My favorite 'long ranger' right now is my Marlin CB in 45-70 with a 26 inch barrel. It do kick and the velocity ain't stupendous (about 18-1900 fps). However, it will send those 400 to 500 grain bullets way out there with accuracy and they have a hell of an impact when they arrive. It's kind of neat to listen to the artillery shell 'rumbling' sound when they're on their way and be able to see the dirt puff without optics at 1,000 yards. Up closer, the impact of the large bullets is astounding, it both penetrates and flips a 55 gallon drum. If/when I go big game hunting again, a modern 45-70 will be my choice.
my bud has a marlin '95 .45-'70, stock except for a reciever mounted peep sight ( a lyman IIRC), we shoot it at 300 yards all the time, at 18" plates, & hit it more often than not, i used to think a .45-'70 would have like a rainbow trajectory, not so, shoots a lot flatter than i thought it would, sure ya gotta aim a bit high (its sighted at 100 yards) but not nearly what ya would think.
same thing with AK's, some would have ya believe ya would be lucky to hit a barn w/a AK at 300 yards, well i dont know about a barn but an 18" plate isnt too hard, with practice.
i really enjoy shooting at 300-350 yards or so with iron sighted rifles, its very fullfilling to me to actually hit a target at thast range with a iron sighted rifle, especially with something like a .45-70, or AK, its challenging, now ya take like a remington 700 .30-'06 w/a 3X12 scope, not a big deal, pretty easy, but its challenging with irons.
we also sometimes try our luck with either a ruger super blackhawk .44 mag 7.5" bbl or a S&W .500 with the long bbl, 8" or so, with irons, thats getting to be pretty difficult lol, but with practice possible, on a good day i can hit it 2 or 3 outta 6 rounds, but it aint easy, the .357SIG is pretty flat shooting, but the bullets so small its hard to see were ya are hitting, it doesnt blow up much dust, so imho the bigger rounds like the .44, .45 and .50 are best outta a pistol for the long range stuff, ya can see pretty easy were ya are hitting.
we used to go to hill country rifle range outside of austin a lot but they closed down a yr or so ago, so now if we want to do long range stuff we gotta go all the way to my lease in johnson city.
DAMN!!!! Sir that is a very nice rifle you got there.:thumbup:
