The upper one is in 30-40 Krag. I have since put a recoil pad on it. I will be slimming down the front wood this winter and refinishing it. I am using a 180gr Hornady RN with 46.0gr of IMR4350 (case full, but no compression of the powder). I am getting one MOA if I do my part.

The lower one is in .375 Winchester. The recoil pad was on it when I bought it and it is necessary. It makes me wonder what the guys with 45-70's do. The load for this one is 29.0gr of Reloader 7 with a cast Lyman 375449GC or 36.0gr of Re-7 with a 220gr jacketed FP Hornady (both case full, but no powder compression). Accuracy is a less, almost certainly because of iron sights instead of a scope, but I occasionally get really small load which tell me it is more accurate than I am. I also load it with black powder for my wife (sort of a faux 38-55). She is very pleased with it.

Both are accurate enough for hunting as-is. I don't think I am going to do anything else to them.

http://gallery.sixshootercommunity.com/displayimage.php?album=69&pos=5

To answer your question, what do people with 45-70s do? Grimace grotescally with pain. Try a 500 gr. bullet at 1550 FPS from one.
Paul B.

Harry O:
Nice guns, I agree with Paul B., You need a recoil pad. I am a fan of the 45-70, I own several. I just added a HiViz XCoil pad to a Wickliffe, which did not have a pad and would turn your shoulder black and blue on the bench.
I have not shot it since putting on a pad, but I'm sure it will be fine!

I own a Ruger#1 45-70 which is a pleasure to shoot custom stock and recoil pad.

My Shiloh-Sharps 45-70 will hurt you...but that is why they make shooting jackets.

For more fun , my T/C SSK handcannon in 45-70, does not require a recoil pad,just good aim!

I like the Number 3 alot, and I had a chance to get one last year, in 45-70. I passed on the gun, because of the amount of work that would be required. I will get a stainless #1 instead, because I want to be able to hunt in the rain & snow (real life conditions)
Glenn

One thing is clear - people's perception of recoil is different. I have a Ruger #3 in 375 Winchester and when asked I say "recoil is pretty mild". In fact I don't like the rifle because I find it too heavy. I will eventually replace it with an expensive but lighter weight Dakota Model 10.

I have an opportunity to buy a #1 in 375 H&H (the "tropical" model). I have never even shot a caliber so heavy and was a little nervous about whether I would be put off by the recoil. I also saw a Dakota Model 10 on the web in that caliber for sale, and from everything I have read that for sure will be a kicker. Anyone have any experience with these and could they relate it to shooting the #3 in 375 Winchester?

1Ruger3: More power to you, but I fired 20 rounds from the 30-40 Krag when it had the metal buttplate on it and had a yellow and brown mark (not quite to black and blue) on my shoulder the next day. Since I had a blood clot that played havoc me several years ago, it is not what I can live with. Since I put a recoil pad on it, I can shoot 40 rounds without discomfort or marks.

The .375 Winchester (with the recoil pad) makes the shoulder a little sore after 20 rounds, but no marks afterward. I can live with that.

What makes discussions of recoil so difficult is that parameters change. I usually shoot the #3 in the Fall and Winter, when I am wearing some padding, because the stock is a bit short for me. That alone could be the difference. Or it could be the definition of discomfort - after goose hunting with a lighter double shotgun, shooting (lots) the heaviest 3 inch shells available, I get black and blue a bit in the shoulder, but never thought about blood clots or anything else adverse and can't wait to shoot the next day again. Shooting the #3 10 or 20 times is so much easier for me that I don't recall even checking if it left any marks!

quote:

Originally posted by Harry O:
It makes me wonder what the guys with 45-70's do.

They grin like crazy, cause it is not a unmodified 458 Lott.

Hog Killer

quote:

To answer your question, what do people with 45-70s do? Grimace grotescally with pain. Try a 500 gr. bullet at 1550 FPS from one.

Heh, heh; I bought a #3 in 45-70 and it shot comfortably with factory ammo. I bought some 450 grain lyman "volunteer" bullets and paper patched them for heavy loads. I eventually cut the stock, put a pad on it, and started patching only the last two grooves to seat way out over a lot of 3031. I didn't add any weight to the stock. I shot it once without a good hold on it and it caused the fabric of my shirt to adhere lightly to my shoulder. This was my "bowling ball" load (there is nothing else to shoot in Alabama with it, I am thinking of working it back up with Re7) and it was actually quite nice to shoot with a heavy coat on.

The heck with the #3 - it's nice sure, but WHAT is that gorgeous flint switch barrel all about? Did you make it? Caliber? etc etc. Now THAT is beautiful indeed, and practical too.

Brent

Bought a #3 in 45-70 when they first came out. Baddest thing I had ever shot off the bench then and since (and I have #1s in 375 H&H & 416 Rigby). Cure was a sissy bag on the bench and I don't ever notice it when hunting. I was using John Wooter's Africa 45-70 loads and they smarted, but sure put Maine whitetails to rest.

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
The heck with the #3 - it's nice sure, but WHAT is that gorgeous flint switch barrel all about? Did you make it? Caliber? etc etc. Now THAT is beautiful indeed, and practical too. Brent

I did not make it. It is a Leonard Day. I found it in a hockshop at a very reasonable price. I remembered seeing it in a gunshop that closed down about two years earlier. Somehow the gun made it from there to the hockshop and was reduced half in price. Evidently, no one even picked it up because when I asked to see it, the hockshop owner fell all over himself cutting the price if I bought it right then and there. I did for about 1/3 of what it was priced at in the gunshop. That is the ONLY great buy I have found in a hockshop.

The bore is in very good condition (but not perfect) and the action is tight. I wrote Mr. Day and he wrote back that he built it in 1986. It is .50cal top and bottom, both barrels rifled. You push the forward "trigger" forward to rotate the barrels. Release the forward trigger and it locks. Accurate with both barrels and fires more reliably than any of my other flintlocks (caplocks are for people who can't make a flintlock work).

Thanks and it'd just damn beautiful. Let me know if you ever want to find another home for it.

Brent