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Bullet Caliber Descriptions
.45-70 Government
The .45-70 rifle cartridge, also known as .45-70 Government, was developed at the U.S. Armys Springfield Armory for use in the Springfield Model 1873. The new cartridge was a replacement for the stop-gap .50-70 Government cartridge which had been adopted in 1866, one year after the end of the American Civil War. As is usual with U.S. military ammunition, the .45-70 was an immediate hit among American sportsmen, and the .45-70 has survived to the present day. Today, the traditional 405-grain (26.2 g) load is considered adequate for any North American big game within its range limitations, including the great bears, and it does not destroy edible meat on smaller animals such as deer due to the bullet's low velocity. It is very good for big-game hunting in brush or heavy timber where the range is usually short. The .45-70, when loaded with the proper bullets at appropriate velocities, has been used to hunt the African Big Five. The .45-70 has been loaded and used to harvest everything from birds to elephant and the cartridge is still undergoing new development work well over a century after its introduction..
Suggested Use
- Deer
- Big Bear
- Sheep / Goat
- Moose
- Elk
- Buffalo / Bison
- Dangerous Predators
- Anything that can legally be hunted
Performance
The trajectory of the bullets is very steep, which makes for a very short point-blank range. This was not a significant problem at the time of introduction, as the .45-70 was a fairly flat-shooting cartridge for its time. Shooters of these early cartridges had to be keen judges of distance, wind and trajectory to make long shots.
Even the shortest barrel, 14 inches, is easily capable of producing well over 2,000 ft-lb (2,700 J) of energy, double the power of most .44 Magnum loadings
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