Great thread revival.
8Point - I missed your reply 3 years ago. A belated thank you for the detail you provided.
I have a 45/90 on a Winoku 71. I’ve taken the 45/90 up to NT to use on our Asiatic buffalo and I was determined to my own cast bullets.
The mould used was a RCBS 45-500 FNGC and bullets cast of Lyman no.2 weighed in at 520gr, lubed and GC fitted. These bullets have the crimp groove in the right location for leverguns in 45/70 and 45/90.
We had stalked in to within 70meters and the bull was about to move into thicker bush where I would likely lose him. He wasn’t aware of our presence as he was concentrating on a younger bull in his general vicinity.
Taking careful aim I placed the first shot just behind the shoulder. The bullet exited and bull immediately swivelled around to deal with what had caused him pain. I then did my best impression of Chuck Connors in Rifleman and emptied the rifle. The bull was hit hard and was swaying on its feet. I wasted no time, I fed a fresh cartridge into the now empty chamber, closed the lever and ran towards the bull continuing to feed shells into the tube mag as I ran. This is one of the advantages of a levergun - you can still be in a position to take a shot while still feeding cartridges into the mag. The bull was now down but still not out and I administered a couple of finishers into the spine at point blank range.
Buffalo hide is really thick and strong. The cast pills expanded considerably. After that experience I think I’d still load a cast pill first up and then follow up with solids. Once the shooting starts you don’t know what sort of shots will be presented, so a decent solid as a follow up is good insurance for any difficult shots that may be presented.
