what kind of range/accuracy do you 45 70 shooters get? and how does it compare to shooting a 35 rem as far as distace/accuracy, and recoil?

Dave

You don't say what kind of rifle you have. We have a Sharps shooter at our club who regularly shoots 525gn cast bullets and black powder into sub MOA with peep sights. I first saw him about 5 weeks ago and spotted one of his groups as he fired. The first four shots cut a single ragged hole then the fifth was a flier that enlarged the group to 0.92
http://www.accuratereloading.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=529383&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=21&fpart=1

I am experimenting with a Lyman 457466 480gn tapered bullet that allows a full 70gn of black to be used and chronographs at almost 1400fps with excellent accuracy. That is enough energy to fell most game to 150 yards.

The .45/70 has a rep as being an extremely accurate round. In the old days, it accounted for a whole lot of bison shot at extreme ranges. And this was with black powder loads! It delivers a lot more wallop at all ranges than a .35 Remington, and, using ammo loaded to 1800-2200 FPS MV, it shoots as flat as the .35 Rem. also! The .35 Rem. is thought of as primarily a deer/black bear round, while the .45/70 will handily kill any North American game animal. The factory 405-grain, 1300 FPS load's recoil is pretty mild, but with some hot loads, it becomes pretty "noticeable". My No. 1 Ruger fires a 400-grainer @ 2270 FPS MV, and it gives 57 ft/lb of recoil!

Given this is the Levergun forum and since you're comparing to a .35 Rem, also a lever caliber, I'll assume you're asking in regards to a Lever action.

I shoot a Marlin Cowboy in .45-70 routinely out 200 meters. My load is 14.6 grains Unique and an LBT 405 GC. Relatively sedate load that is accurate enough to wallop the Rams to 200 meters with amazing consistancy.

I've only tried one load with my 1886 extra light - IMR4895 loaded hot with a 405 Gr. LBT GC. I've since learned that 4895 is not the best powder for the 45-70 with a 22" barrel (unburned powder). I'll soon switch to hot loads with IMR3031.

Anyway....with the loads I had, I was shooting into 3" at 100 yards. I didn't think that was too bad, but I think I can improve on it. I've since installed a Lyman peep sight. Also, the 1886 EL has a steel buttplate, and I was getting thumped pretty hard off the bags I'm sure that had a lot to do with the 3" groups. I'm going to opt for a Decelerator pad in the near future.

I have been using a Marlin 1895SS and Guide Gun in 45-70 and have relaoded 15 years for them. The Powder that I have found that works best is Reloader 7 with your 400 or 405 grain bullets 50.0 will be a good load with Fed Match 210GM primers. Although I prefer the 350 grain bullet for all my hunting and a few more grains of RL 7.