45-70 for home defense

[Greg Koziol]

I have a custom marlin 1895 .45-70 with an 8 shot magazine, sometimes when i get bored i'll sight the gun down my hallway or across the hard at night to practice in case on eday i had intruders. What do you guys think.. with 300 grain hollowpoints this baby would be good for close quarters, it's quick cycling with the lever, quicker then a pump shotgun. With 300 grain hollow points this thing would be devestating in a gun battle, esp with a good red dot or reflex on it

 

[M1key]

Warn your neighbors.

 

[Greg Koziol]

HAHA

 

[Purgatory]

It'd be FANTASTIC........if you live in the middle of NOWHERE.

Probably a little much for any modern neighborhood. And really even a rural 'hood could be out of the question.

It may not be a LONG range rifle, but that 300 grain .45-70 would absolutely devastate any structure it came into contact with up to a couple hundred yards or so.

If you live in the desert or on top of a mountain where there are no roads for miles................then it'd be AWESOME.

It would definitely absolutely annihilate anything at close range, yes.

 

[Greg Koziol]

Well lets say you in a rural area, aside from the friendly fire issue, i mean just as far as the tacticality of the rifle. It seems like a pretty tactical rifle, i mean jsut hink 100 years ago thats all a rancher or farmer would have... one lever action rifle and a pistol, and they'd carry it everywhere they went.

i've never done a penetration test with the 300 grain hollowpoints, but when i first got my rifle when i was 16 me and my dad took it to the woods and we shot through about a 1 foot diameter live hickory and the bullets when clean through and were about 1 foot in the dirt on the other side. I was shooting the remington 400 grain factory ammo, only clocked at 1300fps. I can only imagine what a 400grain solide clocked at 2000fps, like the one sold by grizzly or the buffalo bore FMJ 500 grain would penetration. IT would be good though cause say you knew an intruder was on the other side of your door or wall, you could literally just shoot thru the wall and it would still mortally wound the intruder.

 

[Cosmoline]

You can turn the .45-70 into any gun you want (just about). For home defense you can use a light hollowpoint and essentially duplicate a hot .45 Colt defense load.

Choose your bullets well, and chronograph your speed. The ballistics are the ballistics. Yammering nonsense about how a rifle bullet will shoot through five schools isn't based on any rational or objective thought. In fact, a light 250 grain hollowpoint with a poor sectional density and a high velocity will pose less of an overpenetration problem than most handgun rounds. It will essentially explode in the target.

The heavier rounds, more typical for the .45-70, would not be as good. But even so I'd rather have one than a handgun.

 

[valorius]

It'd work, but there are a lot better choices. I gotta figure that'd be like getting hit by a freight train, but with it's recoil, and "only" 8 rounds, there are better choices.

Still, it's not a "bad" choice either, provided you're way out in the sticks.

 

[dogngun]

I would keep the iron sights rather than anything else -

I doubt anything over 25 or 30 yards would be easy to sell as "home defense", and the irons are less liable to let you down when most needed.

Spend the money on ammo for practice.

FWIW, many years ago, my only rifle was a Marlin lever action .45-70...you can handload them for just about any purpose you can think of.

(Anybody looking down that great big hole in the muzzle would probably piss himself.)

mark

 

[valorius]

Some tritium ghost ring sights would be optimum.

How well would the lighter .45ACP JHPs work? I bet a .45-70 could really get a bonded core 185gr Gold Dot zipping along pretty nicely.

 

[alemonkey]

Considering 45-70 has been known to shoot clean through a buffalo I don't think it's a good idea. You could download as Cosmoline suggested, but why? A 12 gauge or a handgun would make a much better home defense weapon. No sense in handicapping yourself when your life is at stake.

 

[MachIVshooter]

If it's all ya have, it'll work. But there are so many better choices out there. I'd much prefer an AR-15 or 12 gauge with 0 buck/4 buck

 

[Robert]

triple up on the hearing protection...

 

[natman]

Some tritium ghost ring sights would be optimum.

How well would the lighter .45ACP JHPs work? I bet a .45-70 could really get a bonded core 185gr Gold Dot zipping along pretty nicely.

Pretty poorly since pistol "45 caliber" bullets are .452 and rifle "45 caliber" bullets are .458.

 

[hirundo82]

As others have said, not a great idea unless you really are in the middle of nowhere. Big and slow is the perfect recipe for overpenetration.

 

[Art Eatman]

ANY cenerfire rifle will likely work just fine in a most-probable defense situation in one's home.

Things like over-penetration and harm to neighbors will depend on an individual situation. Even a 55-grain bullet from a .22-250 can go through a mobile-home wall and three inches of hard-rock maple before stopping in a tee-shirt.

Worry more about controlling adrenaline and hitting the target--but give some thought to what might be behind that target...

 

[336A]

IMHO I guess if that is all you had then by all means. But it would definetly not by my first or even second pick. Unless of course the intuder was buffalo that escaped from the zoo.
This is where the Marlin 1894 rifles really shine as they are very light/nimble and can hold 9-10 rounds. They make a great general utility rifle, pick your poison .357mag, or .44mag it don't really matter. Either one of these calibers is going to get the deed done for HD purposes. I bought a 1894SS in .44mag mostly for woods bumming, camping, farm gun, bad weather hunting rifle, and HD, it was one of the best purchases that I ever made. the rifle does not really have a specific task but it covers more things better than any one rifle that I own can. Kind of like a jack of all trades master of none type of rifle.

 

[CraigC]

You could certainly do a lot worse. It's a little much and more than is needed. Were I to get a levergun strictly for home defense it would be a little 1892 16" Trapper model. Pick your poison, 357, .44Mag or .45Colt. I have one of the late model Winchester 1892 Trappers in .45Colt and it is a wonderful little carbine. Hardly bigger than a Super Redhawk.

That said, I have a Marlin 20" Cowboy .44 at the front door. A 1901 vintage Winchester 1894 .30WCF at the back door and a Remington 870 bedside.

 

[thebigc]

i think it would be instesting to see if you could make a handload with a 400 or 500 grain bullet and get it down to about 800-900 fps enough so it does damage up close but wont go through my house the neighbors house ect.

 

[Cosmoline]

a 400 or 500 grain bullet and get it down to about 800-900 fps enough so it does damage up close but wont go through my house the neighbors house ect.

That's headed the wrong direction. Bigger and slower will penetrate better than faster and smaller. The SD is better with heavier rounds and the low velocity keeps them from deforming.

 

[XxWINxX94]

Warn your neighbors for sure!

I would stick to something lighter, maybe a .45 ACP? Or .223 or something?

But if 45-70 is all you got, then thats all you got, it will get the job done.

 

[Maverick223]

i've never done a penetration test with the 300 grain hollowpoints

I have, the following photo is a 3/8in. steel plate that was fired at with a .45-70Govt. amongst other things (including .375H&H, .300WM, .30Carbine, and .223Rem.)...see that big hole (about 0.8in. IIRC) that was a 300gr. HP going about 2500fps!



FWIW I think the .45-70Govt. will be fine if you cater the loads to suit the purpose (light HP projectiles at moderate velocity). Otherwise over-penetration may be a serious problem.

 

[stchman]

Too much penetrating power. Yes, the round would more than likely kill the intruder, but it would go through a lot of walls before it stopped. Too much collateral damage.

 

[Strahley]

As your attorney, I can't advise that

 

[rattletrap1970]

You could always take 405gr cast lead bullet, drill it out, fill it with birdshot and cap it with hard wax or thick epoxy (so it doesn't seep into the shot and turn it into a solid). Basically you'd have a huge Safety Glaser type bullet. I'd love to see that hit some ballistic gelatin.

 

[Palehorseman]

Load up some whisper loads, big boolits don't need a lot of velocity to be BG terminal.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=45-70+whisper+loads&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=