Anyone supressing 45-70?

Hey guys, I'm looking to see if theres anyone that can provide info on picking a lever gun in 45-70 that will also get suppressed? I'm pretty dead set on either a bowers 458 or 50 can as a big bore setup for this, 458 socom, maybe 50 beuowolf down the road. I haven't made up my mind on this part, so if theres something better, like a silencerco hybrid please elaborate. Ive just learned that most things that Jack of all trade end up not being great, just okish.

For the lever gun I'm tracking on a few things, but maybe I'm overlooking others. I know it has to be side gate loading. I'm thinking 18-20 inch barrel, bassicaly when cut and threaded it will be almost flush with the magazine tube. I'm not opposed to sending it off for that if it means I can get a better rifle, crown, and threading done vs factory.

Sights wise im thinking the simplist will be a rail and a reflex so I dont have to worry about tall sights or irons not being suppressor height. Id love to rock some peep sight setup since my eyes are still good.

I'm looking to bang steel, shoot deer and pig as a brush gun, and have an awesome conversation piece. Ive told myself this will be my retirement gift to myself since its looking like I will be going on a medical board after 16 years in the Marines, so ive got about a year to figure it all out, get it, and work it over.

So realisticly, spend my money but please explain. I know there is the marlin x series, but if there are nicer henerys that need cut and threaded please elaborate.

https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=248705&highlight=.45-70&page=2

Couple of guys here who did .45-70 suppressors

There are a lot more factory threaded options now then when I did mine:

Marlin had a threaded one right before they got sold. Dont see them in stock right now, dunno if it is because of the acquisition or the current gun rush. This would be my first choice if you can find one.


Henry has a stock threaded one, this would be my second choice.


Chiappa Ridge Runner, This was the only factory threaded option 5 years ago.


Not a lever, but a MGM barrel on a encore is always fun.


For the suppressor get the bowers 50. I have the hybrid, it is nice, but something bigger would be nice too. The only down sides of the bowers would be walking in the woods if you plan to hunt with it, and the weight sticking all the way out there if you plan to shoot unsupported. The hybrid sticks a few inches above my head when walking and you have to be aware of it. When sweeping over a large area with the scope looking for deer the wight gets old real quick.

I want a Bowers 50 but I just bought a Rugged 45. Should have just gotten the Bowers maybe?. It's is long though, 11" I think.

Because you want to , is a perfectly valid reason . That said , most guys use 300gr .44 for those purposes , and subsonic vs subsonic, the .44 will serve essentially same purpose. .The much greater gas volume of .45-70 will inherently be louder/ require much larger suppressor .

If unsuppressed or desire for 400gr plus bullets is prime criteria , ignore above .

Biggfoot44 said:

Because you want to , is a perfectly valid reason . That said , most guys use 300gr .44 for those purposes , and subsonic vs subsonic, the .44 will serve essentially same purpose. .The much greater gas volume of .45-70 will inherently be louder/ require much larger suppressor .

If unsuppressed or desire for 400gr plus bullets is prime criteria , ignore above .

Click to expand...

I want/need the 50 for my Beowulf hunting rig. I looked at 50 cal cans and all that came up were the ones for 50bmg that are around 4-5K. I was at the LGS and they told me to check out silecershop and the Bowers popped up. Now I just need to find another $1000 (price plus tax stamp).

Biggfoot44 said:

Because you want to , is a perfectly valid reason . That said , most guys use 300gr .44 for those purposes , and subsonic vs subsonic, the .44 will serve essentially same purpose. .The much greater gas volume of .45-70 will inherently be louder/ require much larger suppressor .

If unsuppressed or desire for 400gr plus bullets is prime criteria , ignore above .

Click to expand...

Well the upside to 44 mag is my octane 45 will work on it.

I'm suppressing my urge to get a 45-70...

I have a Marlin 1895 GBL that I had the barrel threaded. It needed some additional gunsmithing done and the finished product I received from Duffy's is just fantastic. I bought the Marlin second-hand from a member here and all-in my final spend was not much more than factory threaded options, but with the added benefit of having the action and trigger professionally tuned along with a few other improvements.

I've posted about it before in a couple threads, pictures in the link below.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=6106044&postcount=1144

ETA: I have no complaints on the Hybrid 46, it's been a great can. I use it mostly for 30 cal. rounds, and it makes the Marlin very pleasant to shoot. The XS peep sight/rail combo have no issue clearing the suppressor. I have no plans to mount optics at this time.

Biggfoot44 said:

Because you want to , is a perfectly valid reason . That said , most guys use 300gr .44 for those purposes , and subsonic vs subsonic, the .44 will serve essentially same purpose. .The much greater gas volume of .45-70 will inherently be louder/ require much larger suppressor .

If unsuppressed or desire for 400gr plus bullets is prime criteria , ignore above .

Click to expand...

My goal was for rifle deer hunting, which in maryland requires 1200ft/lb for a rifle and 700ft/lbs for a pistol. You can hit the required energy with subsonic ammo with pistols in .44mag or .454 Casull. But for a rifle you need to move up to the .458 sized bullets to hit 1200ft/lb. There is a small selection of bullets and molds in the 500-600gr range. The hard part is the window is pretty small giving you only 100gr and 100ft/sec you can play with. I honestly think it might be easier to go up into the .50 cal range for my goals.

I can say though one of my first experiments using trailboss with 500gr cast bullets was stupid quiet for the energy. My loads only hit 800fps and they sounded like a a phone book dropping on concrete.

Ahhh ! The old Arbitrary Maryland Hunting Regs vs Actual Game Effectiveness discussion .

Ft Lb in a Vacuum is a poor metric , especially as you move either way on the spectrum away from the * mid caliber , jacketed soft nose @ 2500- 3000 fps * paradigm . Big Bore revolvers , muzzleloaders , and now Big Bore supressed rifles kill critters by making large holes deep into , and frequently all the way thru Bambi or Yogi , not by making impressive numbers on pocket calculators .

Will a 300- 320gr flat nose .429 bullet @ 1000-ish fps making passthrough kill any game animal east of the Mississippi , decisively and ethically with proper shot placement ? Yup . Will a 540gr flat nose .458 dia kill them any deader ? Not really . Is a .300gr @ 1000fps more effective than a ( legal) .223 , or a 35 or 40 lb draw Bow ? By a huge margin .

But I get it about wanting to follow the Letter of the Rules , even when they are stupid and counter productive . So Options :

1. Above .45-70 project , quite possibly needing a boutique or Custom mold to get 540 plus grains And COL short enough to feed through Marlin Action .

2. Use Supersonic ( of typical deer weight) for actual hunting , accepting the trade-off of bullet crack .

3. Every neighboring state that allows Rifle Hunting has different criteria , more reasonable than Maryland's .

bibitor said:

I have a Marlin 1895 GBL that I had the barrel threaded. It needed some additional gunsmithing done and the finished product I received from Duffy's is just fantastic. I bought the Marlin second-hand from a member here and all-in my final spend was not much more than factory threaded options, but with the added benefit of having the action and trigger professionally tuned along with a few other improvements.

I've posted about it before in a couple threads, pictures in the link below.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showpost.php?p=6106044&postcount=1144

ETA: I have no complaints on the Hybrid 46, it's been a great can. I use it mostly for 30 cal. rounds, and it makes the Marlin very pleasant to shoot. The XS peep sight/rail combo have no issue clearing the suppressor. I have no plans to mount optics at this time.

Click to expand...

She's a beute, thats exactly what I'm looking to do. Now to crunch numbers on 45 70 vs 44 mag. 44 mag would use a suppressor I already have.

Biggfoot44 said:

Ahhh ! The old Arbitrary Maryland Hunting Regs vs Actual Game Effectiveness discussion .

Ft Lb in a Vacuum is a poor metric , especially as you move either way on the spectrum away from the * mid caliber , jacketed soft nose @ 2500- 3000 fps * paradigm . Big Bore revolvers , muzzleloaders , and now Big Bore supressed rifles kill critters by making large holes deep into , and frequently all the way thru Bambi or Yogi , not by making impressive numbers on pocket calculators .

Will a 300- 320gr flat nose .429 bullet @ 1000-ish fps making passthrough kill any game animal east of the Mississippi , decisively and ethically with proper shot placement ? Yup . Will a 540gr flat nose .458 dia kill them any deader ? Not really . Is a .300gr @ 1000fps more effective than a ( legal) .223 , or a 35 or 40 lb draw Bow ? By a huge margin .

But I get it about wanting to follow the Letter of the Rules , even when they are stupid and counter productive . So Options :

1. Above .45-70 project , quite possibly needing a boutique or Custom mold to get 540 plus grains And COL short enough to feed through Marlin Action .

2. Use Supersonic ( of typical deer weight) for actual hunting , accepting the trade-off of bullet crack .

3. Every neighboring state that allows Rifle Hunting has different criteria , more reasonable than Maryland's .

Click to expand...

Then a 35 or 40lb draw bow? Sure. Than your average cross bow, no. At least not in my limited experience. You are probably going to get a 1 1/8" to about 1 3/4" hole (effectively, at least for the 3 blade) ripped through the deer from a crossbow. Likely straight out the other side.

A .430" even soft lead bullet at subsonic velocities likely isn't going to rip more than a 3/4" hole right through.

Sure one isn't really a hole and the other is, but honestly I think comparing a heavy subsonic ~40 caliber class bullet to a crossbow the crossbow is (often, but certainly not always) going to come out ahead unless you are dealing with penetration of several heavy bones or medium ranges (I'd absolutely take that subsonic 300gr .430 at 60yds over a crossbow of almost any power at 60yds).

I'd maybe, possibly give the edge to a heavy weight 50+ caliber option over the crossbow at any range (though unless you are talking a shotgun firing subsonic slugs at close range, now you are in to heavy weight muzzleloaders).

But yes, point taken. The ME restrictions are a bit stupid. Not sure there is really a good way to fashion them to try to catch/stop the REAL stupid. By caliber isn't necessarily a great way to do it or you'll have some idiot hunting with .25 caliber subsonics. You can't stop stupid, but you can at least try to punish it (which of course punishes all of the law abiding who want to do the right thing and also wouldn't do anything exceedingly stupid).