Redriver,
I agree with you if you go to K-mart to buy your watered down 300gr hollow point ammunition then by golly it's a pretty weak round.
If you buy some of the good stuff from Buffalo Bore or Garret or reload then a 45-70 gives up very little to a .458 win mag. Buff Bores loads push a 405 gr bullet at 2100 FPS and with soft point bullets I've seen penetrait end for end on Black Bear and a big one to boot.
Oh and just by the way go over to Thefiringline.com and look at the three Cape Buffalo that Rich killed with his 45-70 in Tanzania this summer. One of which was a one shot kill and all three of which got full penetraition including exit wounds. A modern firearm chambered in 45-70 can take some ungodly huge loads and actually puts out more horse power than many of the old 45 cal "Heavy rifles" of yesterday.
The reason that Winchester and Remington won't put out these loadings is that much like the .45 Colt (which in a modern pistol can outproduce a .44 mag)the major companies are affraid to put out a load that will damage an older original firearm. The older .45-70's weren't built to take the pressures of the modern ones.

Edited by - surestrike on 03/06/2002 22:15:20