Taking the 45/70 Government levergun to Africa – things to consider!
Male Lion Track
As an African Hunter I have seen and been around a great number of rifles and calibers, some being variations of older perfectly good hunting calibers while others being pumped up speed demons delivering massive impact and distance capabilities. It seems we went through a period where the standard good old boy calibers like the .270, 30-06, .375 H & H Magnum and .458 magnum were simply not good enough anymore and we had to tamper with them and come up with a new faster speedier version with more powder and speed. Then once we had worn out necking down and blowing out these older calibers, we had to move on, forever to find another caliber that would blast better and more effectively, a new name, another wildcat with one goal – the relentless pursuit of SPEED.
Last year I was witness to a new supposedly perfect caliber for the African heavy game – a .375 Tejhas which essentially looked like a .416 rigby cartridge necked down to a .375 caliber shooting a 300 grain bullet in excess of 3000 fps. Sure the rifle was signatured by a guy called Colorado Buck and it sure looked impressive and shiny but at the end of the day it turned out to be yet another of those mighty kicking beasts that did not do much except break up on impact, knock the animal off its feet and not deliver a fatal penetrating blow. Of course people will say this defies logic BUT I have a long line of African PH’s who will attest to the fact that speed is not the answer for our game in Africa. To be sure, there are some magnificent fast flat shooting rifles that make a perfect choice for some of Africa’s game, but when we start talking about the creatures that most of go to Africa for, the thick skinned dangerous denizens, then speed is not a factor.
Are you sure? is the reply I would get if I said to prospective African Safari hunters – YES you can bring your 45/70 Lever Gun to African as a serious dangerous game caliber. It has been so ingrained into our minds that the 45/70 Government in it’s standard off the shelf form is never a rifle you’d consider bringing on an African Safari. Too slow and under powered is the most obvious argument and then you’re likely to hear something about Taylors knock down effect – yet here I am, most blatantly and confidently saying YES IT IS a suitable rifle for an African Safari despite some obvious limitations and despite the naysayers and non believers.
The 45/70 Government in standard Lever Gun form is most certainly a rifle / caliber that would be suitable for a safari to Africa and is capable of killing the largest of the game we have to pursue.
My stainless marlin SBL
Understanding the 45/70’s limitations in Africa are simple and a common problem for this caliber – reach and distance, yes that magnificent arched trajectory that it is famous for. Yet these are easily overcome with prudent optics options as well as loading the correct bullet weight with the newer powders and simply knowing your rifle and how it shoots. Ask any 45/70 levergun regular if they can comfortably shoot their scoped lever gun accurately at 150 to 200 yards? yes they will say, in fact many of the cowboy action shooters are extremely proficient with open iron sights at 100 yards and more – you just need to consider a few factors and practice with your rifle before you arrive on the dark continent!
Being relatively new to the caliber I am not professing to be an authority on the rifle and it’s specific ballistics, coefficients and trajectories – what I know and write of is how the 45/70 Marlin Guide Gun has performed for me over the last 4 seasons hunting in the real Africa – the Africa where there are no fences, where there are dangerous beasts of wild and pure heart, where you need a handy big bore caliber that you can carry all day long without requiring a new limb! Yes, since acquiring this handy little big bore, I have carried this rifle with confidence, more and more while out in the field with clients.
Your strongest 45/70 actions are considered to be the single shot Ruger falling block rifles and out of these it is said you can replicate the ballistics of the .458 magnum. While this may be the case I have to point out that the 45/70 government in Levergun form, be it a Marlin, Winchester, Browning or any of the newer brands, does NOT need to live up to any of the ballistics produced by the rifles many have touted as ideal for Africa.
What these Leverguns offer – and I’m leaning more towards the likes of the short Marlin Guide guns or Winchester Trappers – is big bore versatility and power in a small and very handy package. If you take the time to become proficient in rapid fire with your lever action, and make sure your bullets are loaded properly for fail safe feeding then you will realise why I am such a fan of this gun – there is no way you will ever get 6 rounds fired out of a bolt action in the time you can unload this from a Levergun. In addition, the short handy build of the rifle makes for easy and quick operation in heavy cover, like when you are crawling on hands and knees after wounded Lion or Leopard!
475gr KAKULI Hardcast lead bullet
45/70 bullets for African Big Game
My first look at the brass and bullets available to the 45/70 Government revealed an obvious perceived disadvantage – that of case capacity and the associated pressure problems. This of course leads the American obsessed speed genre to poopoo the caliber and not give it a second thought – citing examples of the standard .458 Magnum having problems in Africa and wounding Buffalo and Elephant.
Despite being country bumpkins from the dark continent there are a few things we have learned about rifles and guns in Africa – perhaps passed down from our grandfathers and looking at their Martini Henry single shots with those massive dollops of paper patched lead – the ones that they used against the British in the Anglo Boer war. You don’t need speed to make a bullet kill something effectively, you need a good heavy bullet, you need a good pair of sights and you need to learn how to hunt properly – like getting out of a truck and stalking an animal to within the reaches of your particular firearm.
My grandfathers knew more about the trajectory of a 500 grain lead bullet than I would ever know and they took game out to 200 yards – with poorly loaded bullets, old pre war powder and open sights – they remained fat and happy on venison their whole life through! This is what many hunters and PH’s in Africa know – a heavy bullet does not need to travel at light speed to be effective, in fact faster is often a disadvantage – it kicks like a mule and it bites like a crocodile – and makes you flinch and miss (true! ask any PH about clients who hunt with Weatherby rifles!) In addition, big dangerous game like to frequent heavy cover and often you’re going to want to shoot through thick grass and brush, often in a split second. In times like this there is nothing that beats a sluggish 400 to 500 grain bullet.
This is good news for the 45/70 Government of course yet you’d ask the question, do I need to go that heavy – really 500 grain bullets? As far as I understand it, the 45/70 was first designed with a 405 grain bullet in mind yet it was changed a few years later to a 500 grain bullet which proved to be more accurate over long distance than the 405 grain version. Of course when it comes to dangerous thick skinned game, you’re not going to lob 500 grain lead projectiles at the beast from way yonder, you’re hopefully with a PH who will get you into the 30 to 50 yard range. You’ll also take into account that you’re shooting with a rifle that has some limitations and take your time and make sure of your shot. Without a doubt, projectiles weighing between 400 and 500 grains, loaded properly and credibly are suitable for the kind of penetration you need for the dangerous beasts of Africa and this includes the thick skinned heavy game.
Although I have fired bonded 405 grain soft points into bull Hippo most effectively, I would not focus on soft nose bullets for the thick skinned game unless you’re looking at the cats – if this is the case, Lion and Leopard that is, then 350 – 405 grain premium soft points designed for the 45/70 (such as Woodleigh, NorthFork or Kodiaks) are optimum and will perform exactly as desired if loaded to just below maximum.
As for the bigger more fearful thundering beasts, there are many choices available in the heavier line of bullets, yet one will always be faced with .458 caliber jacketed bullets which fit the 45/70 Government, but are designed for other rifles such as the .458 Magnums and Lotts. Yes many of the jacketed bullets will work in the 45/70 Lever Gun with some tweaking and you can work up loads which will get you shooting reasonably well. I tried this with various offerings from the jacketed bullet manufacturers, some worked pretty well, while others turned into expensive lab tests. As a rule, the heavy jacketed bullets are too long for the 45/70 Lever Guns and this has led to most jacketed or monolithic solids being in the 350 to 405 grain range when specifically designed for the 45/70 Lever Gun due to the short nose requirement for reliable feeding and throat clearance. Make no mistake, 350 grains is by no means a lite bullet and one can get close to the proverbial 2000 fps mark with this weight in a 45/70 Levergun.
Both Northfork and Woodleigh, although expensive, now make monolithic solids specifically designed for the short levergun actions and I have tested these with great results on both elephant and buffalo mediums. Woodleigh’s Hydrostatically stabilised 400 grain brass solid proved unstoppable even though I had not loaded them to their full potential. You can read more about these field test HERE
However for penetration it’s heavy bullets that you want and there are numerous options of hardcast lead bullets designed specifically for the 45/70 Marlins, Brownings and Winchesters – there are some excellent commercial lead bullets of this nature available. Bullets designed specifically for the short chambers and actions of the Lever Action rifles get their best weight advantage when using lead – this of course means a heavy bullet that not only fits well into the lever actions but also allows enough powder room to get up to that effective velocity. I have found that speeds from 1400 fps through to 1800 fps are optimal for these heavier bullets – of course the heavier the bullet, the slower it is going to perform due to pressure issues in most lever guns.
Out in the field I have had perfect penetration and results on Hippo from the popular 525 grain Beartooth Pile Drivers travelling at about 1500 fps. I have shot through the skull of a bull elephant with my own poured 475 grain hardcast lead bullets travelling at about 1600 fps.
The conclusion of the heavy bullet argument is this – a reasonable speed for a heavy bullet is good enough, and to get the bullet heavy enough to handle the 45/70 throat and pressure limitations you need to look at premium Hardcast lead bullets. They do not foul up your barrel, just clean it each day as you should anyway and the relative hardness and slow speed do not result in massive barrel build up. Once I had started loading the heavy grain 45/70 bullets, I knew there would be no turning back and the end result of this was finalizing my own bullet design, having a mold cut, pouring the lead, making and loading the bullets myself – to great effect out in the African field. This is essentially what my grandfathers used to do and many before them – this is reliving a small part of the very early days of the great Elephant hunters.
In my opinion and experience the 430 grain TrueShot bullets from Oregon Trail are possibly one of the best performing hardcast lead bullets for the 45/70 on the market providing outstanding penetration without fragmentation and break up while allowing reasonable speed. Recently I tested this bullet on a Cape Buffalo bull and achieved straight line penetration through both shoulders with the bullet coming to rest under the skin on the opposing shoulder.
While I have heaped praise on the hardcast lead bullets that are commercially available, I have noticed a common trend amongst them and that is break up or shearing off of the nose on many. The bullets have not failed – in fact far from it – they have just not held together as one would see a premium bonded soft nose or jacketed solid do. In most cases they have created massive holes through bone and flesh and left behind fragments of lead.
Where I have seen the shearing off of the nose is with those bullets designed with a deep crimp groove and possibly a high BHN which may cause a brittle bullet.
African Plains Game bullets and choices for the 45/70
To be sure, for most of the African plainsgame you can start looking at 45/70 bullets in the 250-350 grain region – seriously, take a look at the various jacketed bullets in this range – you have a great choice. With this weight bullet you can achieve very reasonable speeds which will give you enough balance of knock down as well as weight to be effective over distance. Think of it this way – the good old .375 H & H Magnum firing bullets of 300 grains has been touted as the best all round rifle for Africa – and with the 45/70 Government you can come close to reproducing these ballistics with the same bullet weight.
Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not trying to make the 45/70 ‘live up’ to any other caliber, you must work with what you have, this is simply to compare and provide an ‘apples with apples’ example. Here’s what you need to know: for plainsgame your optimum bullets are going to be those that you have experience with in your rifle, knowing how they perform over the 50, 100, 150 and 200 yard mark. Most premium bullets these days are well constructed so bullet failure is not really going to be a factor, what you want is to settle on a bullet that is going to shoot well over the distances. Personally I would look towards the premium soft nose bullets offered by Woodleigh, Northfork and Kodiak from Alaska Bullet Works in the 350 grain class in round or flat nose.
I have not tried the factory loaded Hornady Lever Evolution bullets specifically designed for the Lever Actions although my hunting partner in the US owns a Marlin 1895 Cowboy in 45/70 and swears by these factory loads for both distance shooting as well as performance on Elk and Mule Deer.
With all the above said, you’re not going to take a 45/70 on a mountain hunt for sheep, and the same goes for African game which typically require those long shots across canyons and over the vast floodplains that exist. However remember that all of Africa’s species have been taken with the likes of muzzel loader, crossbow and regular compound bow, so there are no excuses, it can be done and quite simply it is an attitude adjustment that is required when hunting with the classic 45/70 levergun!
45/70 in Africa 