Is the 45-70 popular or rare

That's what shooting is all about...fun. You should have video taped that. It would have been a memorable moment for them when they get a little older.

Straitshot-Love the wood on your Sharps...Soule sight?
 
The 45-70 is quite popular among a very small group of shooters. I owned at least 1, and as many as 3 Marlins total, from 1976 up until few years ago. I've never personally met another person who owned one. I rarely used any of them and sold my last one about 2 years ago when I was able to double my money on it.

An interesting round, but highly over rated on the internet. It was developed as a military round for killing Indians and had a quite short life for that. It was used by quite a few hunters from the 1870's up until about 1890 simply because they were available. It was always considered under powered for larger game in the west. Serious buffalo hunters prefered much more powerful rounds. But it is the only round of its era that survives in common factroy loads and many today mistakenly believe it was a popular and common big bore buffalo round.

By the 1890's it was basically dead and it lay dormant for about 80 years until Marlin brought it back to life in the 1970's. Modern loadings improve power quite a bit, but at a huge price in recoil. The hotter loads from light weight Marlins have recoil numbers in the 50 ft lb range. More than typical 375 mag loads.
 
A very small group of shooters? If you call the tens of thousands of Cowboy Action Shooters and all the BPCR shooters a small group. The 45-70 is the most popular BP cartridge in existence today and wins matches and various competitions throughout the country. There is more brass available and more moulds in production for it than most any other. It's about as popular as it gets and has probably dropped more buffalo not only in the 1870's but recently, than most any other cartridge. A grand old cartridge that still survives and is in wide use today as it was in old Sharps and Rolling Block rifles.
 
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Pretty much if you dont have a 45-70 you are not a gun person no mater how many nagets and mossburgs you have,
 
the 45-70 is very popular in my region, not as popular as 308, 223, and 9mm though. But in comparison to those 3, no cartridge is very popular...

45-70gov wont disappear any time soon, so many big manufaturers chambering rifles for it and most ammo brands making 45-70 ammo.
 
It's popular with me. I like that I can cast and reload it for a fraction of what factory ammo goes for. It's a great caliber for cast bullets.

A 350-grain Saeco #17 gas check with some IMR 4198 behind it works very well in my Guide Gun.
 
The 45/70 will be with us for a long, long, time into the future. There is a big following of shooters that appreciate it and lots of components and firearms to shoot it in. I would consider it one of the most versatile rifle cartridges out there. It can be loaded from a plinking load of 11 gr. of Unique with a 405 lead bullet (Lyman load), to a real stomper...depending on what a person wants. Black powder or smokeless, it can really shine.
 
Those low hit/high kick cartridges like the 45-70, 38-55 etc. have a very narrow range where they are best for anything.

Even my old forest favorite the .358 Win just does not have the longer range ability that modern rounds have.

Now that I am hunting on more open land I leave them home or sell them.

Here is the last rifle I got. It's a custom with a decent stock and a pre 64 M70 action, .300 Win. M.! It kicks more that what I want for just deer and pests so I load it with 155 VLD's over 3031 to get 30-06 + velocities.

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Seems to have been hanging on and has made it fron black powder to smokeles powders. It is an effective big game round.
 
I don't think I'd call the 38/55 a high kicking cartridge either. Like a smaller brother to the 45/70 it can be very versatile. It too responds nicely to light loads of unique with a cast bullet or can be loaded to rival the 30/30 with jacketed bullets. These type of cartridges can be tailored to lots of uses from plinking to medium/large game.
 
All of this is dependent on what you want to do with a rifle/cartridge. If it's Dall sheep in the mountains of Idaho you don't want a 45-70 or a 38-55 for that matter. Try something more like a 7mm Magnum or the .270 Winchester.

The 45-70 and 38-55 have been around about as long as any cartridge and both are still made, reloaded and shot by tens of thousands. I don't think either realize their potential in a lever action rifle however. Chamber either in a '74 Sharps with a 30" barrel, tang sights and globe front sight, load with as much black powder as possible and still be able to get the bullet in the case with light compression and either is a superb target rifle or hunter. I wouldn't think twice about taking all North America has to offer with the 45-70 and countless Schuetzen matches were won with the accuracy of the Ballard rifle and the 38-55 and it's still winning matches today. This is the kind of rifles both really shine with.



 
The 45-70 has always been on my radar for a good lever action brush gun. The rawness and simplicity of the gun is just cool. Now I need to get one. Thanks guys, my wife will be ******....:p If I lived in Alaska where really big game roam, I would have already have one for sure.
 
That's the beauty of being old and single. You can get what you want, when you want it without any retribution from the home front.:)

Alaska? I wouldn't be out and about in Montana without a 1885 Marlin in 45-70 slung over my shoulder. Grizzlies and ex-wives...something to be weary of!
 
"Alaska? I wouldn't be out and about in Montana without a 1885 Marlin in 45-70 slung over my shoulder. Grizzlies and ex-wives...something to be weary of!"

The grizzly maybe... the ex-wife, I not so sure it's enough to handle the job. :D
 
And I have to say that when you pull that 34" barreled Sharps out of the gun sleeve at the range, the cool factor goes up several notches.....

For pure-D fun, that's the rifle that goes to the range with me.
 
I would not be surprised if there were more .45-70s in private hands now than in the 19th century. The Army had most of them. Sure, that made it popular with veterans and people who listened to veterans, just like the .30-06, .308, and .223.
But there were then a lot of other choices for the paying customer then, not so many in the BPCR category now.
 
For pure-D fun, that's the rifle that goes to the range with me.
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Yep, you got that right. I was amazed my first time out with a rifle like that that you could actually get in the black at 200 or 300 yards with iron sights. The rear tang sight coupled with a front globe with apertures makes hitting what you're aiming at a piece of cake. I can't do it but there's plenty of guys that can hit a buffalo size target with these old single shot rifles at 1000 yards. I doubt I could have done that with a custom 270 Winchester and 3-9x scope I use to have.

I would not be surprised if there were more .45-70s in private hands now than in the 19th century
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You're probably right. BPCR shooting has really taken off over the past several years and I find it most enjoyable. Plus, I'm happy to own one of those 45-70's.
 
I think its pretty popular. I love the old round. Its big lead capable of any thing this side of the the Atlantic. It also suppresses pretty well if your in to silencers/Suppressors.

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with the 500 grain Hornady bullets starting out at the upper end of subsonic it still has over 1000 FPE at 100 yards

I am still getting through 7 water jugs at 1020 FPS muzzle velocity
 
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