I have had both the ruger nbr 1 and nbr 3 in 45-70, 3 Marlins, including the guide gun, and even a bolt action built on a siamese mauser, plus 2 of the Henry 45-70s, and I now have only one, a Henry all weather, with a loading gate, so loads and unloads, best of both worlds thru the magazine tube, and the loading gate, 18.5 inch barrel.
I was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska, and the fish and game dept up there recommends for bears, either the 45-70 lever gun, or a 12 guage pump shotgun with slugs.
There are brown bears on the island of Kodiak, and the Kenai area, and grizzly bears and black bears all over. Even the black bears are over large because of all the salmon they eat, and further north are the polar bears.
It has become one of my favorite cartridges, and with some of the custom loaded cartridges is powerful enough for any thing on earth, including elephant, rhino, hippo, and cape buffalo, and of course Lions and Leopards.
Check out Garrett cartridges.
I shoot left handed, and have always found the Lever guns easier to manage than any other repeating action.
Up until covid, the used levers were a lot less expensive than even used left handed bolt action rifles.
www.swiss-p.com
The ammo is hot, too hot for ordinary wheelies like my Model 25. So, I've been holding onto hundreds of these expensive rounds- at times worth as much as $3/apiece- for years. I got a .454 Casull in 2012, but I can't shoot a single-action wheelgun nearly as well as a rifle. And, wouldn't you know it, all the inexpensive .454 and .45 Colt rifles went away. 
