I want a bullet that will blow through and leave an exit wound with a broadside shot on a Whitetail, this could be it.....maybe a keith hardcast lead would be a good choice also but im not sure how much expansion i would get.........Hb
With hardcast at handgun speeds and deer level resistance you shouldn't be counting on expansion. You should count on how big of a "damage cylinder" the bullet makes while driving through. Generally the bigger the meplat the better the damage.
Notice how on those LBT designs the transition from flat meplat to nose ogive has a relatively sharp corner. You don't want a significant radius there.
The classic Keith is a good bullet, but its meplat is smaller than the LFN and WFN designs. In a 44 a Keith meplat is going to be about .270", where a LFN will go .300" and a WFN something like .340" across. Despite being full bullet diameter, the top edge of the first driving band of the Keith does not overcome the meplat size deficit. This is one technical point where I don't agree with Brian Pearce. He cites the marking up of the top of the driving band on recovered Keith bullets as evidence it was doing damage. That is true to some degree, but the damage to the target is greater with the LBT designs, never mind the appearance of bullets recovered from test medium.
The balancing act is getting a very blunt bullet to still be easy to work with. The LFN design is sometimes easier to work with than the WFN.
If you don't want to go LBT, the Lyman 429244 is a gas checked SWC design with a bigger than Keith meplat at .300" for the particular mold I've had forever. Sized to fit the cylinder throats and being gas checked, this bullet cast from wheelweight metal sweetened with a little tin is a good performer. Add enough Unique for 1100 fps or so and it will thoroughly ventilate a deer right through the shoulders and still be easy on you and the Smith 29.
