That includes various recently manufactured models of .45-70s when handloaded and the .458 Winchester. It does not include the .458 Lott, and I’ve given ample reasons for that decision in past blogs. Mostly, that has to do with the lies, hypocrisy, boasting and put-downs of the great .458 Win Mag; and it really offers little to nothing over a properly chambered .45-70 in a single-shot Ruger No.1 with a 22″ barrel. And I’ll back that last statement with details.
<My second Ruger No.1 in .45-70 that was given the long throat (LT) by my gunsmith. At a later date he also gave it a Pachmayr butt pad. The scope was a new Burris fixed 4x with a long eye-relief of 5.5″. Firing a 500gr RN at +2200 fps from its 22″ barrel it was within 50 fps of Hornady’s handload of that same bullet fired in the .458 Lott. At the time I wrote in my .45-70 manual “Who needs a .458 Lott?”.
< Corrected to MV = 2212 fps/5464 ft-lbs since the 500gr Hornadies from my box averaged 503 grs.
As anyone who has followed these blogs, from the recent past, or from the beginning, already has a sense of my background in rifle ownership over the past seventy years at least. I’ll not repeat all that, except some meaningful details that led to my conviction that all matters considered, .458-caliber in the mentioned rifles is the best overall caliber for truly big game hunting in North America, and most of the world in a single rifle choice where specific handloads are employed.
I didn’t start with .458-cal seventy years ago. I started with a single-shot .22 lr. Then some borrowed rifles for deer: a .303 Enfield and a .30-30 Winchester. My first owned firearm for big game was a 12ga with a tight throat that wouldn’t shoot slugs with sufficient accuracy, but I used it for several years on the abundant grouse of the area. My first owned rifles for big game were ex-military: A Brazilian Mauser in 7 x 57 still in its grease, followed by a ’98 German Mauser military rifle chambered to .30-06 (but the bore was still .323″ so it wasn’t accurate.) It got traded on a very nice (used) M70 in .30-06. Then came three magnums in succession: 7 Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag and .338 Win Mag. All were handloaded with good to excellent results. But not all worked as hopped for or wanted/needed. All 3 magnums were new, not used.
< My first .338 Win Mag was identical to this.
The 7 mag was in a BAR with a serious flaw: The neck was too tight from the factory that didn’t allow expansion when fired. It so happened that an in-depth article appeared in RIFLE (owned by the original Wolfe at the time) that detailed that problem for All BAR 7 Rem Mags from the factory. I took it back to the store where bought and was given a new M70 in .300 Win Mag. A great rifle but far too heavy. It should have been chambered in .375 H&H. I only kept it for a year and it go traded on a SAKO FS carbine in .338 Win Mag. I loved it but not the 2-piece stock that fell apart. Etc. But it did go on a moose hunt where it rained every day. I had to dismantle that stock each day (with all its bolts and screws) to attempt to dry it overnight, and then reassemble before hunting the next day. Long story short: It got traded on a “like new” M70 in .375 H&H.
Somewhere, early on in the history of the SAKO .338, I signed up for my first ever bear hunt with an outfitter, and decided I’d like an 1895 Marlin in .45-70 for that hunt – only handloads would be used. I searched everything I could find and used SPEER’s manual for a load – the best for their 400gr FT. That was 56 grains of H322 for 1886 fps according to SPEER. They were using the same make and model of rifle as mine but that load fell short of their numbers, so I loaded 57 grs of H332 for an average of 1865 fps from my new Marlin. Close enough! And I shot my first black bear ever with that load at 100 yds. The bear was broadside at the bait and the 400gr hit low in the chest just behind the shoulder, and was retrieved in the offside armpit retaining 90.4% of initial weight, expanded to 1″ diameter. The bear was a 7 year old and of trophy quality and went 10 yds.
That experience led to a love affair with the .45-70 that continued with various models and handloads to 2018 when my last (the Ruger No.1 LT) got invested in my current Ruger No.1H in .458 Winchester Magnum.
In 1997 I produced my first reloading journal of the .45-70 after nearly a decade of experience with Marlins and a Ruger No.1. Within two years the second edition was published with upgrades to include my Ruger No.1 LT and a NEF single shot. There were more upgrades until I published my 1st manual on the .458 Winchester Magnum in 2008. By then the .45-70 manual was at least 3 – 4x as thick as the .458 manual! I didn’t have the time or resources to do both, so I focused on the .458.
< This is the only remaining copy of the first edition of the reloading journal I offered in 2008. I still have it because of the obvious printing mistake in the title. All others sold rather quickly. It was based almost entirely on handloading results from my CZ 550 in .458 Winchester Magnum. The second edition came out in 2011 as the 2011 Edition and contained about 2x as much material. Even at that it was less than 1/3 the thickness of my last .45-70 manual.
But what I experienced and learned from the 2.105″ case in .458-caliber in a new lever-action 1895 Marlin in .45-70 was that at 40,000 – 44,000 psi, it could fire a 400 – 405gr to +2100 fps, and that the momentum of such a load far exceeded anything a .375 H&H was capable of! In addition, the cross-sectional area of the bullets exceeded .375-cal by 50%! In effect, I was working with a system similar to the TKO formula without realizing it, or borrowing from it!
I was convinced that the ancient 1873 cartridge in a modern form, with best bullets and powders was better for DG within acceptable ranges than my .340 Wby or .375 H&H. . . . I’m still convinced of that.
By then I was using 60 grains of A2015 in a 22″ Marlin under the 405gr Remington at 2.6″ COL and 2110 fps. Shot a bear with that load at 100 yds with complete penetration in a going away presentation from left flank to exit behind right shoulder. DRT, literally!
When I killed the 1100 lb bull moose in Northern Ontario, using my .340 Wby at 165 yds, I was convinced that at that range my 1895 Marlin would have dropped it on the spot with the same shot! And that’s nothing to say of my Ruger No.1 in .45-70 LT that fired the 300gr TSX at 2640 fps! In momentum, the .340 would have had to shoot the 250gr Partition at 3168 fps to match it! In addition a .458-cal has nearly twice the cross-sectional bullet area of a .338-cal. Do such physics count? You better believe it!
I had this back-to-back experience with two bears on the same private property, with a tree stand in the same line of trees except one year facing the north pasture and the next year facing the south pasture. The ranges to the bait barrel was ~75 yds to the north and 83 yds to the south.
The north setting was first: from measurements around the chest with guts out, the bear was easily 240 lbs. I was using my NEF single shot in .45-70. The load was a 465gr semi-hardcast at 1900 fps (3727 ft-lbs). One shot frontally and DRT. He dropped right there in tall grass, and that was it! Period.
The south setting was the next year, in the same line of trees facing in the opposite direction: Same bait barrel loaded similarly. Again in tall grass, I noted the bruin looking up in my direction. The rifle was my new Tikka T3 in 9.3 x 62, loaded with a 286gr Nosler Partition at 2622 fps (4365 ft-lbs). I took aim over the rest for center chest as he faced me, and squeezed the trigger. The recoil caused me to temporally lose sight of the picture, but when I focused there was no bear in sight! “Hmmm, maybe he made it to the thick bush behind the bait barrel?” I got down from my tree stand and walked to where he was shot, and still no bear! I looked around for blood – no signs of anything! Did he go directly to bear heaven . . . ., or evaporate? About 20 yds to the left of the barrel (from my view) there was a sharp escarpment that dropped off for 30 – 40 feet. Sure enough, I found him dead at the bottom. He was not as heavy as the one of the previous year on the north side but still in the same class of bears.
Some, being defensive, would probably say “coincidence”, or some other lame suggestion. From physics and experience, I’d say “The .45-70 simply had greater effective ballistics all matters including caliber, bullet weight and force included!”
Of course, aiming and hitting, plus bullet construction are significant factors as well, but the best made, aimed and well hit with .22-cal cannot take the place of a .458-cal with equal hits and constructed bullets!
Nor can a 9.3 x 62 (.366-cal)! Exterior factors were as near identical as possible: range, hits, bear ages and sizes, nurtured in the same ecosystem!
The 286gr Nosler bullet was found in skinning the next day. It was barely poking through the hide of the right flank and retained 73% of original weight. The 465gr was never found as it made exit below the sternum and burried itself in the ground.
I cannot deny what my experience has taught me, confirmed by the application of simple math.
While I’ve given the kinetic energy numbers, that favors the 9.3 x 62, I don’t believe for a moment that KE is meaningless, but neither is it the most important aspect of terminal ballistics. Depending on application, I’d give it at least 50%, more or less. Some say it has no value in terminal ballistics. I strongly disagree because of science, and I’ve witnessed it’s effect in tests and tissue.
That’s a 3-inch hole going into a bear’s chest/heart area! It was found in the opposite arm pit in skinning. The bullet was a Speer 400/.458 at ~ 1535 fps impact. It retained 90.4% of original weight! And that from a 7 yr-old trophy male bear. Even a bullet that expands over 2x its diameter at 1″ could never produce a 3″ cavity like that without kinetic energy! 
< The SPEER 400gr retrieved from the offside arm pit. It retained 361.4 grains (90.4%).
Unbiased wound cavity study is seriously important for the student of Terminal Ballistics. That is so because it teaches us how to interpret what we are seeing in the field of an animal that was terminated by a rifle or handgun bullet, shotgun slug, or arrow from a bow.
Till the next. . . . Conditions of the shot.
Shalom
BOB MITCHELL
Lovin' The Big Bang 