How Hard for a Hunting Bullet

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  • Last Post 24 November 2011
mike morrison posted this 19 September 2011

I have a .375 265grgc cast bullet flat nose. cast from wheel weights water dropped aged and bhn of 24. satisfactory loads at 2200 fps. shoots well to 300yds. thinking of using this for an elk hunt. any experience that would suggest good or bad. thanks, m

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galenaholic posted this 19 September 2011

FRankly, I think it may be too hard. At 24 BHN that's a bit harder than linotype. I shoot the RCBS #37-250-FN at 14 BHN at 2130 FPS from my Ruger #1 .375 H&H with good accuracy at 100 yards. I've never bothered to see what it did farther out. Probably be more than good enough for elk to 200 yards anyway. I don't think your bullet would expand much, if at all. I know linotype has a tendency to shatter if it hits heavy bone. I've shot quite a few deer with 12 BHN bullets at full 30-30 velocity so you might want to try bullets a bit softer. At best, I think your bullet would act like a full metal jacket or solid as the Brits like to call them. Paul B.

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mike morrison posted this 20 September 2011

hoping for a thru shot for quick bleed out. guess the shatter effect is my worry. m

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jhalcott posted this 24 September 2011

I like ww or Lyman #2 alloy for big game. Varmints and paper can be shot with any alloy from pure to HT Linotype. I have shot deer with a 12 to 16 BHN alloy in several guns at velocities in the 2000 to 2300 fps range. MOST were complete pass thru's with evidence of good expansion. I would take some newspaper or phone books to the range. Soak the bales well and set them at the distance you plan on hunting. A few shots will tell you a lot about your load AND bullet choice! These were gas checked bullets.

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williamwaco posted this 26 September 2011

Never shot anything with a bullet that hard but I expect it would be about like shooting your elk with an AP round.

I like the 12 BNH range for hunting but I also like the 15 BNH range.

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6pt-sika posted this 26 September 2011

To date I've only used air cooled or water quenched wheelweights and I've had pass thru on everything I've killed with cast bullets . Although thats only whitetails and black bears .

I don't think I wanna go harder then 18-20 even for elk . So the hardest I would go would be water quenched Lyman #2 I think . But thats just my allways biased opinion .

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6pt-sika posted this 26 September 2011

"If” I were you and I was the one going for elk and wanted to use a cast bullet gun . I'd take two of my 444's . One loaded with the Ranch Dog 432-300GC and I would use water quenched wheelweights over a stout charge of H322 . And the other rifle Iw ould take my Retro 444P loaded with my MM/RD 432-325GC rendition pushed with a stout charge of H322 or IMR8208 .And of course water quenched wheelweights in the Retro rifle as well !

 

I always carry a backup and my back up would be a heck of alot more easy to carry thru black woods .

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mike morrison posted this 27 September 2011

the bullets i speak of are water dropped wheel weights. i have loaded them with H-4350 63, 65, 68 gr. the bullet is a gc 265gr from Veral Smith mould. spent some time on the sillewit range yesterday. zeroed at 3oo meters. shot pigs off the rail and chickens at 200 and other tgts at. 150 and 100. hold under at all ranges shorter than 300. the 63gn load seemed to do better. the cal is .375 Ruger. chrony says 2200fps. thinking the harder bullets will give thru shots and quick bleed out. thought the water dropped bullets would be better with the pressure involved. checked the bullets again for hardness with the cabine tree tester and comes out 22-25 bhn. maybe the bullet is too hard. if so should i pull the velocity back a little. i might add the hold over to 550 yds becomes a swag. seems the limit with assured hits is going to be 300 to 350 yds and under. guess i just do not want to have a bullet frag and creat a wound and lost animal. m

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rockquarry posted this 28 September 2011

For hunting, shoot the softest bullet at the highest reasonable velocity. 

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6pt-sika posted this 28 September 2011

mike morrison wrote: the bullets i speak of are water dropped wheel weights. A year or two ago I borrowed a friends Saeco hardness tester . I then tested my air cooled bullets recent and aged as well as the water quenched ones recent and some that were a couple months or so old . The hardest I got from any of mine was 14 or 16 .

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Ranch Dog posted this 29 September 2011

I think your bullets will do fine.

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jhalcott posted this 23 November 2011

IF you test them on 20 inch stacks of wet newspaper and get SOME indication of expansion at 2200 fps mv, at the 300 yard line, I'd think they should work fine. Maybe 2 stacks in front of each other JUST to catch the slug for later measuring. Elk are a lot tougher than deer and can go a good ways AFTER a near perfect hit.

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Tom Acheson posted this 23 November 2011

Mike,

Have shot quite a few deer (mostly Mule deer) with a iron sighted .41 revolver. The bullets have been 100% wheel weight, not oven quench hardened. ALL hits have gone straight through and out the other side with little if any expansion. Haven't yet hit a bone to see if shattering is a factor.

Tom

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shastaboat posted this 23 November 2011

I'm with Ranch Dog. I think they will do fine. I am curious to find that you get straight WW to such a hardness with just water quenching. Have you tried shooting aged straight WW with no other hardning process?

Because I said so!

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Ed Harris posted this 24 November 2011

My friend Greg shot quenched wheelweights #375449 at 2200 fps in .375 H&H on kudu and waterbuck in SA and did just fine. Same bullet at 10-12 BHN and 1300 fps (13 grs. of Bullseye) did fine on the smaller stuff up to 150 lbs. MUST have flatnosed bullet, go for good shot placement, max. crush and through-and-through penetration. You have .38-55 performance at low velocity and .35 WCF at the higher levels over 2000 fps.

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

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mike morrison posted this 24 November 2011

hunted elk the second season in colorado. weather was warm. saw two spikes and some cows. nothing i could shoot at. fun time but no meat. did not fire a shot at an elk. real disappointed but am told that there is not an elk with every hunt. Ed the bullet is flat nose LBT lfn. thanks to everyone for the info. m

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