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45/70 factory remington 405's

11K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  444HAL 
#1 ·
Ok, I was talkin to a friend of mine about bear hunting and rifles we use and told me to try the 45/70 factory remington 405's. He said unbelievable penetration is achieved with that slow ol' bullet. He seems pretty confident that the factory 405's work on bear just as well as any other "hot loads" available for the 45/70. Just seems such a slow bullet to be such a bear slayer. Anyone have any close range experiences on larger game, particularly black bear. Please let me know. Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
Bullets don't have to be fast to go through a lot of critter. I have shot two bison with loads from 1,000 to 1,300fps and gotten through and through penetration. This with handguns, but the same principles apply.
 
#3 ·
I have killed a few hogs with Rem factory 405 loads. They seemed to work fine. I guess penetration was adequate as it was complete( no bullet recovered). I have used the BTB LFN 405 gr in handloads and taken deer with it. No problems there and complete penetration. I have not shot bear or larger game with them. After shooting various loads, I do not "need" hot 45/70 loads as the regular loads seem to have worked well for my hunting. I have used BTB 350 gr also and it has worked well. I am still looking for the perfect load in 45/70 but I am sure it will end up being a moderate velocity load and not one of the hot higher velocity loads.
 
#4 ·
Back in the last century (actually the other last century) the 45-70 killed critters big and small using loads very similar to the factory 405. Not much has changed since then (well, except we have cars, planes, interstates, huge deficits.... you get the picture!) and that bullet will still kill a big critter just fine. At the ranges most hunt bear-over-bait, it shouldn't be an issue whatsoever.

Although it's not the load I use in my 1895 for bear-over-bait, I surely would never say it's not completely adequate. It's simply not flat shooting, having a very looping trajectory outside 100 yards, but again, this is a moot point on B-O-B.

"Choot 'em, choot 'em!!" as Troy would say! :D
 
#5 · (Edited)
Remington's Factory 405 grain ammo, as well as the 300, is loaded to safe specs, allowing it to be used in old trapdoors and such. It'll have plenty of penetration and punch to get the job done. While I do have some hotter handloads for my 1895 guide gun, MOST of the stuff I feed mine fares about the same speed as the remington factory ammo. I've been using some cast performance bullets, Remington 405's, as well as some Beartooth. it's a big bullet that will penetrate most animals if placed correctly.
I won't even describe what the factory 300 ammo will do to a woodchuck we spooked.:eek: ....messy

 
#8 ·
#14 ·
Now, that there was funny, darn funny...lol!! :D
 
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