Is the 45-70 a black powder cartridge or is it able to fire modern powders?

i need to know cause i'm thinking of buying a rifle in 45-70 but i dont know if it uses black powder cartridges or whatIs the 45-70 a black powder cartridge or is it able to fire modern powders?
Andy %26amp; john d w nailed this!





The 45/70 was a black powder cartridge and today鈥檚 modern 45/70s use modern smokeless powder. There are however antique old 45/70 rifles that still can only shoot black powder cartridges but they are very few in numbers. And they sure wouldn鈥檛 look modern.


As Andy correctly said you can shoot black powder rounds out of the modern 45/70 rifles. In fact I have hand loaded and shot such in my rifles. It鈥檚 dirty and fouls the bore and is a pain to clean but does produce a nice big cloud of smoke and flame.





The modern loads for 45/70 have come a long way. Garrett Cartridges makes some very powerful 45/70 loads. One in fact has a 500 gr bullet in it! They are nice brush guns for even dangerous animals and any big game. In fact its been used in Africa to down the big 5. Despite that I have killed little Sitka deer and it just punched a nice clean hole through them.





Your going to love it. But don鈥檛 start with those Garrett 500gr rounds, they kick pretty good.Is the 45-70 a black powder cartridge or is it able to fire modern powders?
The 45-70 was originally a BP ctg but today it is loaded with smokeless powders that produce pressures low enough to make it safe for use in the Trapdoor Springfield Rifles and very definitely safe to use in the lever action model 1886 Winchester and its modern reproductions made in Japan. You can reload it to higher pressures than factory loads, but only for use in 1886 Winchesters and 1895 Marlins, both of which are sufficiently strong for loads faster than the factory ctgs. If the gun is a Trapdoor, have it checked by a good gunsmith to be certain it is safe and has correct headspace.


What kind of a gun-action is it and who makes it? And what is the condition?
The .45-70 started out in 1873 as a black powder rifle cartridge. As the world changed from black powder to smokeless powder so did the .45-70 loadings. Modern reloading manuals list .45-70 loads in two categories those with low pressure loads to be used in older ';vintage'; rifles and the those that are only to be used with modern firearms. Nothing is stopping you from using black powder loads in a modern .45-70 if you wish to do so.
The original loads were 70 grains of black powder for the rifle and 55 for the carbine. Most these days use smokeless propellants though you're welcome to load black powder if you wish. The factory loads are smokeless. Smokeless-for-black loads in a trapdoor Springfield need to be kept at pretty low pressures, around 18,000 CUP, but the Marlin lever actions can easily handle over 25,000, and the Ruger No.1 you can push considerably higher still.
The .45-70 began life as a black powder cartridge but today it's loaded with smokeless powders which should obviously not be used in antique weapons intended for use with black powder.





Muzzle loading has nothing to do with the .45-70 which was and is a breech loading firearm cartridge.
I'm not really into muzzle loaders so I can't say what they do or don't make for that type of firearm. Now what I can say is they do make a 45-70 Gov in a smokeless brass cartridge. It's usually found in a lever action rifle or maybe a double rifle. They also make a pistol chambered in this round which is loads of fun to shoot. Anyhow, this caliber is good for large game hunting like Bear but keep in mind the projectile starts dropping like a rock at the 100yrd mark.





I hope that helps, be safe.
Seriously? Come on, dude. If you don't know this, you shouldn't be buying anything. Are you trying to figure out if the 45-70 you are going to buy needs black powder poured down the barrel, and a ball hammered home after that? Give me a break! Does it come with a ramrod? No, it doesn't.


It's not a muzzeloading rifle. Before you go out and spend $1,500 on a gun, do some research. Do some on a site that isn't full of kids and stay at home moms like YA is.