cast bullets for Hunting

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  • Last Post 23 January 2010
buffalord posted this 31 July 2009

I am trying to find good bullets for hunting ones that will mushroom and also get good pentration.  Were having trouble with our wheelweight bullets just going straight through and not doing much damage.

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hunterspistol posted this 31 July 2009

http://www.hollowpointmold.com>http://www.hollowpointmold.com

http://lbtmoulds.com/>http://lbtmoulds.com/

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/>http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/  -and these guys do hunt!

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crash87 posted this 01 August 2009

buffalord, You really don't give to many, or any details, on what your shooting your WW bullets out of or what they are at all. I've found different alloys to work better in different firearms, bullets,ranges, etc as far as getting expansion. Also, in some bullet designs I really don't need, nor want expansion.

     I'm sure like myself there are many on here who have did expansion testing with certain alloys at certain velocities, etc etc. What specifically are you looking for. Crash87

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JSH posted this 01 August 2009

ditto to crash 87 Really sounds to me like more of the wrong design than an alloy issue. I would guess you are speaking of deer for the most part? A white tail is not that hard to kill. Angle shot breaking a front shoulder and going through the lungs, they won't go far. Even if your angle is through the ribs/lungs and break an off side shoulder. If it is a through and through shot and no blood trail, ya need a bigger caliber to make a larger hole. I have seen some of the soft nosed CB's using dead soft for the nose. We have shot a few and they have stayed together (wet phone books) way tougher than a whitetail hide. Some say it is a PITA and not worth it. It's not like a body would shoot more than 100 of these in a year. IMHO a soft nose in a 35 cal is as small as I would go that route. 30 and under I would look at a an LBT style flat nose. Read a bit. A good CB projectile can work as well as a FLGC. BUT, they don't usually work the same way. jeff

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buffalord posted this 01 August 2009

I appreciate the help guys I havent been hunting with cast bullets to long have killed one doe with my 38-55 it worked fine on it but hasent worked great on hogs. I have a shooting buddy who has killed several deer with a 44-40 But he is having trouble bring down deer with 30cal bullets but i think he is using the wrong bullet it is designed for siluhet shooting. This season i am going to use my 45-70 with 300GR. and see what it does.

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JSH posted this 01 August 2009

I would think the 38-55/375WW to be an excellent hog getter? What seems to be the issue.Just curious as i had thought mine would be a good one with a 260-275 cast bullet. I have yet to shoot a hog with a 45-70 but it is on my todo list. I would opt for a 405 with a good large flat nose. A good shoulder hit, I think would take the fight out of one? Jeff

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ubetcha posted this 02 August 2009

As I understand things,for hunting with cast bullets you need a design with the flatest nose you can find.I have looked at pictures from Lee and Veral Smith and both have large frontal bullets.The flat nose  produces more hydrulic shock and doesn't just slip through.The lee bullet is the 310gr 44mag and getting intouch with Veral will help with choosing his design.

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buffalord posted this 31 August 2009

I appreciate the help guys from what all of you have said and from what i have seen the 30cal. is just alittle small for hogs. Since i started this discussion i had a shooting budy hit 2 hogs with a 30 cal. cast and he never could find a blood trail.

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CB posted this 31 August 2009

buffalord

Crack those hogs with a 44 mag rifle or a .454 Cassul rifle and all you'll have to do is walk over roll him over.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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CB posted this 06 September 2009

Ruarks Rule: Use enough gun. The “30 cal” information is not enough for troubleshooting. Which bullet, what alloy, at what speed, and at what distance? This information would be more likely to get you the answers you need. For all we know, you buddys trying to kill hogs with a 30 carbine with round nosed bullets.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

I am using 45/70 Marlins with a Veral Smith 400 grains wide flat nose bullets.

 Around 1400  fps,they are enough guns.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

More booty.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

Pig tracks in the snow.

Pig season will begin on september 30th for me.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

Here's the track,

I hope.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

 Sorry,The machine is not accepting the track picture.

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giorgio de galleani posted this 06 September 2009

Last try .

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big boar posted this 06 September 2009

35 Whelen using a Veral Smith LBT 250gr Flat nose on deer from 50-150yds gave GREAT performance and I highly recommend the design. Also using a 450 Marlin RCBS (I really have to get another LBT bullet for this thought the RCBS does a good job)the performance was superb. I've not tried a 30 cal yet but think this year I should try it with a 303British. I remember reading some articles by F Marshall and he always said to use a long (heavy) bullet in the 30's, heavy being 200gr or heavier.

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tturner53 posted this 07 September 2009

Buffalo George, thanks for the pics. I find them inspirational. I'm looking forward to more. I've used a 45-70 on a hog but it was at very close range(12") and anything would have worked. The hard 405 gr. bullet entered by the ear and went straight down and out the bottom of the foot. It was a lucky shot as I was trying to get out of the way when I fired. tt

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hunterspistol posted this 07 September 2009

     Good Luck with pig season this year, Giorgio!:dude:

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giorgio de galleani posted this 07 September 2009

This one is a  young male ,a yearling of around 60-80 pounds,a teen ager already wearing black fur,while the red beast of the previous picture was stiil in pediatric age . I shot him at no more than 10 yards with a 44 magnum marlin carbine,a 310 gr Lee gas check bullet at 1800 chronographed feet per second.

I broke his right humerus shattering the bone,the bullet exited from  his armpit ad did not enter the toracic cavity,it was just got lost in the snow.

I was present at the post mortem,executed by Giovanni La Rosa a mason( he actually build houses,not the secret sosiety),who is happy to have a real MD as his assistant.

I suspect that this lack of straight line penetration,one of the plus factors of the 44 mag pistol cartridge is caused by the carbine's slow twist,around 1-38 compared with the 1-18 twist of the revolvers.

The poor animal rolled down the very steep  hillside and stopped a few feet out of sight from me.

I  stood still and radioed the hillibilly dog driver,who arrived in short time and finished and collected the prey.

I left the 44 in the gun room and pressed into service the 45/70.

The boar season ended in a couple of weeks,but I had extra confidence with my

 old reliable obsolete black powder gun.

I would be glad to hear  from users of 44 mag in handguns and in carbines.

 

 

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giorgio de galleani posted this 07 September 2009

 This is the young male

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giorgio de galleani posted this 07 September 2009

here is the hillibilly friend

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giorgio de galleani posted this 07 September 2009

Boar montains.

They  are followed by the hounds and come up from from below and cross beween the small chapel  on the left and some rocks on the right.

I just have to know their trail and sit still and silent just a few fett from their trail.

 

Please making greetings to hunters and fishermen inj Italy  is  an unforgivable sins.

The literal  translaton of the english words good hunting or good fishing bring any type of horribe eveniences.

The kosher thing to say is ” in bocca la lupo” in the wolfes fangs,and

in the very anus of the whale(,I wont translate in colloquial english.)

I have loaded the rounds,oilled Atropos Two,(a short Marlin G),took down the slim winter garment recoil pad and put on the thicher pad to shoot in shirtsleeves,train at least twice a week.We controlled the feeders,we feed them with corn,it's like sweets for them.

I have to wait until sept 30.Unbearable wait.

But if they appear near me,they'll be dead.

If they do not run too fast,of course.

From the short brush ranges we shoot at,I prefer the old  reliable 45/70 ,I am prepared for any boar presentin me a shot from any angle.  

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tturner53 posted this 07 September 2009

I am going hunting in about two months for black bear in the northern mountains of California. There's a lot of bears but they are very shy. My gun will be a Ruger SBH in .44 mag. with the Lee 310 gr. school bus bullet. (It looks like a bus to me). If I get a shot I'll let you know. In bocca la lupo.   tt:taz:

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hunterspistol posted this 07 September 2009

     ” in bocca la lupo” Girogio!:dude:

     I understand completely!

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giorgio de galleani posted this 08 September 2009

Wonderful animal,the wolf.

We have at least a small family around Mount Antola, two years ago I have seen a female on the road at night,from my car.

Next year I saw her at a hunter fair treated by the taxidermist,of course,she was hit by a car.

I  have heard wolfes howing at night near the small village where I sleep before the pig hunts. The natives confirmed  It is a sound you cannot mistake for a dog's howling.

Their presence makes mandatory the use of big bore stopping guns,if you do not find a wounded game animal,they'll surely do. .

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Ed Harris posted this 09 September 2009

When I lived in New Hampshire I had the regular opportunity to shoot boar. Corbin Park in Merrimac County, NH is a 100,000 acre private hunting reserve established before 1900. European wild boar were imported about the time of the First World War, but have since inbred with native feral razorbacks, so they are not “pure Rooooshin.” But thanks to the cold NH climate, in which is more like Bavaria than Tennessee or North Carolina, the pigs grew to good size. Adult sows averaged 70-80 Kg and mature boars frequently over 100Kg, with the very largest nearly 150Kg.

We hunted boar during mid winter, in deep snow, on snowshoes. The park forests in  were maintained in the European style, so that there were frequent brush piles maintained for small game and game bird habitat. After the snow got deep we would hunt boar in the same nammer in which you might hunt rabbits, except we would take turns “playing dog” and shooting, since hounds could not move in the deep snow. We would look for a large brush pile from which there would be steam rising from a vent hole through the snow. That meant there was a pig holed up inside.

The usual method was to stand two shooters about 20 yards away on opposite sides of the pile, while the “dog” person would climb up on the snow covered brush pile in snowshoes, and jump up and down on top of it, perhaps poking a ski pole with its basket removed, down the vent hole to drive out the pig. Shooting was usually fast and furious at short range. The preferred guns among locals were either 12-ga. pump shotguns loaded with Brenneke slugs or lever-action Marlin .35 Remingtons, .44 Magnums or .45-70s with the heaviest cast bullet having the largest meplat. I used a 5-1/2” Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum revolver with #429421 cast of wheelweights and 20 grs. of #2400, which did the job for me.  Jacketed hollowpoint bullets did not provide adequate penetration and would break up on the shoulder.   Jacketed softpoints in the .45-70 were adequate and the 200-gr. Remington Core Lokt in the .35 Remington is excellent.    

In the .44 Magnum the 300-gr. Federal Premium Cast Core or handloads with the 270-gr. or heavier LBT bullets would be the recipe.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Dale53 posted this 23 September 2009

I have taken a number of deer with the .44 magnum. All but the last one was taken with the Keith 250 gr SWC at 1300 fps from a revolver. The last one was taken with the Lee C430-310-RF. All but my first deer were taken with one shot. The furthest distance was 85 yards. The closest was 10 yards. No bullets have been recovered. This load will shoot through a large whitetail deer end to end.

I seriously doubt that there was any expansion. However, there WAS an adequate wound track. I was hunting in areas that were not overrun with hunters. I didn't need “instant kills” so shot either in the neck (instant kills on shots under 30 yards) or behind the shoulder. The behind the shoulder shots ran from 35-100 yards except for one that ran 200 yards. The blood trails were so obvious that most anyone could track the deer although I have some skill in that area.

I believe a good cast bullet, with a wide meplat and of sufficient caliber (I favor a caliber that starts with .4 ) will do the job just fine.

On the other hand, I cast some bullets and loaded some rounds for a friend who was going to shoot a buffalo (bison) with his Shiloh '74 Sharps 45/70. I used the government model bullet mould (522 grains with 30/1 lead/tin). I duplex loaded the rounds until they equalled a 45/90 black powder round (RL-7 plus Goex 2F). He took a LARGE bull at 100 long steps (he is 6'5” tall). He shot it just behind the shoulder about 1/4th up on the body. The bullet hit a rib going in and a rib coming out. The bullet was recovered just under the hide on the far side. It was a picture perfect mushroom. The bull hit the ground at the shot. Got up staggered 5 or 6 steps and hit the ground for good.

Using a soft bullet with black powder (even a duplex load) works very well and you DO get decent expansion. However, with a full charge of smokeless, you need a strong enough bullet (hard enough) to shoot well. This is NOT conducive to expansion.

However, a good hollow point in a .44 magnum with a gas check base and you CAN get expansion, if that is what you want. This with an alloy of WW's + 20% pure lead and add 2% tin for casting qualities (hollow points can be bothersome with fill out around the hollow point pin). These will reportedly work VERY well for deer, particularly in broadside shots. Like I said, all of mine have been shot with solids.

I have a Cramer style two cavity bullet mould for the Keith hollow point .44 bullet ordered. This time next year I may have further information.

Dale53

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Dicko posted this 22 December 2009

buffalord wrote: I am trying to find good bullets for hunting ones that will mushroom and also get good pentration.  Were having trouble with our wheelweight bullets just going straight through and not doing much damage.

Hunting with cast bullets is not my area of expertise but I'll throw in my two cents worth based on what I know.   To start with, what others have said about big calibre and soft alloy is right.   Hard alloy is hard because of high antimony content.   High antimonial alloys are very brittle and will fragment on game leaving surface wounds.   That's inhumane.   Pure lead is tough and ductile and will expand readily and hold together.   2 or 3 % tin toughens it a little and improves castability.

The best hunting bullets are paper patched lead with 2 or 3% tin.   The paper patch allows velocity up to 2200FPS while the alloy expands and holds together.   This is explained in detail in Paul Mathews' book “The Paper Jacket."

If you don't want the learning curve of paper patching and prefer gas checks for reasonable velocity, Lyman's #2 alloy is ductile enough while not being brittle.  

As for calibre and design, 45 cal with a big flat meplat is what you need, preferably long and heavy for ballistic coefficient.

 

 

 

 

 

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shastaboat posted this 22 December 2009

I'm going pig hunting in New Mexico the second half of Jan. 2010. I am taking my Marlin 30-30 and will be shooting 31141 cast at 176gr WW. Velocity is right at 2000 fps. I'll report what my successes are.

Because I said so!

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BilWil1 posted this 23 January 2010

I've shot several deer and hogs plus varmints with cast bullets. My exsperiance is that the bigger the bullet the better the trailing.  I used the shotgun slugs in Ill. as well as cast BP muzzleloader slugs on deer and hogs.  My rule with cast slugs in rifles, pistols and shotguns is to shoot them again if necessary.  One of the bucks I shot took 4 - 3"mag shots to put down with a long stalk and wait to retrieve.  Cast is fun but jacket bullets really are the ticket.  However I cast and so enjoy using my homemade stuff but cast doesn't putdown as quick.

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