# Something a little more traditional...



## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

Here's something a little more traditional than most of the firearms around here.

Recently my Dad bought a marlin levergun in 45-70 govt. Being interested in historical shooting and long range target shooting, I followed suit this weekend and ordered an H&R buffalo classic in the same caliber. I think I'm going to put a nice vernier peep sight on it and see what it can do on some real long range stuff.

Here's a photo of a buffalo classic. This one has been reamed out to 45-120.


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

Watch out that will knock the fillings out of your choppers if you don't get a good grip on it. Sure is a beauty. Good lock with it. :smt023


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

Yeah, I'm not expecting an easy rifle to shoot at first. I'm also planning on a good recoil pad and maybe even a mercury recoil reducer in the stock. The buttstock is bolted to the receiver so there's a very handy hole already there.


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## BeefyBeefo (Jan 30, 2008)

Holy crap those are some HUGE bullets!!! Congrats PanaDP let us know how that long range shooting goes 

-Jeff-


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

BeefyBeefo said:


> Holy crap those are some HUGE bullets!!! Congrats PanaDP let us know how that long range shooting goes
> 
> -Jeff-


Those are considerably longer than what I'll be shooting. For those who don't know, 45-70 is an old (very old) US military caliber from when caliber designations are formatted as caliber-blackpowder charge, so the 45-70 was a 45 caliber bullet on top of 70 grains of blackpowder.

Pictured in that photo is 45-120. Yeah, that'd hurt a bit.

I'll probably mostly shoot smokeless loads but some blackpowder shooting might be fun to try as well.

For more, see here.


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## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

Nice!

I don't know what the H&R rifle weighs, but years ago I did a lot of shooting with a Sharps and a Rolling Block in .45-70 and both were actually quite pleasant and gentle to shoot. And a heck of a lot of fun!


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## niadhf (Jan 20, 2008)

PanaDP said:


> Yeah, I'm not expecting an easy rifle to shoot at first. I'm also planning on a good recoil pad and maybe even a mercury recoil reducer in the stock. The buttstock is bolted to the receiver so there's a very handy hole already there.


Pana. That is a sweet gun. Kick is no worse than (and sometimes not as bad as) a 12 gauge. I have that, and the NEF Handi-rifle in same caliber. Its my regular hunting gun. Enjoy. Try some black powder for a real taste (literally, plus smell, feell etc lol) of them old time rounds.:smt1099


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

Looks like the thing shoots cigarettes! Those are some seriously long cartridges!


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

Mike Barham said:


> Nice!
> 
> I don't know what the H&R rifle weighs, but years ago I did a lot of shooting with a Sharps and a Rolling Block in .45-70 and both were actually quite pleasant and gentle to shoot. And a heck of a lot of fun!


I think it's lighter than both of those. I know Shiloh makes their sharps rifles in various weights from 10 to 12 lbs or so. I don't know about the rolling block. The buffalo classic is specced at 8 lbs.

I'm planning on a little more weight being a necessity for extended periods of target shooting, especially with some hotter loads I'd like to try to reach out further.


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## niadhf (Jan 20, 2008)

PanaDP said:


> I think it's lighter than both of those. I know Shiloh makes their sharps rifles in various weights from 10 to 12 lbs or so. I don't know about the rolling block. The buffalo classic is specced at 8 lbs.
> 
> I'm planning on a little more weight being a necessity for extended periods of target shooting, especially with some hotter loads I'd like to try to reach out further.


A nice shoulder shooting pad can work wonders withought changing your gun. 
BE VERY careful with "hotter" loads in a break action. H&R and NEF (Marlin owned btw) do NOT recomend hot loads in their break actions. At least not when I talked to them.


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

niadhf said:


> A nice shoulder shooting pad can work wonders withought changing your gun.
> BE VERY careful with "hotter" loads in a break action. H&R and NEF (Marlin owned btw) do NOT recomend hot loads in their break actions. At least not when I talked to them.


I have read that they can handle loads up into the lever action range of pressures regularly and can even tolerate the occasional ruger #1 level stuff, just not regularly. I don't see myself loading anything that hot, except maybe out of morbid curiosity.:anim_lol:


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