With the heavy bullets at full charge it will kick the chit out of you..
I don't care how big you are they kick..The 300 grains are not too bad
put they still will pound you..

I read some penatration results that said the 45.70 couldn't be beat. They said they really couldn't explain why the 45.70 could out penatrate faster moving rounds, but it did! Good Luck!

Mine is an 1895SS, the regular rifle, pistol grip, 22 inch barrel. Shoots awesome. I don't think it kicks bad at all. Nothing compared to my Mossberg 500 with turkey loads.My loads are for 300 gr Hornady bullets, at around 1900 fps.

I have the 1895 rifle as well. Factory loads (that mimic the old bp loads) are about like shooting a .410. I have hand loaded mine with a 405gr hard cast bullet up to about 2100fps, and that gets pretty brutal. You wouldn't need anything approacing that for deer. I have settled on the same bullet, at about 1700fps for a standard load, and it isn't bad to shoot at all.

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I will be fielding one of these in a 1895 stainless guide gun this fall. The moose should have no complaints I hope! Should keep me busy working up a load for it as well.

Theres gotta be something special about this round for it to have been around this long and still be this popular.

I think the "nostalgia" trnd has a lot to do with it, the fact that really is a powerful round, and the upswing of the Cowboy action shooting deal has had a lot to do with it's popularity, along with more modern firearms to handle it.