45s: It seems as though your question went astray, hijacked for a better term.
I was always under the impression that DG stood for all Dangerous Game not elephant alone. That said the 45-70 is more than adaquate to hunt lion,leopard,buffalo and croc. I wouldn't use it for elephant or hippo (on land vs popping him in the brain as he lies in the water) bur short of that the good old 45-70 will do it's job with proper bullets.
One item you will rarely here the canon crowd admit to is their 500+ WUMP UM THUMPER will not stop a full blown charge either from a buff unless a CNS hit is scored .
If the 45-70 loaded with 54.0 gr IMR3031 and a good stiff jacketed bullet designed for one of the 458 Mags @350 gr is not a buffalo killer than I say neither is the 450/400, 404 Jeffery, 450#2,etc. all intended to push a 400 gr bullet @2100FPS with 4K# of energy ( satistics that are easily reached in a MODERN LA such as Marlin's GG). With today's reloading componets and modern actions such as Marlin's 1895 which can withstand 50000# pressure and have been tested to 60000# there is simply no reason other than nostalgia to not embrace a Marlin made 45-70 when hunting most DG.

OK the lid is off the cesspool