I found that several people have expressed an interest in obtaining a bolt action rifle in 45-70 caliber, most commonly done by converting a Siamese Mauser or P-14 Enfield. Many have suggested
instead getting a 458 Winchester magnum and loading it down, or using the 458 X 2″ wildcat. Now the 450 Marlin is available, and any bolt action with a H&H magnum bolt face can ve easily adopted to it.
An interesting discussion @ rec.guns.
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There were some Lee-Enfield No. 4 and/or No. 5 .45-70 conversions done by the (now apparently defunct) Gibbs Rifle Company. I never heard whether they turned out well or not.
Hi Kevin, thanks the for info.
I have a 45/70 built on a 1898 siamese mauser action. A friend built it for me and he loaded the ammo. It has a Lee 1 to 3.5 power scope (no iron sights). Timeken trigger, 22 inch heavy barrel and custom stock featuring a monte carlo stock with a rose wood butt cap and fore end. This is a 175 yard gun which is very accurate. The gun is heavy negating most of the recoil. Ammo is 350 grain Hornady patition round nose bullet moving at 2200 fps.
So far I have taken two white deer with it both with one shot. Recent Colorado trip saw a 450 lb Black Bear fall to the rifle. Bear was hit at an oblique angle about 6 inches behind the right shoulder and exiting the left neck area. Bullet never expanded, it passed throught the body without striking bone but did pass thru the lower portion of the lungs. Animal ran about 75 yards before dropping.
My friend has loaded 300 grain HP semi-jacketed rounds which I believe are a better round for white tails and medium game.
By the way the bear loin was outstanding soaking it in buttermilk for two days, then grilled. I got first taste since everyone including game warden and taxidermist said they did not think it would taste good, including all at elk camp. There was not a single piece of grilled bear meat left. Yes we did harvest 5 bulls and two cows in addition to the bear. My elk was taken with a Sako 300 win mag.
What a trip.
Mike
I have one of those GIBBS conversion 45-70 rifles, LOVE IT. I replaced the stock, glass bedded the action, and put a leupold 1-4 scope on her. My loads: W W case, 210 M FED. primer, H-335@64gr. ,with a 300gr. PARTITION.2136FPS. SD. 28, ES. 69. Shoots 1.5″ @ 100 yds. ( bench ). Extraction is very smooth. It does not like 400gr. bullets on the hot side, I get hard extractions, load them down a bit and it’s fine but my grouping suffers, 300gr. will do just fine for the hunting I do anyways. I just wish I ordered an extra mag at the time. Can’t find them anywhere. If I could, I would build me a siamese mauser but them are a little hard to find and a bit expensive. I built me a 30-06 out of the mauser I had. it’s got a (BOOTS) Obermeier SS fluted barrel, Shes a tack driver. Great day to all