Which caliber

[Eric Johanen]

If hunting and gong shooting are the reason for your caliber choice, I'd recommend a 45-70,45-90 or my favorite...50-70 in a Hartford model with a shotgun butt and a 30" standard octagon barrel. 12 + pound guns get real old in the field while hunting all day. !0 pound rifles will not tire you out nearly as much. My primary hunter is a Military rifle in 50-70 and I can hit at 400 yards. (Still need to work out my sights for 500). I use the open barrel sights with a blade front and the long staff Lawrence for the rear. Good sight picture and it works well. My 45-70 #1 Sporting Rifle with a standard 30 inch barrel has given great results with excellent performance using both greaser's and paper patch bullets to over 600 yards. I have used it for Creedmoor but now use a heavy barrel #1 in 45-90. 78 to 80 grains of 1.5 for the 45-70 and 97 to 100 grains for the 45-90 using a paper patched bullet has plenty of reach. Paper patch 50 caliber with 70 grains of 1.5 or 2 fg powder is an excellent hunter and usually my first choice. The big cases and heavy rifles are really great fun but...they get to be a bit too much fun and weight for the hunting fields and the smaller rounds and lighter rifles perform well on steel.