RE: Anybody hunt with a 45-70?
Oldelkhunter, I've got the same recoil pad on my Marlin 1895's (guide gun and cowboy) as I do on my Ruger M-77 .30-06, and recoil is similar in all three! I handload so ammo cost is minimal, but I run pressures up as high as the Marlins are rated for (which is pretty stout).
As for the ranges, I shoot my cowboy to 600 and 800yrds fairly often (about twice a month), I'm pretty confident that I could ethically take a shot on a whitetail at 600yrds and be as certain of myself as a 300-500yrd shot with my .30-06s or .300win mags.
Most people consider it a "short range" weapon because they are lazy and the .45-70 only shoots flat along a short range...if one learns to play the rainbow, incredible things can be accomplished with this century old cartridge. I've got a folding ladder peep with a spirit level globe sight on my Cowboy (32" bbl-my long range rig) and I've got a 4-16x rangefinder glass on my guide gun, as I mentioned, my cowboy is 2MOA out to about 800yrds with this set up, cloverleaf groups at 100yrds...
my guide gun (SHORT bbl) is about 2MOA at 250-300yrds with the glass, but is under an inch at 100yrds.
The .45-70 is great for anything you would want to hunt, it's a little over powered for varmints and maybe so for antelope or rather lightweight deer (use a HARD bullet and you can eat right up to the hole though!!!!), but it gives awesome performance on anything over 100# clear up to 2500# and beyond.
The best thing about the .45-70 is its versatility, you can load it heavy for heavy game, or load it light for easier hunting/shooting, and they'll both shoot pretty well equally, and very well to boot!
My only recommendation: BUY the Marlin 1895, but before you shoot it, do a "Marlin fix", simply involves filing the sharp edge off of the carrier elevator cam (cuts a small notch into the bottom of the carrier and eventuallly MAY jam and refuse to elevate/close the action...round that off and it'll shoot for generations to come-if you don't, it might jam up someday and require that you take the lever off to un-jam it (one screw, but not handy in the field).