I have a Pact pad I put on when I shoot the 35 or the 45-70’s at the range.  Try shooting 20 to 40 rounds of either.  I have limited brass and need to fire them to test a different load.  I guess I could knock out the bullets?

RickC said
Ya that would definitely be a must in your case Chuck. I only fire 3 or 4 rounds from each rifle once a year to keep them honest…and my fading memory of where they shoot.

RickC  

I had never got the 35 totally dialed in.  I was planning on using one of the 45-70’s on a deer hunt this year in Iowa.. I called after the hunt.  They had a huge crowd of about 13 hunters.  We usually have about 6.  In the opening weekend they got 14 deer and a few of those were bucks.  All of this on 3 farms.  2 of which were less than 1/2 mile from my Dad’s old farm.  The other I had never been to.  These guys hunt for meat but a nice rack is always appreciated.  Most years I get al least 3 deer.  In this area residents can buy as many doe tags as they wish so someone always has an extra tag for me.

RickC said
I find the 35 a big cartridge for deer so 45-70 would be overkill for me Chuck but the hunting environment plays into it so maybe the right choice where you go. Sounds like plenty of game there.  

Iowa is a shotgun state.  They do allow straight wall pistol cartridges but you can use a 45-70 as long as it is a hollow point.  My friend told me that this cartridge might not be allowed in the future.

Here is a Winchester M92 44-40 High Velocity cartridge from the late 1920’s that I dissected. It contained 20.3gr of Sharpshooter powder.

19.6gr of Sharpshooter along with a 200gr jsp reported to achieve 1,680fps @ 1,253ft lbs of energy

I have all of this information uploaded to the internet for all to enjoy
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jy0pGqWPRx2HOQqufbcnEM1lv6tCWBJsCOB8vLIDOIg/edit#gid=1905899731

Powder information here https://sites.google.com/view/44winchester/powders/smokeless-powders-transition-years?authuser=0

Dave K. said
Not a  black bear “harvest” nor a .44-40 one either story but many years ago during my game warden career I was called upon to shoot a nuisance black bear at a fly camp of a forest fire fighting crew. I was working on the same fire at the time and didn’t have my vehicle or my “predator gun” (.303 Lee Enfield)  with me so I asked the local game warden, a newer recruit, to lend me his. He retrieved a Marlin .44 Magnum with a low power scope from behind the back seat of his truck. I asked him if that was the only gun he had since it was rather underpowered by my reckoning. The men from the fire camp, who were Indiginous from northern Alberta had been flown out because of the bear were from Alberta and told me it was a small bear not thinking that to these fellows a big bear was a grizzly. I decided that the .44 Mag would probably be OK. I was taken to the empty camp by helicopter and left there to deal with the bear. I wanted to test fire the gun and took some shots at a tin can set on a tree stump at very close range and found that with the scope it was shooting about 4″ to the right and low. I should have packed  it in just then but I adjusted the scope with a dime on the screws and got it to be shooting dead on at least at very close range. My shooting must have attracted the bear as he arrived minutes after and was growling and total unafraid of my presence as he began to scavenge for food around the camp. He was in fact a very big boar and one of the biggest bears I have ever seen! He was very wary of me and as I stalked him from about 20 yards he stood up on his hind legs to get my scent but his chest was obscured by heavy brush and a shot in the lung/heart area was not possible unless I shot through the brush but I was worried the bullet might deflect enough to hit a non vital area. In probably the most foolish decision of my long career I decided try and take this bear down with a shot directly between the eyes as his head was clearly visible and I was gettng concerned since I was clearly annoying him and he began showing signs that he might make a charge.  I would only have seconds before he was on top of me at that range. I knew that the gun was dead on at that short range. This was clearly a bear that had absolutely no fear of man and had probably never seen one in his life other than the fire  fighters and now me. 

I squeezed the trigger and the bullet hit the bear between the eyes. He didn’t drop but instead immediately  spun around and took off a run into the dense brush behind him. I still had at least an hour to wait before the chopper arrived and sure didn’t want to leave s wounded bear behind so I waited about 1/2 an hour before I began to follow a rather thin blood trail leading down into a swamp and very dense alder thicket. It was then that I noticed the loading gate had come loose and had fallen into the action of the gun. I had only the loaded round in the chamber to deal with the bear if was nearby and decided to attack. Alone with a broken gun I backtracked to the tent camp and waited for my tranpost out. I felt very ashamed that I had wounded the bear and have after all these years since have wondered what might have happened. My thinking is that the bullet hit the bear between the eyes at the top of his skull and ricocheted off since there was not sign of flesh near where he was standing nor along the blood trail. The fire crew did return and the bear was never seen again. He was so far into the bush that the cahnces are he would never again see a human . I have shot several bears before and since and live trapped dozens of other but this one still haunts me in my dreams just as the Cree elder predicted it would. I would be very reluctant to take on a bear while on the ground with a .44-40 given this experience with its big brother the .44 Magnum.  

Dave – that was a very exciting story.  It pulled me in completely.  I too, felt like I was there.  Thank you for posting it.  I wonder if the outcome would have been different had the rifle used been a Winchester rather than a Marlin?  I believe at least you wouldn’t have been dealing with a broken rifle.   Also, it may not have been the cartridge at fault.  As you state, you really didn’t want to take that head shot.  Had you had your .303 along, and placed the shot in the same spot, the outcome would probably be the same.  All in all, it worked out very well (except for your dreams).  You weren’t hurt and the bear didn’t come back and hurt anyone.  I think it is very fortunate you didn’t try the chest shot.  You very probably would have needed another shot (or two or three or four…) and as you say, the repeating aspect of the rifle wasn’t there.  In fact, if the loading gate is jammed in the action, the rifle wouldn’t have worked as a single shot either.  I’ve shot a lot of deer with a Marlin M1894 .44 magnum with a low power scope.  It’s worked well enough but the mechanics are nothing close to a vintage M1892.  

Dave – indeed, you were lucky.  I would say, “a comedy of errors” is often how life unfolds.  It’s amusing that the whole debate of the adequacy of a certain cartridge can turn out to be completely moot if the rifle firing it has a mechanical failure.  And certainly, a ’97 riot gun loaded with slugs would have been very handy to have on hand.  

Again, a very enjoyable read.