The 45-70 Govt. carries a powerful mystique. Big bore. Heavy hitter. Knockdown power. A favorite of commercial bison hunters in the 1870s. So how do you think it performed on this 90-pound African warthog?
45-70 Govt. Up Close and Personal
Here are the clinical details: The 300-grain Barnes bullet left the muzzle at roughly 1,800 fps carrying 2,159 f-p of energy. At its impact range of 108 yards, remaining energy should have been about 1,500 foot-pounds. That is theoretically enough power to lift 1,500 pounds a foot above the ground or a 100-pound warthog 15 feet straight up. This particular old pig hadn’t read the ballistic tables. Instead of flipping through the air, recoiling several feet backward, or even falling on its side, the old boar merely ran as if alarmed.
“Did I miss?” I asked Geoffrey.
“No, you hit it. Let’s go see.”
While tracker Pa searched for a blood trail (there was none,) Geoffrey and I moved ahead along the hog’s line of departure. After about 150 yards we spotted our quarry lying on its side. But it wasn’t quite dead, so I applied one more 300-grain slug between the forelegs, up through the heart and lungs and out the back. That shot did not move the small desert hog so much as an inch.
Post Hunt Autopsy of 45-70 Govt. Performance
Our post-hunt autopsy revealed the first bullet had struck just in front of the boar’s right “shoulder,” mid-height, passed above the heart and through the lungs the length of the thoracic cavity. It then punched through the diaphragm, into the paunch, and exited in front of the left ham. No structural bones were hit, but the bullet traversed most of the vital organs we hunters aim to disrupt.
So, let the conjecture and arguments begin. But don’t make the common mistake of condemning the 45-70 Govt. cartridge, the 300-grain Barnes TSX bullet, the Marlin rifle, or the shooter on this one incident. Both Geoffrey and I called the hit nigh perfect. The bullet obviously had sufficient momentum for complete penetration. The .458″ bullet had the diameter many big bore advocates insist is necessary for creation of an adequate wound channel (this ain’t no puny 6.5mm anything!) And you can’t convince me the Barnes TSX with its wide, hollow nose cavity failed to open. Yes, there is the chance that this particular pig was tougher than most and persevered despite perfect shot placement. Regardless, where was that famous bison-slaying knockdown power? That is the big question. If “knockdown power” were all it’s cracked up to be, why wasn’t this hog knocked down?
50 Years Experience Illustrates 45-70 Govt. Performance
Fifty years of hunting experience with a wide variety of cartridges and bullets on well over 120 different big game species have informed me that bullet placement and performance (expansion and penetration) trump so-called knockdown power every time. Hit the central nervous system and yes, you do knock down your prey. But it takes amazingly little power to do it.
Does this mean that a low energy cartridge with a light, small diameter bullet is just as effective as a 45-70 Govt? Not necessarily, but maybe. Sometimes. My advice — and this is echoed by Geoffrey, Leon, Mark and other PHs at Fort Richmond Safaris — is to hunt with and enjoy whatever cartridge you shoot well. Just don’t expect it to knock anything down. Strive for precision placement with a bullet designed to expand reliably at your anticipated impact energies and penetrate far enough to reach the vitals. And hone your tracking skills.
During a half century of hunting around the world, the author has learned to never say always and never say never when it comes to bullet performance.
Charlie Foley says
June 9, 2019 at 1:52 PMMaybe you have that bullet moving a bit too fast. Just punching through your target. All those f/p of force are being wasted.
Ron Spomer says
June 10, 2019 at 11:59 AMCharlie, 1,800 fps is SLOW. Bullets don’t work better if they’re slower. Speed is what gives them energy. Energy (punch, power) decreases as velocity decreases. Two hogs I shot with 150-gr. TSX from 7x57mm collapsed instantly. Another I shot with 45-70 took three hits before running out of gas. None knocked it down, including the one that stayed inside. Trusting knockdown power is not wise.
Keith Christy says
July 22, 2019 at 1:47 PMTry running a f/n cast bullet at 325 to 350 Gr. @ the 1800 fps. I think you will have better luck.
Ron Spomer says
July 23, 2019 at 12:45 PMKeith, I appreciate that info. And you might be spot on. But I have my doubts. Why? Because one the celebrated attributes of the .458 bullet is it diameter. As several readers have pointed out, “it leaves a bigger hole.” A second benefit of using one is momentum, all that mass leading to impressive penetration. The heavier the bullet, the more the mass, the deeper the potential penetration. I agree. Both attributes contribute, or should, to a larger wound channel, i.e. increased hemorrhaging. But… the 300-gr. bullets I employed on those warthogs already penetrated completely through. And, thanks to their hollow noses, they not only punched a .458″ hole, but expanded to ragged edges that widened that surface area even farther. And they penetrated completely through the leading edge of front leg/shoulder through thoracic cavity and exiting in front of opposite side back leg. I would call that a perfectly placed shot (unless you insist one at the base of the ear is more perfect.) The fact that the warthog thus saluted reacted as if untouched, ran about 150 yards and was still alive by the time we found it suggests the wide, deep-penetrating bullet might not be as impressive as popular perception makes out. Of course, you might be right and a hard-cast, flat-nose lead 350-grain could make all the difference, but I fail to see what it can/will do that’s deadlier than complete body penetration and a larger-than .458″ diameter frontal surface. BTW, I shot another boar with that same rifle/load three times, all hits inside of 50 yards, two passing through, one staying inside. Never knocked it down. After absorbing two hits, boar ran about 300 yards and lay beside a tree. When we approached to within 35 yards or so, he took off again and a third hit through the shoulders kicked up dust on the far side. He ran but 10 or 15 yards more before falling and expiring. I’ve shot, I don’t know, probably a dozen warthogs and African wild boars, many more feral hogs on three continents weighing two to three times as much with cartridges as light as 221 Fireball and heavy as 300 Win. Mag. I saw no indications that those throwing heavier bullets killed any faster than the lightest so long as the bullet’s struck vital tissues. My conclusion, for what it’s worth, is that one should hunt with a rifle/cartridge/bullet one can shoot precisely, choose a bullet built to survive impact velocities and punch through to those vitals while expanding to increase wound channel, aim to place said bullet through the vitals, keep shooting until the animal is down, always assume a hit and search diligently. And hone your tracking skills. My first warthog in Zim, 1995, dashed off as if untouched by 210-gr. Barnes X from 330 Dakota. No blood, but tracker Rome puzzled out the tiny scuff marks in the dirt until we came upon the boar lying in an erosion channel. Keith, none of this is to imply your f/n 350-gr. 45-70 loads aren’t deadly effective. If your experiences with them informs you this is optimum for your needs, by all means stick with them and continue advocating for their use! Perhaps one day I’ll get a chance to try something similar and my eyes will be opened!
Arvin Finley says
June 14, 2019 at 12:57 PMHi Ron, I love my 45/70’s and love shooting them. Both my Marlin and Henry. Both are fairly accurate. The old time Bison Hunters were were for the most part herd shooters, not necessarily precision shooters. As far as knockdown power I have had a lot of critters drop in their tracks but never knocked over from bullet impact. I do in joy your articles and load information very much. Thanks ….Idaho Al
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:44 PMArvin, I agree with you except for the bison market hunters not being precise shots. They were and they had to be. There’s was a commercial operation and had to return on investment. Ammo was expensive and had to be handloaded in camp. Bison had to be hit precisely in heart/lungs to drop them “calmly” without alarming the herd. I once hit a bison with a 500-gr. hard cast slug from a 50-110 Sharps from 40 yards. One errant shot to the jaw and the bull didn’t even flinch. Just licked his lips and sauntered off. Next shot through the lungs made him jump a bit, but then he just walked until he fell. The other bulls then horned him. Kicking a good man when he was down, so to speak.
John Cumming says
June 9, 2019 at 4:15 PMNo one can accuse Ron of being too wordy on this article, but point well made.
Dan says
June 11, 2019 at 9:24 PMFrom my experience of testing bullets and hunting big game …
Im a believer in the secondary wound channel …which is several times larger than the actual bullet diameter…at least for a short distance…created by bullets of any diameter moving at a high rate of speed…destroying tissue inches away from the actual bullet path..
My thoughts are that a large slow moving bullet creates a deep primary wound channel ..hopefully hitting a vital organ….but lacks the destruction of tissue that you get in the secondary wound channel…kind of like an arrow with a field point…
…this is also why i have my own minimum impact velocities and maximum distance for any of my rifles..
Does any of this make sense Ron?
Ron Spomer says
June 12, 2019 at 8:09 PMYes, Dan, it makes sense, but I would describe it as an “extended” wound channel, perhaps “temporary” wound channel because elasticity of tissue allows it to stretch and then spring back, but some can be torn during the stretching. The “physical” wound channel would be tissues literally touched/ripped/torn/cut by the bullet. That is the most dependable. I shot 6 warthogs last week. Only 2 were “bang flops,” both shot through the shoulders broadside with a 150-grain Barnes TSX 7×57 Mauser factory load inside 100 yards. Another hog shot with the 45-70 (same gun and load as in the blog post) absorbed three hits and continued running before expiring from blood loss. First bullet entered paunch forward into chest and stayed inside. 2nd slipped behind shoulder and out front of same shoulder, not entering thoracic cavity. Third broadside behind shoulders and out. None knocked warthog down or even wobbled it to any significant degree.
Eric Rachal says
June 14, 2019 at 6:05 PMJust wondering, what if the bullet was something like a Sierra game king, it would seem as if energy transfer would have been better on animal of that size and thickness.
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:36 PMEric, energy transfer just doesn’t do much. That’s not how bullets work. They work by tearing tissue and interrupting blood flow to the brain. Hemorrhaging. A 22 Long Rifle to the brain will “Knockdown” anything. A 500-grain .50 through the guts won’t, not will it through both lungs. But it will tear more tissue and increase hemorrhaging for a faster demise. Barnes X bullets, in my long experience, do an effective job of tearing, the opened petals cutting and tearing across a wide swath. I’ve seen many, many lead core bullets ball up at the nose, creating a smooth surface that pushes tissue more than tears it. And I’ve put bbullets carrying 3,000 f-p energy into average sized whitetails, no exit, and had them run off as if untouched. In fact, last week I put one of those 45-70 300-grs. into a hog from 40 yards and it barely wobbled. Two more hits and it didn’t fall over until it ran out of blood flow to the brain. Classic stuff. You want two things in a bullet aside from proper placement: expansion (to cause more hemorrhaging) and weight retention for deeper penetration (to cause more hemorrhaging.)
John Dunlap says
June 12, 2019 at 8:27 AMI would say that there’s no such thing as knockdown power. If Ron were to shoot that same cartridge at a metallic silhouette match, it would knock the 200 Yrd. rams down. The steel plate doesn’t deform (or deforms very little), and stops the bullet almost instantly, so most of the bullet’s energy is transferred as momentum to the target, some goes into deforming/fragmenting the bullet, and some ends up as heat. Flesh and bone has more elasticity and much less tensile and compression strength than steel, so the bullet’s energy is expended over a longer period of time in crushing and tearing a hole in the target. Very little ends up as transferred momentum. If you could somehow make the bullet transfer all of its energy to the animal without penetrating, as if striking a steel plate, it might knock the animal down, but it also wouldn’t kill it. It could make it really mad at you, though. :)
Shane says
June 12, 2019 at 1:22 PMIt’s all about bullet construction and placement. If you put a bullet in a critters vitals it’s gonna die. How fast it does depends on several factors such as hemorrhaging, loss of blood pressure….etc. sometimes critters just run, it’s how the Good Lord designed them. I have personally shot hogs in the head and they drop on the spot but while they are laying there their feet are moving like they are trying to run(it’s instinct, it’s programmed into them). Then I’ve shot some in the vitals and they never move a muscle and are DRT. It’s a toss of the coin. I completely agree with your assessment. Use a well constructed and well placed bullet in the kill zone and always be prepared to track. So many people don’t won’t to track, but I was always told that’s part of being a hunter. Great read, Ron.
Jeff G Belongia says
June 12, 2019 at 4:47 PMi have shot 38 warthog over the years and seen very few drop on impact. Two I remember were shot by my sons and both of those with a 22 Hornet. Neck shots.
Ron is spot on once again. Don’t believe in “knockdown” power, and don’t expect it. I have taken game with 22 LR up to 470NE and 458 Lott. I have yet to witness this power phenomonon! it is a buzz phase coined and perpetuated by ammo manufacturers.
John says
June 12, 2019 at 11:57 PMI wonder if the out come would’ve been a dramatic “knockdown” if you had broken some bones? I might think you’d have anchored the boar and blood loss would do its thing. I’m curious now that I’ve researched 100% copper bullets a bit. It seems that these types of bullet’s performance might benefit from contacting a bit of resistance from a bone or the like to transfer that “shock” factor. Any opinions based in hunting reality Ron? ( Mine are all based on reading the internet……which as we all know, is never wrong! ;). Congrats on the tusker.
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:49 PMJohn, hitting a major support bone certainly helps, but over the years I’ve broken many, many a front leg bone only to watch the struck animal run away on three legs, never falling down. Often they’ll jump like a bucking horse when hit. Sometimes they’ll stumble and sometimes they’ll fall before getting up and running off. Hit the spine and you put them down, but that’s not knockdown power. I’ve seen arrows to it.
Bruce Holler says
June 14, 2019 at 11:41 AMFact: by the time an animal reacts to being shot the bullet has already passed through as far as it is going to go. Knock-down-power, Optimum Game Weight, Kinetic Energy, and the other means of comparing cartridges are for the purposes of comparing cartridge potential.
My question, is not the 22-250 over gunned for ground squirrels? When hit they appear to explode, do they not?
Since a BB gun may be under gunned for big game hunting, when does over gunned start to come into play?
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:46 PMBruce, I’d say over-gunned is when the shooter can’t shoot accurately due to recoil fear/flinching or when the terminal performance ruins more meat than the hunter would like.
DOUG HOWARD says
June 14, 2019 at 1:51 PMRon-
I would have liked to be the guy standing next to you…when you opened the gun case at the JNB gun registration office…and the officer looked at that rifle…then looked up at you and asked “what’s this?”
Good article on the importance of bringing good boots for tracking. After all the bullet and cartridge physics and dynamics advertising and debate, the wound channel theory, the expert testimony on why animals should have gone down immediately…you still need to reload another cartridge and track. Every animal there is Africa tough.
Thanks Ron! Another good read.
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:38 PMI showed that Marlin to a Boer farmer and hunter. He said he’d seen something like in in old western movies.
kerry purcell says
June 14, 2019 at 2:35 PMi used the 45-70 some, some years ago,was not all that impressed with its so called knock down power,,,sold off my 45-70s ,, a 44 magnum rifle is about as good, with good loads,,,,not near as much recoil,,kills about the same,
Nolan Osborne says
June 14, 2019 at 3:55 PMRon,
Was there ever any consideration of a heavier, hard-cast bullet? I used a 430gr gas checked hardcast from HSM for a few years as a guiding rifle – though I never got to see its performance on game – before switching to a shorty 338 win mag. Those 430’s came out a little hotter than the Barnes load. I do agree that the 45-70 is often spun up to something that it is not.
David Becker says
June 14, 2019 at 4:16 PMRon, I don’t have any of the expertise of the previous commentators, but I shot 2 warthogs (similar to your picture) in Namibia last year with .30-06 Nosler 180 gr Accubond, about 100 yards and both dropped on the spot. In both cases I can’t say my shot placement was precise. Kind of hard to place precisely on those critters. And thanks again for your previous personal advice on the 9.3×62 for this year.
Ron Spomer says
June 14, 2019 at 8:37 PMNo doubt, David. I shot two other warthogs on this trip and dropped them on the spot. Shoulder shots broadside with a little 150-gr. Barnes TSX from a 7x57mm.
CRS says
June 15, 2019 at 1:01 PMBullet placement rules!