45-70, First let me congratulate you on a nice "little" rilfe. I love my 1895. Is your ported at the muzzle? the newer ones aren't. Mine is and felt recoil is reduced somewhat. I handload for my 45-70 but won't quote my load cause without looking I'm not sure what it is. I would have to look it up for you. I know I use H4198 powder and Hornady 300 gr. FP bullets.
As for reloading equipment, you can't go wrong with RCBS stuff. You may pay a few dollars more than some other brands, but it will last you forever. You can pass it down to your kids. Buy yourself a couple of reloading manuals. Lee has a new book out that tell you all you ever wanted to know about reloading and has good load data in it also.
Brass for the 45-70 is pretty salty for some reason. When I got my rifle, I boutght a bunch of factory ammo when it was on sale at Walmart and when it was exhausted, started to reload it.