The mighty 45 70…

It was a brutally cold (for So Cal, that is) Sunday morning this week, but that didn’t stop several of us from getting out and firing up the lever guns this weekend.  I had my Marlin Guide Gun (the one you see in the photo above), my RX3 buddy Duane was out there with his 30 30, and there were several others with lever guns and milsurp rifles.   I had a new load I worked up with a box of old 300 gr Hornady jacketed bullets earlier in the week…

…and that load was the cat’s meow.   I shot the first group through a cold and oily barrel, and each group after that just kept getting tighter and tighter…

But that wasn’t the load I shot on Sunday…nope, on Sunday I used my favored 400-grain cast bullets and they did just fine.  We shot Zombie targets, and it was grand fun (and fun to photograph, too).

The 45 70 is an interesting round.  It first came on the scene in 1873, shooting a big old .45 caliber 500-grain bullet in the Trapdoor Springfield rifle (the original name, the 45 70 500, came from the fact that it fired a .45 caliber 5o0-grain bullet loaded over 70 grains of black powder).   The soldiers back in the day complained about the 45 70’s massive recoil, so the Ordnance dudes dropped the bullet weight to 405 grains (and it’s still a bruiser).  But they sure are fun to shoot.

My friends and I (including some of you RX3 and TT250 riders) get out to the range for our informal fun times roughly once a month, and then we have a great lunch after sending a few rounds downrange.  If you want to come out and join us, let us know!