighter bullets and most were complete pass throughs. However, it's your quest. Good luck and don't go over max for these loads. Remember, they are for a 420g bullet, not a 430g so you'll have to back off some for safety.

[TXGunNut]

As NSB touched on above, first step is to build a dummy round or two and make sure they cycle thru your action. My Marlin Guide won't cycle a long nosed boolit but I'll never see a griz around here so that's OK. My gun likes loads built around the RD 460-350 and Rx7 but the 45-70 is a very forgiving round that works well with several powders and passably with a dozen or so more. I'm not sure what kind of ammo the Henry is rated for so I'd recommend checking into that before I exceeded the Trapdoor level.

[44man]

True, don't know the strength of the Henry. Strange little rod bolt on most.

[pietro]

True, don't know the strength of the Henry. Strange little rod bolt on most.


The new .45-70 Henry has a regular, Marlin 336 style rear-locking bolt. (below = .30-30)

https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/henry-426.jpg
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[lobogunleather]

No experience with the Henry rifles but I do have a Winchester 1886 in .45-70 and several Springfield Trapdoor rifles in that caliber. For me recoil can be a major issue. I just do not enjoy shooting anything that beats me up. With .45-70 I have found that it is not necessary to seek the upper end of performance possibilities.

I load cast bullets of 340, 405, and 500 grains, and I stick to the older low pressure loads suitable for the Trapdoor rifles. I have taken Colorado mule deer and elk with all 3 of those bullets, and at ranges up to about 100 yards.

With the 500 grain bullet (Lee C459-500) at about 1100 FPS muzzle velocity I took a bull elk, about 80 yards uphill and angling away from me, put the bullet right behind the diaphragm on the left side, went through the entire chest cavity (about 4 feet of penetration) then broke the right front shoulder before exiting. About 600 lbs of Rocky Mountain elk went down in its tracks.

With the 340 and 405 grain bullets at modest velocities I have shot completely through mule deer and elk every time and never had one go further than a few yards after a solid heart-lung shot.

The 340 grain is also used in .45-90 and .45 Sharps Express. Velocities are considerably higher and hits at extended ranges are easier due to less drop. But realistically the .45-70 is a 150-200 yard rifle anyway, so this advantage is pretty small. The 340's are a lot easier on the shoulder than the 500-grain bullets in any of my rifles.

As someone else pointed out, the original .45-70-500 rifle and .45-55-405 carbine loads took many tons of buffalo back in the day. They were also known to shoot through a horse and take out the Indian on the other side. If a bear is within range to cause concern I'm sure that any reasonable load in the .45-70 would do the job as long as the bullet is placed where it needs to be.

[Norske]

My Marlin 1895 shoots my home-cast bullets accurately, but I've never had much success with any bevel-based bullet. For practice loads, I like the "factory equivalent" load from my 1967 Lyman reloading manual. I shoot 400 gr bullets, and for that purpose, the powder charge is 38gr IMR 3031. It's pleasant to shoot, groups with Remington factory ammo, and at bear blind distances even Buffalo Bore hits in the same 5-shot group.

[monge]

45-70 at 1600fps under 100yards are amazing stoppers big energy and accurate but when you push the yardage you must know your trajectory for given loads , I know this from trial and error and a couple missed nice bucks!