Reader Comment on the .45-70 Government

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment on the post "Urban Survival Firearms - Sniper Rifle Necessity?":
....Outlander777 says "Good article. I have been checking out your site and am getting some info from you. Thanks. I would like to say at my safe spots we determined to use the Shilo Sharps in 45-70. I can hit most anything I aim at with it out to around 500 yrds. A couple of my younger family members have taken to it and can do much more justice to the gun and it responds in kind. They are a brother and sister team when it comes to that gun, always trying to out shoot each other. The boy is an ex Marine and the girl just loves guns. She has been shooting since my brother could put a rifle into her hands. We have stocked several different rounds for it and as a back up are set up to reload it and all of our other weapons. It does help that we set it up to also reload it in original black powder form also. I would not want to be on the receiving end. They have a range card set up for it out to 1200 yards. The boy says at that range if he don't hit ya in the chest, he will blow your bladder out. :-)"

UrbanMan replies: Outlander, that's what scares the hell of the Liberals and what makes this country practically invulnerable to an occupation by foreign troops,...60 million plus gun owners!

A friend of mine owns a gun store and he related to me,..this story is 12 months old,...that a older gentleman came through one day and bought up all the store's .45-70 Gov't ammunition. Over $800 worth. The older gentleman told the store clerks that he was from Wyoming and was transiting a big loop through Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas in search of .45-70 ammunition. He didn't need any handgun ammunition as he believed only his .45-70 rifle. Reminds me of a saying that goes "Beware of the gent who only has one gun, as he probably knows how to use it well."

I respect the .45-70, but the round is pretty damn slow. Alot of drop at extended ranges, even with the lightweight bullets (around 305 grains). Hornady makes the Leverevolution ammunition in .45-70, which I have not tried, but I know the .30-30 load will give near .308 performance for those old deer guns.....probably greatly enhances the .45-70 also.

The great thing about shooting those old guns is the marksmanship skills one learns that is transferable to practically all long guns.

Anyway, sounds like you know what you're doing. Won't try to convince you to get something that feeds from a box magazine. Good luck to you and thanks for the comments.