Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Hard Cast Lead Bullets - answers please

As others have said, you don't need that kind of velocity for successful hunting. A 255 gr flatnose bullet @ 900 fps will kill deer or antelope out to as far as you'll be able to shoot an iron-sighted revolver.

Back in the day, when I worshipped at the hardcast LBT altar, I used to drive this 300 grain bullet at 1325-1350 fps. This bullet was cast from wheelweights "sweetened" with 2% tin and cold water quenched for a BHN of about 22-23. It blew clean through every deer I shot with it, and only finally managed to recover a fired bullet when I fired it through a 12" aged/seasoned maple log into a tank of water:




You don't need that much hardness or velocity to kill medium game.

I now far prefer this bullet, cast of 1:20 alloy and air-cooled for a BHN of about 14. It's a HP-modified LBT WFN 300 gr bullet that drops from the mould at about 275 gr. I drive it at about 1050 fps from my Bisley. It's a soft-shooting load, but it penetrates very deeply in water jugs, and the hollowpoint should make it a devastating game-gathering bullet. I'll be using this gun/load in the January 2014 doe season.