slammer ..

You may not be aware of the history of .45/70 questions about buffalo hunting.

While they really haven't occurred here on some other discussion boards where many NE.com members also visit there have been many, many discussions on the .45/70 and in particular buffalo hunting with it. A lot of it was due to semantics and the use and misunderstanding of words like "ideal calibre" vs "capable".

Some of these discussions were just generated by trouble makers looking to start fights and disrupt the particular board. In total they probably added up to thousands of posts. One "troll" caused one commercial board ("Marlintalk") to close down and he tried the same elsewhere and was banned. Now he is playing a sheep.

So a lot of members have very short tempers on this question. I think you received some very measured responses and good information.

To sum up some of the answers:

- using a .45/70 on buffalo is not new and has been done numerous times before - in articles sometimes with very questionable story lines, and as said a fellow client in Matetsi who was a straight guy and shot all sorts of big bores took a buffalo without a lot of fuss with a Marlin .45/70. He planned to return and try it on an elephant in the future.

- a .45/70 is probably not legal, but has been used before and you will find PHs willing to let you use one.

- a .45/70 will kill buffalo if you use appropriate projectiles driven at appropriate speeds and take careful shots. You may miss out on a buffalo this way if eg a nice broadside shot within range does not occur. But as you said if you have two buff on quota and use a .458 Lott for the first, why not try it if you want for the second.

- as with muzzle loaders and bow hunters (or anyone else shooting off) your PH may need to finish off the animal for you or it may get away. Some guys like to use something more adequate.

- Ray - gave some ideas as to projectiles to work up loads for. The fellow I met used flat point hard cast projectiles as well.