A previous post said this "With regards to the 45/70, on the sweetest handling doubles I've held was a fausti sxs in 45/70. In fact there is a cheapy on usedguns at the moment."

I too have seen a Fausti at a trade show and that would be a nice .45-70.
However, I plan to keep my Beretta .45-70 DR with 26 inch barrels. It is very accurate and those .458 bullets do make big holes with very little recoil:

And it is real purty too:

Plus with the right bullets (North Fork, Punch, etc) it easily shoots through an ele head and into the body. In fact, at 50 yards, the Punch shot through a 5/8 inch steel swinging target plate; the MV was just about 2000 fps. With that even a Blaster with a plastic thumb hole stock could be a DG rifle - but is it really needed?