.45-70 Government Ammo Prices

The Army's 1873 black-powder cartridge is older than the light bulb and somehow having a renaissance. Modern lever guns turned it into the thumper of choice for big timber, big hogs and guide duty in bear country.

The load spectrum is enormous: soft "trapdoor-safe" loads for antique rifles up through modern loads that only belong in new-production guns. As is always the case, know which rifle you own.

Marlin released the .450 Marlin in 2000 to match very hot .45-70 loads while physically limiting use to new, modern rifles. The .450 is a very stout cartridge and it once looked like it was going to take off. Today, .45-70 is the clear leader and .450 Marlin is hard to find as there are very powerful .45-70 loads available for modern rifles which mirror the .450 Marlin's punch. Bullets run 250 to 500 grain and are not cheap but case buys are the win for cost.