Big bore elk

[squirrel]

Have any of you nimrods whacked an elk or ten with 45-70 405 gr. bullets? Specifically at 1600-1800 fps with cast bullets? My favorite cheapskate bullet has been discontinued meaning I have to spend a buck or more /bullet or trust to cast.

How was penetration? Any deformation? Bone hit?

Closest I've come is a bunch with a conical .54 Muzzy, which flat out whumps them but I do not know the velocity of it.

 

[6mm Remington]

Not I or my buddy but he did shoot a 405 gr. softpoint out of his rolling block 45-70 at an antelope buck at about 200 yards. Drilled him perfectly behind the shoulder. The antelope ran about 75 yards and fell over.

 

[squirrel]

Thanks for your effort 6mm I'm assuming a pass thru? I may be fishing in a very small pond here, you don't see many 45-70's on elk mountains very often, quite the opposite trend lately with football trajectories being out of favor currently.

 

[p_ham]

Check out marlinowners.com there's a ton of testimonials about that load. I shoot 405 hardcast at 1650 out of mine...hasn't drawn blood yet. If you plan on going above 1700 get gaschecks.

 

[mthillrunner]

I shot a cow a couple years ago with a marlin guide gun shooting buffalo bore 350 gr bullet, i believe it’s style 8c. Shot her at about 50-60 yds, broadside, hit just behind front leg. Hit ribs on entrance & exit. Full pass through, into a tree behind her. She went maybe 25 yds. I know not exactly what you asked but that’s my experience with a 45-70. I love that gun in the timber when I know shots will be under 200 yds. I know a couple guys that use a 45-70. One is an older single shot gun, not exactly sure what it is. The other guy uses same gun I do. The guy using the older gun gets an elk every year with his. I don’t know what he shoots for ammo.

 

[6mm Remington]

Thanks for your effort 6mm I'm assuming a pass thru? I may be fishing in a very small pond here, you don't see many 45-70's on elk mountains very often, quite the opposite trend lately with football trajectories being out of favor currently.

Yes it was a pass through! It might still be going as far as we know. Those 45-70's are wicked.

 

[Sask hunter]

When I was young I saw my dad shoot a bear with a 45-70. First shot was like 10 yards and rolled him and second shot was about 15 yards Texas heart shot. That bullet exited the front of the bear. He was using hornady flats 350 grains I believe

 

[Dan O]

I've shot several Whitetail bucks and a Antelope with the Speer 400 grain flat point. Nothing fancy just killed them DRT. Never recovered a bullet.

Dan

 

[Cerebral Stalker]

200 yards and under I don't see an elk taking a 45-70 bullet of any weight too well (with good shot placement of course). I mean they did use the 45-70 on buffalo back in the day.

 

[squirrel]

200 yards and under I don't see an elk taking a 45-70 bullet of any weight too well (with good shot placement of course). I mean they did use the 45-70 on buffalo back in the day.

Yep and they didn't have swift Aframes or No-lead Mono solids @ $3.50 a pop for just the bullet I wasn't fearing catastrophic failure as much as fragmenting on bone hits. Of course even if it splits into quarters many an elk has been dropped by a single 100 gr .24-.25 cal slug in the right place...

It will be a close range thing as I have just an SBL with a ghost ring sight. If I need long range I would just grab a different big gun (.300 or .338)

My comparison is the .54 muzzy with regular old T/C conical and I've never had any bullet to examine from a large pile of dead elk, all complete pass throughs.

 

[Anschutz]

I've never dropped an elk with one but I cast 405gr boolits for my .45-70. They cast out at 435 grains and I have them going at around the 1600 fps mark. Only animal I've shot was a whitetail doe and she dropped right there. It was a dime sized hole all the way through. The thing I liked most is it caught a shoulder and just punched through it without destroying the meat like a smaller faster round does. If I were to be hunting elk in the timber, I'd take my Guide Gun and 4 of these stuffed in it.

 

[Four22]

405 gr bullet and the 45-70 go together like peanut butter and jelly. Keep the lead as soft as you can for your velocity and it’ll flatten out when hitting bone. I’ve shot several deer and mule deer wit it and it packs a serious punch.... and I was shooting black powder at about 1300 FPS!

Cast bullets are great for game. I hunt Ohio with a 38-55 shooting 250 hr cast billets and it’s never failed.

 

[scubohuntr]

They sell a whole lot of 405s in Alaska to brown bear guides. If it will stop a charging Kodak I can’t see any elk shrugging it off.