ORIGINAL: HEAD0001

Man if you are hunting within 100 yards then 1200 fps is more than adequate to knock a deer on his butt. And a 1200 fps load is a *****cat to shoot. The recoil at 1400 fps is very little. High velocity is not necessary when shooting a 405 grain bullet or larger. And trajectory is no problem when you limit yourself to 100 yards. The slow loads will shoot every bit as good as the heavy loads. IMO most people tend to overload the 45-70.

You bought a rifle that is a hoot to shoot. If you cast your own bullets it is also a very inexpensive rifle to shoot, once you have all the basics(which you said you have). Drop that load down and put a couple of hundred bullets down range. That is what I do. Tom.