mavwreck1975

I hunt with an H&R .45-70 and am considering switching ammunition. I currently DO NOT reload and presently use Hornady Leverevolution 325 grains. I was wondering in everyone's opinion what the best factory load for this caliber is for whitetails? Where I hunt a long shot is 100 yards.

UncleNorby

A deer will never know the difference, but the remington 400 gr load is realtively cheap and will certainly kill deer within 100 yds. It is not as "flat" as your current load, which is pretty tough to beat with factory loads.

mavwreck1975

Thanks. I'm very interested in the Remington 405 grain loads. I'm sure they'll be more than adequate. Also, I've heard that despite being a heavier bullet they're easier on the shoulder too.

UncleNorby

True, they do not kick like the Hornady round.

turk1270

i have used the 300gr speer hp loaded by federal with great sucess,switched to hornady just to try em,and they work but i think the hornady are a little overkill for whitetail and dont expand as fast as the speer hp.i even spoke with hornady about this and they stated the 325gr evolution bullet will work fine for deer but was designed more for larger game and deeper penetration and might not expand as rapidly as the federal round.i also think the 405gr is a little overkill for a whitetail but thats just my opinion

mavwreck1975

I can attest to that. I shot a large bodied 4 pointer 2 years ago with the 325 grain Leverevolution and the deer ran about 40 yards before collapsing despite being hit in the vitals. On field dressing I found the entrance/exit holes were exactly the same size. However, I shot a black bear with the same ammo a few days later and it dropped right in it's tracks dead. This time there was a large exit wound.