Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Idaho 1945's Powder Coated Cast Bullets!

Yes on preheating the mold... I use a single burner electric hot plate and if all is just right sometimes get good bullets from pour one...

DICK...you are killing me.... In NH deer are few and the great moose population has just about all been killed off from the tick infestation...truly sad when you drive the back roads and don't even see a track in the dirt or any sigh in a wallow...

[my wife got tired of me heating the molds on the kitchen stove, so she ended up buying me a one burner electric hot plate, makes all the difference in the world.

there are some pictures on this thread of what those bullets look like after being fired:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...306180/all/powder-coating-quick-and-easy

RJM (Bob) I too sometimes use a hot plate but most of the time just sit the mould on top of the Pro Melt & let it warm up & with that 125 gr mould I can get good bullets with the first cast. Other times I dip just a corner of the mould into the molten alloy for 30 seconds & that brass heats up pretty fast & I'm ready to make good bullets in a hurry.
Bob, when I took my bull moose with my 480 I hunted 27 days & saw 37 moose, all within 10-12 miles of my house. When I shot him I could see the roof of the church across the street from my house. For those of you who want some very good venison you can buy Montana doe tags over the counter for $75 & you can get up to 5 tags. We do it almost every year. I shoot one with one caliber one day & another the next day with another caliber, LOTS of white tails & they are fatter than I am!

Dick

Idaho1945, sounds like we hunt much the same way. I admit that trying different bullets or cartridges throughout my hunt is part of the fun for me.

We preheat our molds the same way too; I rest mine on top of the pot, and if it's not hot enough when I want to start I just dip a corner for a little bit.


Mackay - one comment on those 125gr HP bullets, I'd suggest being extra careful about shot placement if you use them on mule deer from a 357. I cast the same bullet, although it's an older version with a slightly smaller hollow point; cast from clip on WW alloy it still gives full expansion at ~1,000 fps. When pushed faster than about 1,200 fps in my experience they are pretty explosive, shedding the nose in fragments. The remaining core/base isn't very heavy (around 60gr IIRC) so it penetrates a little more but not all that far. I don't hunt big game with it, but would expect it to kill well on behind-shoulder or neck shots, but maybe fail to penetrate the shoulder joint. Just my 2 cents, worth what you paid for it.

Good advice on the 125 Maxine Mouths, I think Mackay will reserve them for Jackrabbits & probably use the 168 HP's I sent him to whack a muley this fall. The 182 gr HP's I have would take up too much case capacity in the 357 magnum & the 194 gr. I'm testing for David Bradshaw are much too big because we are deep seating above the top driving band in the 357 Maximum, working great but different!!
Might have to try some of those green slugs, the color kind of grows on you.
Here are a few kill photo's with my 41's. First is 2 Javelina taken with my old model 41 shorty, long story but fun! Some other time. The cow elk was my first one back in the very early 70's with a nickel model 57 S&W & the 230 gr. Keith. The bullet went through her almost length ways. Hit her just behind the right front shoulder & it exited just in front of the left hip, you can see the exit hole, she ran in a tight little circle for 6-8 seconds & dropped. The little fork horn muley was in Wyoming & I was proud because it was a long shot kneeling. He was getting a drink out of Little Piney Creek facing me & I happen to have my 5 1/2" 41 Bisley. I put a 230 gr Keith dead center in the middle of his chest right at 100 yds. He ran about 30 yds or so. I was switching guns every day between it & my long barreled 44, that's why the long holster.
Bob, the moose photo is a teaser for you. There were actually 6 of them, all young bulls in the water hole at the same time. I was in a tree stand bow hunting at the time. Could have hit any one of them with a wet Kleenex! This corner of Idaho has lots & lots of moose.





Dick

Nice animals.

Got any pictures of that 194gr bullet? The 182gr HP sounds interesting too. I don't do much with 357 revolvers these days but like to play around with 35 cal rifles that can use a lot of the same cast bullets.

Yondering, only photo's I have, sorry. Lee Martin ask David Bradshaw to draw up what he thought would be the ideal bullet for the 357 Maxium 10.5". I'm sure you know but some may not but David Bradshaw was pretty much responsible for the 357 Maximum & shot the first 3-4 guns that Bill Ruger had built. Bradshaw lived right by Ruger & made many changes & recommendations on the gun over a couple of years not to mention being a several times world champion in Handgun Silhouette.
This is the bullet that David designed & Lee Martin had made up by Dan Lynch at Mountain Moulds. Dan used to shoot with us here in Soda Springs before moving up north & becoming a full time mould maker.
Anyway, a guy that owns a pharmacy back in WV told me he would buy the mould, have it shipped to me if I would send him some bullets & here we are. I've made some mistakes on sizing by getting in a hurry but both Lee & David are shooting some amazing groups with this bullet at 100 yds with iron sights.They are shooting bullets sized .358" & my gun likes .357" better although I have shot a few decent groups with the bigger bullets. The group shown was shot at the NRA Center back in June at 100 yds & it's done just a tick over 1" a couple of times but not consistent.
I'm sure it will now that I have the sizing worked out but I've got some deer & antelope tags to take care of first. If you want some I'll send you some unsized & you can coat & size them to suit you. Like them I'm seating just above the top driving band, you can not seat in the crimp groove, that's the way David designed it.The 182 gr HP should be the Raspberries in a lever gun, the mould says 357 Carbine on it.






Dick

good looking bullets. i didn't know that about over the counter tags on moose.
what part of montana are you talking about? north, south, southwest?

Gary Reeder and Kelly Broast (past owner of Cast Performance) are both big .41 Fans...

In Gary's book on hunting handguns there is a picture of him with Savannah Buffalo that looks like it is just short of a ton...one round from a .410 GNR (.454 necked down to .41) from what looks like a 5.5-6" SA revolver broke the near shoulder, went through both lungs and stopped in the far shoulder...buff ran 50 yards and dropped. Three weeks before one of Gary's clients shot a large Cape Buffalo at 45 yards...it took a couple of steps and dropped. The bullet was one of Kelly's 255 grain LBT bullets.

I have not been able to bring myself to powdercoat bullets yet... I've had no leading problems so have just let well enough alone....

Bob

Great thread. You just have to love cast bullets. I've only shot a few of the powder coated bullets, but there doesn't seem to be a downside.

I have zero reasons to ever sling a jacketed bullet down one of my revolvers.

Idaho, those are some purty bullets! Thanks for the info, that's neat stuff.

You can't buy moose tags over the counter in Montana, I was talking about doe tags, sorry if I was clear on that. You can buy that just about anywhere, just go to any vendor & get them. The first one will actually cost you about $100 because of the license, conservation stamp, etc, then each additional tag is $75. The river bottoms are just full of fat white tails & most of the ranchers will let you hunt doe's if you ask. I take a few sacks of Idaho taters as trade bait!!
Just go up around White Hall or north & you will see them every where, trust me!

Bob, when I went to Africa Kelly was kind enough to offer me free bullets (I had my own) if I would use his & write them up in an article. One of my guns was my Freedom Arms 475L. He gave me LOTS of bullets in several calibers! I live 45 minutes from Freedom Arms & bought my gun from Marion Baker because her & Wayne live on the Idaho side of the highway.
Anyway it took me quite a while to shoot up all those bullets Kelly gave me. I saw him a few weeks ago at a gathering in NM at the NRA Center, he's now working in the oil fields up in the Dakota's.
Sure wish I would have had a witness on one of my white tail doe's up there. It was raining lightly & she busted out of the brush along the river & I had my 41 Bisley in my Barranti chest rig. I was right on top of her but by the time I got the gun out she was smoking! I was doing a lot of competition shooting at the time, many of the targets were moving targets & that might have helped but truth be known it was pure luck. At the shot she folded like a sack of potatoes (Idaho) & as near as I could step it off in the wet grass it was about 88 yds. BUT no witness to share it with, bummer!! I had to float her across the river, then I gutted her on the other side, she would have sank if I had gutted her before crossing. I was about froze to death by the time they found me.

Dick

Awesome stories as usual Dick,

The best I can do is a Wascally Wabbit on the way to work.

Before I headed out on my travels, I loaded up some of the Maxine Mouths to try in the Model 15 and my ever present J Frame. I stopped somewhere in the high desert and a silly jack decided to present himself. I shot at him twice and missed twice! On the second one, I saw some dirt fly. He ran off a bit, but I saw his ears hiding behind some sagebrush, where he was trying his best to "be the bush". On the 3rd round I held a full rabbit head to the right and connected.




Prior to leaving I loaded up a large sandwhich baggy full of loads on my Dillon. My Dillon powder measure settled on 5.3 grains of Unique, which being in a hurry I figured was probably somewhere in the Goldilocks range of not too light, and not too hot.



Using my rifle bag as a rest, I shot over the hood, and at 25 yards, the wicked little lipstick looking red powder coated hollow points dropped into a pretty fair group (for me). I should note that I have a very hard time seeing iron sights these days. Red dot equipped handguns are the future of my handgun hunting, and anything else that requires precision. The joke at work is that I am a Jedi and just "use the force", since the iron sights are fuzzy, but that is a whole other subject.

Anyways, as soon as I shot on paper I saw why I missed the Jack. That said, the powder coated bullets are definitely accurate, and I bet with a red dot eqipped revolver, they would be extremely accurate. I don't own a .38/.357 that is set up for an optic, but that may have to change in the future!

On my next session at the bench, some .44s are going to get loaded up (as well as more .38s), as I have red dot sighted .44s. Really looking forward to the next loading session, some cooler temps, and spending some quality time seeing what is possible!

This was only 7-8 yards, but it was apparant that the PC 125 grain Maxine Mouths are definitely accurate out of a J Frame.



My well worn J Frame really liked them.

Not only can Idaho 1945 (Dick) kill western big game like a Boss, write stories like the great gun writers of the old days, but he can make bullets that take a back seat to nobody!



CHEERS!

I got a chance to get out yesterday and zero my 5" 29 Classic with the Burris RDO using Idaho 1945s little red hammers.

The range was @ 100 yards.



I was planning on getting out this morning and doing some hunting or shooting but unfortunately life got in the way.

That'll get it done!

There are a lot of little details that have to be right to shoot that well at distance, and some of them have to do with the bullet itself. Looks like you nailed them all!

Put a S&W revolver in Mackay's hands & you better be looking for some cover! Great shooting buddy!

Dick

Great story, Dick. Nice shooting Mackay...….

Everytime Y'all post a story or photo like that, I can't help but visualize that passage from Elmer about his shooting that Jackrabbit, running all out at 100 yards with that old S&W 29 of his....