Caliber 45-70: review, application and photo of the cartridge

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Many people who are serious about guns argue about the advantages and disadvantages of different cartridges and layouts, have not even heard of the.45-70 caliber. There is nothing strange here - today it is produced mainly in the USA and is used by lovers of unusual solutions. But still, it will be interesting for many to expand their horizons by reading about the features of this caliber.

Transcript

Let's start with the fact that its full name is caliber.45-70-405. This is not an empty set of numbers at all, but an accurate source of valuable knowledge for any specialist. By correctly deciphering the name, you can find out that the diameter of the bullet is 0.458 inches or 11.63 millimeters. The amount of powder in such a cartridge is 70 grains (this is an obsolete unit of mass, approximately equal to the mass of one grain of barley, sometimes used by specialists) or 4.54 grams. Well, the lead bullet that the cartridge is loaded with has a weight of 405 grains, or 26.2 grams.

As you can see, quite detailed characteristics of the caliber are encrypted in the name itselfand matching ammo.

A bit of history

Certainly, the.45-70 caliber has a long and glorious history. It was first developed in the US shortly after the Civil War. In 1873, a new modification of the Springfield rifle was developed. It was for her that a new cartridge was created - initially it was equipped only with black powder, but over time, smokeless ammunition also appeared.

Interestingly, given the same weight of powder and external dimensions, the.45-70 Marlin cartridges, developed in 1894 for smokeless powder, and the.45-70 Trapdor cartridges used for smokeless powder, differ greatly in the pressure generated. This affects not only the range of the battle, but also the flatness of the bullet flight.

Today,.45-70 caliber cartridges are the oldest used to load the Henry shackle rifle, which gained considerable popularity thanks to Western films.

Caliber description

Since the caliber.45-70 was developed at the end of the nineteenth century, the requirements for it were made accordingly. One of the main ones was high accuracy at a distance of up to 100 yards (about 90 meters), as well as causing serious injuries to the enemy.

The cartridge fully met the requirements. The accuracy of fire at such a distance was quite high - the bullets fell into a circle with a diameter of about 100 millimeters. Yes, and a heavy bullet (26.2 grams versus 3.7 for the AK-74 and 9 for the SVD), hitting the enemy, made huge holes, rarely leaving a chance for survival. In terms of weight, it is quite consistent with the bullet16 caliber smoothbore hunting weapon.

At the same time, a rather powerful cartridge made it possible to send a bullet over a long distance, 100 meters is not at all the limit for rifled weapons. She retained lethal force at a distance of up to 900 meters. Another conversation is that it was problematic even for very good shooters to conduct effective shooting at such a distance - because of the difficult flight path.

But neither the generals nor the rank and file were embarrassed at all. The optimal battle distance at that time was considered 250-300 meters. Although snipers proved their effectiveness in the American Civil War, the main emphasis was still placed on salvo fire. Therefore, cartridges of this caliber stood in service with the army for more than two decades - until the end of the nineteenth century.

Followers

At the end of the nineteenth century, weapons were actively developed. More and more accurate and long-range samples appeared, which forever changed the course of battles. It would never have occurred to anyone to go in an even beautiful formation to the trenches, where enemy soldiers are sitting, armed with machine guns or rapid-fire rifles.

The volley fire was gradually abandoned, realizing that modern weapons made it possible to conduct much more accurate fire. Therefore, the caliber.45-70 was gradually replaced. First, the.45-70-500 cartridge was created - much heavier, it had less flatness, which increased the accuracy of shooting. Soon they developed the.30-40 caliber, which further pressed its predecessor. Well, withthe appearance of the well-known.30-06 "Springfield" (aka 7, 62x63) caliber.45-70 Government left the army forever.

However, you should not think that, having left the army, he disappeared. Not at all - although the demand for it has significantly decreased (the army has always been the main consumer of cartridges in any country), it has not disappeared from the shelves of weapons stores and conveyors of factories. Why? Let's figure it out.

Why is he still in service?

Despite the fact that the US Army adopted a cartridge for a more suitable caliber, the.45-70 remained in demand by hunters. The range of combat for them was not as significant as for the military. But it was the stopping effect provided by a heavy bullet that was an extremely important factor. If a bullet fired from a 7.62 mm cartridge was enough for a person, then this is clearly not enough for a deer or even a bear - often such small wounds only anger the predator, provoking a retaliatory attack.

It's a completely different matter -.45-70. A heavy bullet inflicted terrible wounds, causing serious bleeding and literally tearing the internal organs. Therefore, hunters for large prey could not have wished for anything better, especially since a combat range of 150-200 meters is more than enough for a good shooter.

However, the.45-70 cartridge was used not only in rifles. By the middle of the twentieth century, its popularity began to decline. But then a new genre of films appeared just in time - the western, which immediately gained immense popularity. During filming, revolvers were often used,using this cartridge. High power provided an excellent stopping effect, and the semi-sheathed bullet eliminated the risk of ricochet. And the smoke powder in the frame looked very beautiful. The marketing ploy was also strong - a legend arose that the cartridge was created specifically to stop Indian horses with one shot, forcing riders to dismount.

Today,.45-70 is used mainly by connoisseurs of antiquity and original solutions. But still, it is clearly not worth writing it off.

Caliber in computer games

Many people learned about the caliber.45-70 from a computer game. Fallout 4, which tells about the post-apocalyptic future, has become a real hit. And among the huge arsenal available to the main character, there is a weapon designed for this cartridge.

To be more precise, in Fallout, the.45-70 caliber is used in two lever-action carbines: "Lucky Eddie" and "Old Friend". Both weapons are interesting for certain features. For example, the first one increases the luck indicator when shooting accurately. And the second allows you to fire two rounds at once in one shot.

True, in the game "Fallout 4".45-70 caliber can be difficult to find - it is sold by only a few merchants. Ammo can also occasionally be found in the inventory of trappers using lever-action carbines.

Conclusion

Our article is coming to an end. From it you learned what a.45-70 caliber cartridge is, its historydevelopment, advantages and disadvantages. I hope that it was of interest not only to weapon lovers, but also to fans of computer games, expanding the horizons of both the former and the latter.