I was shown a gun this weekend and for the life of can not remember the manufacture. It was an old gun and I do remember it had "45-70 shot" stamped on it and was smooth bore. As weird as it sounds I want to say it was a H&R but very well could be wrong. Anyway a young Amish man had the gun and was going to shoot regular 45-70 rifle bullets through it and the concerned me a little and i wanted to try and find out a little about this gun and if it was safe to do so. Has anyone on here heard of this or have any knowledge about this firearm?

That is a weird stamping for sure. I've never seen it. I know a few guys who shoot .410 shotshells (2 1/2") out of their .45-70s without issue. But accuracy sucks. The rifle you describe would probably be just the opposite being a smoothbore. I'd say you more than likely could shoot .45-70 loads out of it provided they are the low pressure loads for trapdoor type rifles. But to be safe I would definately get an answer from an expert. I didn't find anything on the net for .45-70 shot but there are some articles on loading shot shells for a 45-70.

I posted on another site and had a member post this link that shows the same gun. Still not a lot of info but this was same gun.

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/961079...y-unusual-look

most probably a smooth bore, without rifling accuracy wouldn't be good
RR