Deer Hunting with the 45-70 Government

When I saw my first Marlin lever action chambered for 45-70 Government I thought it was a pretty cool gun but wasn't sure it was a practical choice for those of us living in the lower 48. While the 45-70 was a popular buffalo gun in its day, the American Bison is not a commonly hunted game animal these days. Plus with the development of newer cartridges there are numerous cartridges that excel on buffalo. For grizzly bear or African hunting the 45-70 Government would be quite useful, but again most of us are primarily hunting common American game animals. The whitetail deer is the most commonly hunted big game animal in America. Given this it is safe to assume that many of the 45-70 Governments being sold are going to end up in the deer woods. Here is a look at using the 45-70 Government for whitetail deer hunting.

Using ballistics from Remington.com, here is a rundown on the numbers on the 45-70 Government. Ballistics for a 30-06 using 150 grain Core-Lokts will be used to provide a familiar point of comparison. Remington loads both a 300 grain hollow point and a 405 grain soft point. In terms of muzzle velocity and muzzle energy, the 300 grain produces 1810 feet per second and 2182 foot pounds of energy. The 405 produces 1330 and 1590. The 30-06 with the commonly used 150 grain bullet produces 2910 feet per second and 2820 foot pounds. Obviously, the 30-06 produces more energy and shoots much flatter. While hand loading the 45-70 can improve its numbers, it cannot match the energy and certainly not the trajectory of the 30-06.

However simple math and statistics do not tell the whole truth of hunting effectiveness. The large diameter and weight of the 45-70 Government bullet causes significant damage upon entry and delivers its energy well at close distance. Many people fear that the 45-70 Government will kick too hard to handle and will destroy a lot of meat. I have only shot a 45-70 Government in the Marlin 1895 lever action but I found recoil to be not that big of a deal. Make no mistake about it, it kicks harder than a 30-30 Winchester but it is more than tolerable. As far as tearing up meat, I have taken one deer with a 45-70 Government and seen a couple others and have never noted meat destruction worse than with a 30-06 level cartridge. The 45-70 Government is an outstanding deer cartridge in its proper place. If you hunt in dense woods and take close shots the 45-70 Government will do well. And let's face it, owning and shooting a 45-70 is just plain cool.