BP handloads, cast roundnose lead bullet, 525 grains from a Lyman mold. Some mix of wheelweights and lead ingots we melted in a pot. Mine was a one-shot kill, couldn't tell the entry from the exit when we butchered it. We really did have to wait for the buffalo to be clear of another one behind it, since we were only taking one each.
I used a Sharps repro, so I could use the really heavy bullets. Some other guys had original rifles of various flavors and used 405 grain bullets. They worked fine.
I was the only one with a replica. We had an orignal Sharps .50-90, an original Trapdoor Springfield that literally was in new condition (it had remained unissued back in 1878, just sat in oil and was pased down in a guy's family until he used it a year and a half ago), and an original Rolling Block with a new octagon barrel on it in .45-70, to replace a shot-out one.
This is the guy with the .50-90 Sharps original, trying to shoot while one guy looks through binoculars and babbles, and his father gives unsolicited advice in the green parka.
Again, we're talking crude RNL bullets that go straight through a buffalo, side to side, and keep going. They can kill two of them in a row, if they're lined up, and buffalo are big, thick, and heavy.
Those heavy-recoiling Buffalo Bore rounds are neat, and they certainly show what a modern .45-70's potential is (which is downright scary). However, I have to say I was pretty amazed when I saw what the 1870s vintage guns and original loads were capable of.
The trajectory does take getting used to, for someone who is used to modern high-velocity spitzers!
I shot a jackrabbit at about 75 yards. It took I think 8 rounds to do it. Too high, too low, rabbit moved out a litte, too low again, then too high. Finally, I got the elevation right. .45-70 RNL works fine on jackrabbit. Doesn't destroy the meat, just blows it back a good distance.
