45-70 Ammo Info

[Steve P]

For any of the lever action shooters on the site, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Federal Hammer Down 45-70 ammo ? Have a black bear hunt coming up in Maine and I'm looking at some different types of ammo. Been looking for the Remington flat s/p that I have shot out of my rifle before but that hasn't been available for a while now. Any info would be appreciated, thanks

 

[11boo]

No experience with that round, but the 405 gr Remington SP is my go to for elk, and it flattens them out. I handload, so mine run about 200 FPS faster than factory, and the factory stuff works too.

if you don’t hand load for that I recommend it. Very easy to do.

 

[MThuntr]

I tried to order some from Federal back in Feb to try and they couldn't guarantee that I'd get the ammo within even a year so I canceled the order. I reload and was particularly interested in having the nickel-plated brass after.

This will do the job just fine for your needs just fine if you can't get anything else. This is supposed to be a bonded core bullet though I suspect it's not necessary with a 45-70 at those velocities. My preference would be a handload to take advantage of the stronger modern lever action. Maybe consider Buffalo Bore ammo if you want spicy factory ammo.

 

[Steve P]

Ok thanks. I dont hand load yet, that's one of the things I want to start doing next year and with this caliber.

 

[Stefan]

Once you get into reloading the next step is casting your own bullets. There is a whole new world out there.

 

[Steve P]

Was able to get some of the HSM loads instead, going to give them a try