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Thanks. I wasn’t sure if there was a 45/70 and a 45/70 gov. Obviously, the 450 Marlin is a different animal.

A friend of mine acquired a lever action 45/70 gov. a few years ago. Not sure of the manufacturer. Hex barrel. Nice looking piece. The party that sold it to him assured him that it would handle modern cartridges. We always talk about shooting it but have never gotten around to it. Maybe it’s that curved steel butt plate with no other means of recoil suppression that has us holding off.

;-)

The .45-70 IS the .45 Govt, or .45-70 Govt. It is an 1873 cartridge that consists of a 500 grain flat based soft lead slug over 70 grains of compressed black powder. It launches the 500 grain slug at about 1700 fps, and was designed for, and will shoot through a horse at 600 yards from an original gun. Modern rifles with smokeless powder have slightly higher velocities but with lighter copper jacketed bullets still approximate the same energies as the original Black Powder loads.

If you do your homework you will find that there have been more Grizzlys killed with a .30-06, than with all other calibers combined.

If the rifle is in proper shooting condition, it will handle modern cartridges, IF YOU USE LOADS THAT REPLICATE THE ORIGINAL LOADING. Luckily, most “off the shelf” loadings do this, because they do not want the lawsuits caused from ruptured/ruined antiques.

450 Marlin is a belted magnum upgrade to the 45-70 brass. The belt prevents inserting it into a 45-70 chamber that isn't designed to handle the higher pressure. Magnum Research offers a 450 Marlin cylinder upgrade to the 45-70 version of the BFR revolver. It is $150 and you have to send your frame to the factory to be fitted by their gun smiths.

Lever action and hex barrel in 45-70 is most likely a Model 1886 Winchester. It could also be a modern Browning reproduction of the 1886. Model 1886 was the first lever gun from Winchester able to handle the 45-70 and cartridges of that class. I've got one of these in 45-90 caliber. It has a shotgun butt rather than the curved buttplate. It has a pretty good kick to it. I have to roll my own on this one, since 45-90 probably hasn't been produced since the 1940s.

If it's an original Winchester, it will say so on the tang, something like Winchester patent model 1886. Also there will be a Winchester marking on the barrel. If a reproduction, you will probably find the name of the manufacturer, i.e., Browning on the barrel. If an original 1886, you can safely shoot the 400 grain lead bullets from various manufacturers. I'd shy away from the modern jacketed 300 grain 45-70 in an original, unless you had a gunsmith check it out. If it's a reproduction, you can shoot anything the factory turns out for 45-70 ammo. I'd stay away from 500 grain stuff-that will definitely break your shoulder. The 400 grain stuff is bad enough. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen any modern factory 500 grain loads, so don't worry about it.

"..45/70 gov...it would handle modern cartridges."

The cartrige is still an antique black-powder cartrige. Modern smokeless powder can be loaded in this cartrige, but the pressures may not exceed the maximum SAMMI pressure.

Even though the pressure is generally lower than in some other more modern cartriges, the .45-70 govt. still packs a punch.

If I were choosing a new purchase, I would probably go with a .450 Marlin.