I purchased some Hornady LEVERevolution ammunition in .45-70 (325grain FTX) to see if it was everything it was made out to be. We can shoot ballistic jell and water jugs all day: but I wanted real-world test results. So I went out and harvested a doe with the ammunition.

First things first: The ammunition fed smoothly into the Marlin 1895. The casings are shorter than standard brass- but it made no significant difference in the cycling. The recoil was sharper than expected- but not horrible. Couldn't ask for better accuracy- it punched the same hole.

To the field: A doe, at 25yards, very slightly quartering away. When I dropped the hammer, she did the standard high-kick and ran into the timber (which surprized me). I heard her crash soon after. It wasn't a hard trail to follow. I followed a paint trail full of huge chunks of lung. She ran 30yards.

The pictures explain the rest. I am personally extremely impressed with this ammunition. After removal of the shoulders during processing, it became clear that the damage in front of the shoulders wasn't from fragmentation- but from a shockwave that was sent under the shoulder blades. I don't know how she ran as far as she did.

Overkill for whitetail deer? Perhaps so.

--Copp