Has anybody had any experience in barreling a bolttype rifle in 45/70. I was thinking this would be a good big bore rifle for me. Powerful enough for anything on earth, and a good American history to go with it. I have heard of some mausers being turned into to a 45/70 but was hoping some of you guys had done this or seen one in this configuration. Or should I try to build a 450 marlin and be done with it and not worry about trying some trick with a bolt type action. LLB

If it's history you want, then you should be looking at Trapdoor Springfields, Sharps single-shots, and lever action rifles, which were the best-known historical homes of the .45-70.



If you want a bolt action with the caliber and power of the .45-70, why not simply buy a .458 Win Mag bolt action rifle and download to whatever level you wish?

1888 Siamese Mausers have been converted into bolt-action .45-70s for decades. One of our members has a bolt-action .450 Marlin; he loves it.

It's not a complicated job, but why bother? Get yourself an over-the-counter .458 Winchester Magnum, and load it up or down, depending on the game being hunted.

George

I have a bolt action .45-70 on a Siamese Mauser action and I love it! Took a deer with it this season. Has a 26" Douglas bbl, matte blue, stocked in walnut, Weaver 4x scope. Still has the military trigger, but I think I'm going to try to change that before next season.

if you want it cheap... try starting this a 1891 mosin nagant...

jeffe

Geoges has the best solution. Almost everyone who owns a Siamese Mauser ( the only mauser you can safely convert to a 45/70) has feeding/ ejection problems. Don't waste your time. As far as the 450 marlin goes, it's fine for a lever gun, but there are alot of 458 wins around and it you can handle a 450 marlin in a lever gun, you can handle one of these. You then can load light or heavy as you please.-Rob

We did a No4MkI in .45-70 with a Douglas #5 barrel, 24". With the 300 gr JHP bullets, the rounds would not stay in the mag and it was effectively a single shot. The brass butt plate did not do wonders for my shoulder, and the sights were less than ideal. It was fun to shoot, however, but we went on the make the .458 SOCOM because of the lack of adequate performance of bolt action 45-70 rifles we came across. Now we can get the same ballistics with the lighter (300-350 gr) bullets, but from a gas operated mag feed semi-auto (the 16" carbine will do up to 2200 fps with the 300 gr and holds 10 in the mag ....)

The 458 Win Mag would be the way to go, due to its tremendous flexibility in terms of loads ....

Rob is quite right in his observations on feeding problems with the Siamese Mauser, from my experience. The rifle I mentioned above is actually the second one I've had (the first was stolen). The first one worked perfectly, so it can be done. The one I have now is not perfect. If the bolt is worked with "verve", it feeds just fine. If the bolt is worked slowly, however, it often jams. This rifle has been a long term project for me, and I expect sooner or later, I'll get it right. I go very slow, however, as it's much easier to take metal off than put it back.. In the heyday of this conversion, I expect there were many 'smiths around who knew how to make them feed properly. Now, I doubt there is. So, if you like to "tinker", and want something a bit different, it's not a bad way to go. If you want something that you don't have to fool with, well, it might not be.

I saw a Gibbs Enfield that has been converted to 45/70. I think it would make a good gun it all was done correctly. I am also looking at the NEF or H&R single shot rifles. Has anybody had problems with these, and do they consider them in the strong type of actions so you can get the bullet on up there in the 2000 fps range. LLB

The Siamese mauser can be made to work if you mill out the right side of the action to allow more clearance. After all the rim of a 45/70 is way larger than the old Siamese cartridge. the rail and ramp need to be extensively redone and the rim of the bolt head needs to be very carefully opened. With all of this done, plus about 200 hrs of DYe CHEM extractor fitting you MAY get one to feed/extract sorta reliably. No offense, but I was recently shown two Siamese Mausers whose owners said they fed flawlessly, which both failed to feed when I ran the bolt slowly. The cartridges popped up prematurely in the receiver, then when the rim went under the extractor, they slid sideways in the rail till it somehow made it into the chamber. Not exactly what I'd call proper feeding. When shown what proper feeding really is, both owners deceided their mauser really had problems. Unfortunately it's true that they can be made to work, it just costs way too much versus the value. Get a ruger #1 in 458 Win. Throat it out .250 and become a happy camper. This way you can shoot loads equivalent to the 45/70 right up to 458 Lott levels and enjoy every bit of it!

MartyTW- What would your 458 SOCOM do with a 28 inch Barrel and 400 gr bullets? Could you hit 2200fps with pressures that the AR-15 locking system can handle?-Rob

It sounds to me like a project that's a lot of work when you could just buy a .458 and load to .45-70 velocity and pressure, and if you didn't like it someone would buy it in the future.

I have an NEF in 45/70 and at higher pressures it tended to pop open. I returned it to the store I got it from and explained what I was doing and what the rifle was doing and the owner,who was also an armourer fixed it free of charge. I have it cranked up to 45/100 velocities now but had to quit there because of pressure signs. derf

About 10 years ago I bought one made by ER SHAW on a Siamese Mauser. It didn't feed or eject worth a damn. I sent it back to them and they still could not make it feed a whole magazine. Traded it at a gunshow for a Ruger 10/22 and felt I got the better deal.

Bwana-be
Pedersoli make Sharps reproduction here is the link there are quite a few distributors in the USA
Pedersoli

MartyTW. Now your talking my language. Did you guys ever consider a .411 caliber version of the SOCOM? With a 28 inch barrel? I wonder if you could hit 2100 with 400 gr bullet and duplicate the old 450/400. That would require a pretty deep thoat and maybe be too long for the AR-15 magazine to feed, but it would be a hoot! Do you sell 28 inch long throated 458 SoCOM barrels? I might want to buy one.-Rob

From working with the 440 CorBon we learned that going less than 429 would spell certain disaster for the bolt lugs. The 458 is just about right in terms of keeping the lugs attached. We looked at smaller diameters, but the whole shearing lugs, impaling bolts/charging handles in foreheads thing was a bit of a detractor

Now, we can sell you a 28" barrel, but the short case runs out of steam after about 20" and then you start slowing down. I had a 24" barrel and it could not outperform the 20" by much if anything, and new loads with new powders (Lil Gun) have since surpassed any loads we did with the 24" .... I now use a 14" with integral brake .... much more handy when exiting a vehicle ...