Prior to my divorce I had a Marlin 1895GG and a sweet Winchester 1886 LtWt. I preferred the Marlin since it had a shorter lever 'throw' than the 1886.spec opes, here are four of the five 45-70,s i own, i must warn you they are addictive. eastbank
My current rifle, Browning 30-06 bolt, is pretty long and slow to reload. Basically I'm looking for a large caliber weapon that I can fire somewhat rapidly. Something to take in the field for Bear and pig hunts that will be at close ranges and in heavy cover. Something that's going to do a serious amount of damage to a 300+ pound animal with one well placed shot.
No interest in the others, but I would love to see a .35Whelen...so much so that I plan to do just that. Great for plinking (light loads with 9mm pistol bullets), and great for anything else using heavy bullets and moderate-heavy loads. Furthermore, trajectory isn't much of an issue because you are limited to irons anyway.I would love to see the new 1895 repro's in .35Whelen, .375 and .416Ruger!
You can load the 45-70 hotter than most guys want to shoot it.