guns and whitales
 

hey guys i know this is a topic that is posted often but...here we go again.. you only have one gun for the forseable future to hunt whitetale elk moose bear ect.. i know mine personaly is a custom bolt 338 with a 18 inch barrel stainless finish...hey a guy can dream cant he

henry 45-70 lever action.

aha yes that is a good one also if i were to really think about it that is better than the 338 in some ways imo round nose just kill better i have no sientific name for it but a 45-70 slug hittin a deer.. aint no uber short fat shoulder dissloacating mag can kill a deer better than a 45-70.. the reason i kinda side with the 338 is range course there may be better range and less recoiling rouds for that but oh well..both are GREAT cals

18" barrel with a .338win mag, bold.

What custom action for the 338?

My ONE rifle would be a REAL Marlin 1895 Stainless Guide Gun, .45-70. Own it, love it. Have 2, want 10 more. Pi$$ed beyond compare about what Remington has done to them.

Do you have any idea of the muzzle blast out of a 18 inch barrel in .338???? :)

30-06, problem solved. It will and has handled everything in North America that can be legally hunted and it has also been used on game up to elephant in Africa with a 220 gr solid. While I wouldn't recommend it for heavy dangerous game like elephant, rhino or Cape Buffalo it has been used for game like that.

Plus, the 30-06 is still capable of cleanly killing game at 300+ yards, ammo is easy to find and most people can shoot it well. Those advocating a 45-70 most likely haven't tried to shoot one at 300 yards. It drops like a rock! While a lot of whitetail hunting can be a short range affair, if you hunt them on the plains they can need a long shot and elk are often shot at 200-300 yards. Like it or not, that has to be factored in since the OP specifically mentions both elk and moose.

you know what my deer rifle is a bolt 30-06. and maby that's why I over looked it because I use it so much. but that would be better than 45-70. if you where huntin out west.

I did that with my .30 Gibbs, then I upgraded a few years ago to a .300 Weatherby. If I ever win the lottery and go on an Alaskan Brown Bear hunt, I'd use my .375 RUM. Other than that, my .300 Wby would easily handle anything else in North America.

Not to start a war between the two cartridges in the least, but as a guy that would indeed reach past the .30-06's in my safe for one of my .45-70's, I'll counterpoint a bit on this...

Same can be said for the .45-70.

Same cannot be said for the .45-70. The Gov't gets the nod here. In the Marlin action, the .45-70 can contend with "traditional" African cartridges for energy. I forget which gunwriter it was, but 'roundabouts 10yrs ago, there were TWO Cape Buffalo taken with one shot from a Marlin 1895 .45-70.

While I can't speak for the others that recommended the Gov't, I'll caution you that it's dangerous to make assumptions. Some of us HAVE indeed worked with a .45-70 at long ranges and would still recommend it. I used to play with a Sharps repro, a Marlin 1895Cowboy, and an H&R Buffalo Classic regularly at up to 600yrds as part of a Cowboy Action Shooting competition side match, and practice therefore.

While it isn't 300yrds, I did take this buck at 250yrds with a .45-70. Double lung and heart. This was with a factory load, Hornady 325grn FTX only trucking 1795fps; my handloads with the same bullet can push it up to 2200fps.



30" of drop on that ball from a 100yrd zero, quite a bit to hold over with a 3-9x40 standard Plex reticle, but obviously doable. Not my longest kill with this rifle/load, just the biggest buck I've taken with this rifle for which it was worth keeping a pic in photobucket.

To the bold point in the quote above, and to this snippet focused on long range shots on heavy-body game: Yes, it's a slow round, and it has a lot of drop. But when you throw 300+ grains of copper and lead at something, it's going to hit hard. It may "drop like a rock," but it also "drops GAME like a rock." The Taylor KO Factor for a .45-70 at both 300 and 600yrds is over 60% greater than that of a .30-06 at the muzzle. Relative drop at 300yrds vs. 100yrd zero: 7.3MOA on my .30-06 load, to 17.3MOA on my .45-70 load. Both manageable.

I'm also prone to think that much of the Kansas ground I do my hunting on should qualify as "plains" where 200-300yrd shooting is pretty common. Not necessary to shoot that far in any environment, but it sure increases your odds in these open spaces if you're able to.

Not discounting the .30-06 at all, but do find it a little insulting when someone suggests that a person might recommend the .45-70 over the .30-06 only because they're foolish and/or inexperienced.