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Thank You Bramble.
I will answer you again paragraph by paragraph.
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"I have seen and shot solid 405 grain heads pushed to the limits of the cartridge safe pressure (and beyond?) and was unimpressed with the results."

I will agree with you here 100%. That's WHY we developed the bullets we did. Using the Remington, and Speer bullets, I found that driving them anything over about 1200 FPS they would come apart if they hit heavy solid muscle and any bone, and would not penitrate as well as I wanted them to.
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"However perhaps you will accept that they are specialist loads, it is most unlikley that you will walk into a gunshop in SA or Zim and find a box on the shelf."

Man-o-man are you correct here! 100%! These loads are for the specialist only, and those that have access to loading their own, or at least access to someone that does.
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"Would you also conceed that if I take a 375 H+H and make some unusually heavy and long for caliber solids and drive them to the very maximum that a 98 action will stand, that the results might be reversed ?"

___Again I concede to the point, at least 1/2 way. We found that the 350 grain 275 bullets would do well (turned out of solid bronze) if they didn't get to tumbling much. In the cases they did, they were still pretty good, but not as good as the bigger 45 calibers. Nothing we were able to do with a 375 made it the equal of a 45-70 or 458 at 200 yds or less. I think the 375 is about optimum as it is and has been for the last 96 years. It needs no "improvement" It's not the stopper that the bigger guns can be, but that's not it's mission. As an "all around rifle" it's still the best shell ever made in my openion. A 45-70 is a great cartridge when loaded to it's potential, but it's never going to cover the bases like a 375. I am not saying it ever will. I am just stating the facts, that it WILL out kill and out penitrate a 375, but as you point out, there's no such thing as a "free ride" "free energy" is something only God can make. we can only use energy within the bounds that exist.
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"Properly then we should compare say Fedral 470.NE with Fedral 45-70 Gov. Solids. Then to compound the situation compare softs in the 2 calibers. (one could do the same with .375 9.3 .404 .416 Rigby etc etc)."

I would think the 404 Jeff is a better comparison. The 470 is out in front of the 45-70 and it always will be. It's bigger and faster. It also is a shell for singles and doubles alone. No repeating rifles (that I know of) are made in the 470 NE. So I think we should compare the 45-70 more to the 375 and the 404. In my openion, it will do what those shells will do within 200 yds. They 375 is clearly better at 200 plus, and the 404 will run away from the 45-70 too, but not to the extent of the 375. The 416s will beat the 45-70 at ranges of 100 yds and farther, but in my experience and the reports of MANY men and women that have used out bullets, a good 45-70 is just slightly behind in effectiveness in comparison to a 416 400 grain at 2200-2300. A 450-480 at 1600 is much better than most men would think. It just doesn't have as much range.

But, I do agree with you, the 45-70 is not going to compete on an equal level with the bigger 45s, 46s 47s and 50s I would never say it would. However i will point out to some (who say that it's just not going to ever be a good "African cartridge) that it beats a 375, and comes very close to the 404 and the 416s. So if the 45-70 is inadequate, so would those old shell be. A preposterous notion if I'd say so myself.
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"One cannot doubt that they kill game, the evidence is clear. However I still do not want to be slapped around by a 7 1/2 lb 4000 ftlb rifle (I abhore muzzle breaks)."

Again, no arguments here. recoil is something every hunter has to make decisions on for himself. I also find light 45-70s to be unpleasant. i shoot them well, but I don't enjoy them as much as I do my Mausers. It's back to the "free ride" point again. I would love the LA 45-70 for a "walking gun" if I were living in the bush country, and wanted a rifle i would carry a lot but fire only once a week or so. They are wonderful to carry. but they can "bump you' pretty well. Not all that bad, but just a bit more then I like. I have restocked several for friends with buttstocks that had a 2" X 5.5" footprint and a good pad, and that makes them very nice, but as they come from the factories they can be a bit harsh.

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"I was on Safari in 2007 where 45-70 LG's were used by three of the party. Of three Blue Wildebeest shot, 1 fell to a "lever evolution" round. 2 others were lost. I shot 2 with a 450#2 and neither moved from the spot. I am the first to conceed that it is not a large or representative sample, but I can only call it as I have seen it myself."
I am not surprised. The LE bullets are good in their accuracy, but they are not made for very large and very tough game. For game of larger size and / or toughness, the LBT bullets will embarrass the factory loadings.
So I am not at all surprised at what you tell us here.
Happy hunting.

Steve Zihn