Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr JHP – Incredible Flat Shooting Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr JHP is the fastest thing they load in the cartridge, and it changes what a 45-70 lever gun can reasonably do. A 300 grain jacketed hollow point at 2350 fps carries about 3678 ft-lbs and shoots flat enough that the old rainbow trajectory jokes stop applying. Buffalo Bore designed it for animals under 400 pounds.

• Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr JHP Overview
• 45-70 Magnum Deer Ammo Ballistics
• Why The 300 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Rifle Bullet Opens Fast
• Specifications
• Rifles Approved For This Flat Shooting Lever Gun Load

Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr JHP Overview

Buffalo Bore item 8E is part of their 45-70 Magnum lever gun line. The 300 grain jacketed hollow point runs a nominal 2350 fps for roughly 3678 ft-lbs. Twenty rounds per box.

Buffalo Bore chronographed it at 2355 fps from a 22 inch Marlin 1895 and 2263 fps from an 18.5 inch Marlin 1895 Guide Gun. Those are factory rifles rather than laboratory barrels, which is why the published number sits where it does.

Buffalo Bore describes the load as very fast and flat shooting for a 45-70, and specifies it for animals weighing no more than 400 pounds. That is an unusually honest limit to print on a box, and it is worth respecting.

The 45-70 Government has a reputation for dropping like a thrown rock past a hundred yards, and with traditional ammunition that reputation is earned. Loads like this one are why the reputation is now out of date for anyone shooting a modern rifle.

45-70 Magnum Deer Ammo Ballistics

At 2350 fps a 300 grain bullet produces about 3678 ft-lbs, from grains times velocity squared divided by 450437. That is the highest energy figure in the entire Buffalo Bore 45-70 catalogue, and it comes from the lightest bullet in it.

Speed is the point here rather than mass. A standard pressure 45-70 lobs a 405 grain bullet at 1300 fps; this one sends 300 grains at nearly twice that. The trajectory difference over 200 yards is dramatic.

Even the short Guide Gun turns in 2263 fps, worth about 3411 ft-lbs. Losing 92 fps to three and a half inches of barrel is a modest penalty for a much handier rifle.

Sighted for a two hundred yard zero, a flat shooting lever gun load of this velocity stays within a few inches of the line of sight over most practical hunting distances, which is something no standard pressure 45-70 can claim.

Accuracy reports are good. A 300 grain jacketed hollow point rifle bullet is swaged to tight tolerances, and the flatter trajectory makes range estimation errors matter less than they do with heavier loads.

Why The 300 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point Rifle Bullet Opens Fast

A jacketed hollow point opens because the cavity in the nose gives the bullet something to fold around. Arrive fast enough and it opens hard. At 2350 fps a 300 grain bullet of this construction expands very quickly and very widely.

That is exactly why Buffalo Bore caps the recommendation at 400 pounds. Rapid, wide expansion produces spectacular results on a deer or a hog and limits how far the bullet travels. On a large elk or a bear from a poor angle, that limit becomes a problem.

Match the load to the animal and this is among the most effective things you can put in a lever gun. A whitetail hit with fast expanding 45-70 ammunition of this kind does not go far.

For the heavier end of the scale Buffalo Bore builds the 350 grain jacketed and the 430 grain hard cast, both of which trade this bullet’s speed and expansion for penetration. Neither is better; they are built for different animals.

The jacket does the regulating. Without it a bullet this light at this speed would simply come apart; the copper holds enough of the core together that the expansion is violent but not total.

So the design brief is clear enough: a 300 grain jacketed hollow point rifle bullet moving fast, opening early and doing its work inside a deer sized animal. Within that envelope very little else competes.

Specifications

Rifles Approved For This Flat Shooting Lever Gun Load

Buffalo Bore approves this load for modern strong actioned rifles: Marlin 1895 rifles made since 1972, Browning 1885 and 1886 copies, the Rossi Rio Grande, the Thompson Center Encore, and falling blocks of modern steel such as the Ruger No. 1 and No. 3.

It must never be fired in an original or reproduction Trapdoor action. Buffalo Bore 45-70 ammunition is dimensionally identical to SAAMI specification ammunition and generates far more pressure, so it will chamber anywhere and is only safe in some places.

Feeding is straightforward. A 300 grain bullet is short by 45-70 standards and cycles through a tube magazine without complaint, which is not always true of the heavier offerings.

Recoil is significant but the lightest bullet in the line is also the easiest of the Magnum loads to shoot. Many people find 45-70 Magnum deer ammo in 300 grains the only one in the family they can practise with properly.

Fast Expanding 45-70 Ammunition Availability

This Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr JHP is in stock and ships from our Collegeville, Pennsylvania shop. MAG5 Firearms is a family owned FFL dealer, and orders of this fast expanding 45-70 ammunition normally leave within one business day.

For a lead free bullet at this weight see the Buffalo Bore 45-70 300gr Barnes TSX. For larger game step up to the Buffalo Bore 45-70 350gr JFN, and for the deepest penetration the Buffalo Bore 45-70 Magnum 430gr Hard Cast. Approved rifles are listed by Buffalo Bore Ammunition.