50-70 Thoughts

[Don Sketcher]

I would like your opinions please.
Good or bad, hunting and range.
I am considering this caliber for my new Shiloh.

My caliber choices are 50-70, 40-70ss or 45-110.

Thanks,
Don

[Kurt]

Don.

All of those calibers are fine. But you have to ask yourself what your tolerances are for recoil. The .50-70 and .40-70 have a mild recoil but the .45-110 gets on the stiff side for a lot of shooters and they start asking what they can do to down load that caliber.
If your sensitive to recoil chances are you will never be satisfied with the accuracy your getting from that rifle even though that rifle and caliber has great accuracy potential.

Kurt

[Don McDowell]

I guess the answer would depend a lot on what you're going to use the rifle for.
Midrange, sillouette hunting,and the typical gong match , either the 50 or the 40 would be good.
If looking at Creedmoor etc, then the 2 7/8's is the better of the choices. Altho changing that down to a 2.4 or 2.6 then allows for more manageable recoil yet the ability to cover all the bases.

[Don Sketcher]

I already own a used Shiloh Quigley in 45-110. Made in 1994. Love it and the recoil doesn't bother me.
My uses would be general shooting (hunting and target).
I have a Swedish Roller in 50-70, haven't shot it much yet.

[powderburner]

it should make a nice hunting round , the 50s always seem to kill better than they should ,seems like and the 70 is an easy round to load for and easy on the shoulder to shoot , I have a rebarreled swede roller with a carbine length barrel on it and it is a real hoot to shoot , I do shoot patched bullets in it and it will shoot as long as I want to shoot just by inserting another ctg. it is my bunny gun.and I have yet to fail to stop a charging desert jack with it,

[Mike]

Go for that .50/70, you'll always be glad that you did. For hunting, we seldom take shots beyond 200 yards these days and the .50/70 will handle that easily. For just plain good shooting the .50/70 is more than up to the task, its great. You'll probably end up with more than one .50/70. Shoot sharp, Mike

[J.B.]

50 x 1 3/4 " ! Great round indeed. Of the cartridges I've loaded to date and I did own a 45/110 for a few years, the 50/70 was by far the easiest to get to shooting well. ( Although the 44/77 is a very close second) . You've got a long range weapon in your 45/110 now anyway. The 50 is a lot of fun. I've used mine at gong shoots out to 800 yds so far and at 100 yds it shoots moa without much issue at all. About the only thing I'd suggest is ask Shiloh if you can have a more shallow chamber end ( 7 vs 45 degrees) as this will assist you a little if you plan to paper patch...and wont hurt with regard gg. If you go the way of the 50/70, you'll have an option on twist rates as well ( 22 vs 36"). JMO..but I think with the 'smaller' 50, the 36" twist is better suited but sure either will shoot fine. Brass availability has been an issue with the 40/70 also but that will likely be corrected by Jamison/Captech once they gear up for that case. Keep us in the loop as to how you go.

Gavin.

[Mike]

Good news! I just found out that my new .50/70 half-octagon Model 1874 Hartford from C. Sharps Arms is done and ready to go. Only nine weeks from order to completion. If you will allow, I'll brag on how well it shoots rather soon. Shoot sharp, Mike

[Don McDowell]

We'll be waiting for the full report next week.

[Mike]

We'll be waiting for the full report next week.

Don, I'll make sure plenty of ammo gets loaded. By the way, how's the weather? We had enough wind to lose power this morning. Shoot sharp, Mike