Which rifle did you have? I have three Lee-Enfields chambered in .303.Mine is a Lee-Enfield SMLE, or offically a Lee-Enfield Short Magazine Rifle MkIII . My major gripe with it is that it's just very uncomfortable to shoot, my personal opinion is that the barrel is too light and the balance is off, but I'm no gun smith and not even much of a gun buff, so it's hard to say for certain.
My father has the split breach Springfield ("trapdoor") chambered in .45-70. You have to be prone or kneeling to shoot it - if you're standing when you pull the trigger, you won't be for long...Mine is just a standard lever action, no trapdoor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those old split breaches worth a lot of money? Seems like I've heard or read that somewhere.
According to the Army, this rifle & round combination has a lethal range of 3,500 yds. Why do you consider it to be "not much in the way of range"?When I first read this, I thought "Ah, what a bunch of BS," from the experience I've had shooting mine. The bullet drop and trajectory arc is drastic, from my experience. So I did some digging online, and lo and behold:
The minimum acceptable accuracy of the .45-70 from the 1873 Springfield was approximately 4 inches at 100 yards, however, the heavy, slow-moving bullet had a "rainbow" trajectory, the bullet drop measured in multiple yards (meters) at ranges greater than a few hundred yards (meters). A skilled shooter, firing at known range, could consistently hit targets that were 6 X 6 feet at 600 yards ? the Army standard target, and a skill mainly of value in mass or volley fire, since accurate aimed fire on a man-sized target was effective only to about 300 yards.
After the Sandy Hook tests of 1879, a new variation of the .45-70 cartridge was produced, the .45-70-500, which fired a heavier 500 grain (32.5 g) bullet. The heavier 500 grain bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,500 yards (3200 m), which were beyond the maximum range of the .45-70-405. While the effective range of the .45-70 on individual targets was limited to about 1,000 yards (915 m) with either load, the heavier bullet would produce lethal injuries at 3,500 yards. At those ranges, the bullets struck point-first at roughly a 30 degree angle, penetrating 3 one inch (2.5 cm) thick oak boards, and then traveling to a depth of 8 inches (20 cm) into the sand of the Sandy Hook beach. It was hoped the longer range of the .45-70-500 would allow effective volleyed fire at ranges beyond those normally expected of infantry fire[5].
So I went in looked in my gun case, and sure enough, I'm shooting 405's. So on this I think that we're both correct.
The article goes on to state however:
The main limitation of the .45-70 is the relatively low velocity which puts a practical limit on shots at game beyond 120 meters or so, despite its ability to kill at many times that distance. The trajectory of the bullets is very steep, which makes for a very short point blank range. This was not a significant problem at the time of introduction, as the .45-70 was a fairly flat-shooting cartridge for its time. Shooters of these early cartridges had to be keen judges of distance, wind and trajectory to make long shots; the Sharps Rifle in larger calibers such as .50-110 was used at ranges of 1000 yards[9].
I will have to try out the 500 grain loads, perhaps that will make a difference.
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45-70
