Strongest 45-70

I have to ask, "Why ask the question?" If the rifle is strong enough, that is it handles the maximum pressure of the loaded round with a significant margin of safety, the fact that another rifle has a greater margin of safety is purely academic. Of course, there are examples of pushing the margin, .45 Colt comes to mind. But I think the 45-70 has been pretty well rung out and tested in various guns. Besides, as many have pointed out, heavily loaded the round is a beast, especially in rifles with 19th century style stocks.
 
444 Marlin is rated at 46,800 CUP. And yes, I understand there is no direct comparison between CUP and PSI.
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Even at the utter maximum, you should take into account the head area and bolt thrust. .45-70 is a good bit bigger than .444.
Early production .444 barrels were sent out to Remington for heat treatment, Marlin not being equipped for it.
Maybe just a coincidence or convergent methods in an old straight case, but .45-70 SAAMI maximum is 28000 in both systems.

Scorch so a modern made 1886 is likely to be stronger than a 336/1895?
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Questions like this bring to mind the old time print gunwriter who, when asked about "barrel life" said "That would require systematically wearing out several rifles which I do not have the time, money or inclination for."

There is an outfit, Big Horn Armory, making lever actions in monster revolver magnums like .460 and .500 S&W, .475 and .500 Linebaugh. They are on the mechanical design of 1886-1892 Winchesters, no doubt of good steel and beefed up here and there.
 
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the Big Horn gun is not cheap, and its not a .45-70. The action is kind of an improved, stretched 92 but isn't quite long enough for the .45-70 round. Its a quality build, listed as a production gun but its more like a semi custom item, with a price tag to match.

Discussions of "strength" of rifles always amuses me. Even going back to the P.O. Ackley blow up tests. Other than as a point of academic interest, they are of no practical value. unless, of course, you're planning to blow up a rifle on purpose. :rolleyes:

the operating tolerance and the failure strength of a firearm are two separate and different things.

I've got close to half a century's personal, hands on experience with a number of .45-70s, single shots, levers and even bolt actions. Old Trapdoors to modern Rugers, and my experience is, that as loads go up, cases will stick (at which point the smart people STOP! and back off a bit) before they rupture and cases will rupture before the action fails.

Doesn't matter to the shooter if the action fails at 90Kpsi or 117 or 134, what matters is the working pressure limits of the various designs and operating BELOW that.
 
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