Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Anybody do any deer hunting with cast?

Just wondering if I was the only one around here to hunt with cast rifle bullets this year? Took my buck with jacketed out of the 257 Roberts because of location, but used cast out of the 308 for both does this year. I'd been working with an old (1959-1960?) JC Higgins 51-L in 308 with the NOE clone of the Saeco #315 bullet. 180 gr in my alloy, the truncated cone, tapered body was just the ticket in the worn barrel and oversized throat of this rifle. I powder coated and water dropped out of the oven to simplify handling and keep dirt off when pocket carried. Tried several powders, working up to 2400 fps with H4350 and H4831SC, but settled on Varget at 2150-2200. For those concerned about reduced loads with the slow powders, I've been assured by a couple accomplished lead load experimenters that detonation isn't a problem with lead loads like it is jacketed.
Took two does so far at roughly 100 yards. First was facing me, impact was inside the right shoulder, bullet ran diagonally to the left flank and exited, re-entered the meaty part of the left rear leg and exited the back side. Plenty of penetration. Doe ran maybe 60 yards.
Second was nearly broadside, centered the near shoulder, a bit higher than planned, exited behind the far shoulder with a 2" hole. Lots of blood. Doe made it 30 yards.
I'm having a hard time convincing myself I would need anything else for much of my hunting areas where shots tend to be under 150 yards.

Yes sir, I do and I believe a number of others here do as well.

I'm partial to my 35 calibers for cast bullet hunting, and have mostly used the 245gr Saeco #352 (1st pic below) for full power 35 Remington-ish loads, and my own 255gr hollow point design (second pic below, ignore the text that was for a different topic) for suppressed subsonic loads. Both bullets are excellent deer killers.

Saeco #352:


255gr hollow point for 1,000 fps loads:

Very nice results, just shows you what the correct alloy at the right velocity will do. I haven't used anything but cast in my revolvers for the last 45-48 years, haven't owned a rifle for at least 25 years. No jacketed bullets for me. I've taken a lot more game than deer from Alaska to Africa using cast.

Dick

I remember taking 2 bucks one morning with 2 shots from a trusted 06. I used the RCBS 30-180-FN at 1800. Cast works great when properly applied.

Got one more doe tag, if I fill it I'll use my old Marlin 336 rebored to 38-55 with Skinner peep and a fiber optic front. A 9 bhn 250 grain bullet at 1400 will get the job done, faster than the black powder loads the cartridge made it's reputation on. I used it a couple years ago at 1600, but the large meplat made more mess than I wanted. We'll see how it works this time.

You guys with those sixguns are a wonder to me, wish I had that kind of ability.

Do round balls count ?

yep - 54 cal round ball over 90 grains of FF..

Sure, my son used a homecast Lee REAL in my 50 cal New Englander on a buck earlier in the fall.

I have taken deer with the 38-55 and 45-70....no problems with either. Mostly resulted in the ole 40 yd death dash. However, I plan to start using the RCBS 180 gr FN in my 30 cals next season. Just got the mold a couple of weeks ago. Never worried about the alloy with the bigger calibers, but plan to work with a softer alloy to get some expansion. Those comments above that referred to 30 cal, what alloys/hardness were you using.

I used an alloy approximately 1 3/4 % tin, 2 1/2% antimony on mine, powder coated and water dropped after coming out of the oven from the pc since I had plans of seeing how fast I could run them. From the damage I saw there was definitely some mushrooming going on. I’ve read that the heat treated bullets act just like air dropped on impact , but hold the rifleing like harder alloys. I don’t have any way to show + or - on that, but they worked well so far on two does

My 35 cal bullets pictured above were all straight WW alloy. The subsonic hollow points were air cooled, while the full power 35 Remington loads were heat treated and water quenched.

Quench hardening these alloys does make a difference on expansion (i.e. it can prevent expansion if velocity is too low) but works well for the high velocity stuff or large flat points at medium speed.

Getting expansion for hunting from cast bullet alloys is like standing up a tripod, where the three legs are velocity, alloy hardness, and meplat size (or hollow point shape). If those three things are balanced about right it can work very well, but if one of those doesn't match the other two, the whole thing falls on it's face. Fortunately there is quite a bit of wiggle room in all of those so it's not too hard to figure out a good hunting load.

Also - I don't worry too much about maximum weight retention any more. I've found that a bullet nose that fragments or blows apart can be a very effective killer, as long as the remaining shank can penetrate deeply. Done right, that is a lot more like Nosler Partition performance than like a Barnes TSX. Even with that subsonic (i.e. 1,000 fps muzzle velocity) hollow point above, I've seen it blow the nose off on a broadside whitetail shot and take a golf-ball sized chunk out of the heart and lungs while embedding fragments in the spine and sternum from the inside, with the remaining bullet shank breaking the far shoulder and exiting.

With the wide meplat bullets I used in the 38-55 and 45-70, I never thought expansion was needed and my experiences backed that up. With 30 caliber and such, even with a wide meplat (which the RCBS 180 FN has) would be helped along by some expansion. I've been thinking that straight wheel weight would do it, but that a soft nose/hard shank bullet might be better. There will be some experimentation before next season, but I appreciate hearing y'all's experiences.

It has been my experience that wheel weights with 2% tin added will expand down to about 1700fps. I generally use a 50/50 mix of wheel weights and pure lead plus 2% tin. That will give me expansion out past 200 yards with a Lyman 311041. Without over expanding at 25 yards, if muzzle velocity is around 2,000.

I've been hunting with cast for a long time now. I havent cast for anything smaller than the 444 though. Using straight wheelweights water quenched out of the mold I have had excellent results on large game, including grizzly bears. In the 444 I really like the Lee 300 grain mold. This bullet doesn't expand, and doesn't need too.

Sounds like what I'm looking for....thanks!

Took my third and final doe this afternoon using the #315 clone in the 308. Word to the wise, don't take on the near shoulder joint on a quartering to deer when pushing these at 2200 fps. Bullet exited the far flank, but made quite a mess of that shoulder.

Cast bullets are all I've used for the last 25 or so years. It started with the old Sharps and Winchester cartridges, 45-70 and 40-82 mostly. Moved "up" to the 45-90 and 11.15 X 60R, then a 40-70. All but the 40-82 over BP. No 40 yard death dash with any of them. Deer and hogs and one goat simply crumpled where they stood. Started playing with 35cal./9mm, 9.3 and 8mm cartridges and found them nearly as effective. Smokeless I believe I like the 9mm and 9.3 though I've not had any bad results with 8mm. All bullets with nice meplats. Black powder...I think anything 40 cal. and up with at least 370 grs. of bullet, (with a nice meplat) and 60 or more grains of powder would me more than adequate. Cast bullets, if the right profile, just work. A good alloy doesn't hurt anything either.

Good show, Yondering and well done Ole 270!

That velocity number may be correct for one particular bullet you're using, but it varies a LOT with meplat size and nose shape. A wider meplat will generally expand at much lower velocity, and may come unglued at higher speed. A round nose, on the other hand, usually requires more velocity to expand. The hollow points in my picture above obviously expand well, and they only started out at 1,000 fps.

I try to avoid overgeneralizing about this stuff because it lead to some very flawed conclusions.

Personally I have come to the conclusion that large meplat bullets are undesirable for most rifle loads exceeding ~2,000 fps or so, unless combined with harder alloys to limit expansion (and that only works to a certain extent). I have also learned to not bother with softer alloy noses in rifle bullets for use over 2,000 fps or so even with very small meplats; it's just unnecessary unless you're trying to make the nose blow off on impact.

Low velocity (like black powder rifle or handgun speeds) loads are a different thing entirely, and can benefit from larger meplats and soft alloys where appropriate.

.30 190 grain, from a 40 year old custom Saeco mold. Pushed by 28 grains 3031 in .30-30's, .303 Savages. It has accounted for a mess of deer. I cast them of COWW's and a pinch of tin, bhn 10-12.

You ever chrono'ed those loads. gnoahhh?

I went the 50/50 route, coww to pure for two years - hunting hogs and deer. I found it to soft if you hit anything but a broadside lungshot. I wasn't getting reliable pass through shots, especially on the hogs. One 150 pound boar retained two bullets that mushroomed to almost 70 caliber. I switched back to straight coww and hollow pointed them. I know get reliable expansion and pass through consistently. All the shooting was done through a 94 carbine 30-30 and my m.v is 1850. I don't usually shoot over 150 yards unless it's a coyote.

Good information, J.....thanks!

Right at 2000fps in my 24" barreled M54 Winchester bolt gun .30-30. 1900 fps-ish in several 20" Savage M1899 H's in both .303 Savage and .30-30. (Same load used universally in every .30-30 and .303 Savage I've owned, but with the expected slight variation in velocity between the various rifles.) Factory 190 Silvertips average 1900 fps in the 20" Savage .303's- my reference point as that load historically has a waonderful reputation as a woods thumper.

I was guessing close to that, I get right at 2100 out of my 308 with 32 grains and the 180. The 308 has an oversize throat and bore so it's slightly slower than normal.

IMO it's all the pizazz necessary for clean kills in wooded short range deer hunting scenarios.

You fellows are certainly saving me a lot of footwork. I have the RCBS mold and wanted to find an alloy that would work well on our whitetails at somewhere between 1500 and 2000 fps. It'll be used in 308, 30.06, and 30-30 (if I can find an Encore bbl}. Thanks again for all of the input! My apologies to Ole 270 for at least partially hijacking this thread. It was so nice hearing from folks who have walked the walk instead of just prone to spouting opinions.

I'm not too keen on getting up to 2000 fps and above. It would seem that I'd be fighting lead fouling constantly. Granted, I've heard the discussions about driving cast bullets very fast from both perspectives and choose to just not go there if my loads will get the job done below that threshold. I've shot many cast bullets at 1100 up to 1600/1700 fps without any undue issues. If my cast loads will perform acceptably at <2000 fps then that's where I'll be.

Sound plan. I bet you'll find your sweet spot at around 16-1800 fps. 2000fps is, to me, the level beyond which my hunting alloy starts to lead and accuracy starts to fall off. I've dinked around with alloys as hard as woodpecker lips and gotten higher speed with accuracy- but what's the point? I don't target shoot past 200 yards where high(er) velocity makes things a little easier, and like I stated before, the hunting venues I frequent don't require flatter trajectories. Besides, alloys hard enough to sustain high velocity are notoriously poor performers on game.

Powder coating? Ok for some but I'm ambivalent about it. Higher velocity without leading? Again, pointless- for my needs. Your mileage may vary. Besides I have better things to do with my time than dink around with that yet. If the stuff magically made a one MOA rifle into a half MOA rifle I would maybe reconsider, but I've seen little or no evidence of that kind of magic.

No apologies needed Hook, it's all info on another form of looneyism.
My alloy is just under wheel weights with a percent of tin added, nothing special, just what I had mixed when the mold arrived. I powder coat because I seat this bullet out long and it has several grooves out of the case mouth. Conventional lube would gather dirt too easily. I've pushed it to 2450 with H4831 and H4350 with no leading, but settled on 2150-2200 with Varget and N202 because the slower ones were in short supply locally at the time.
As to leading with faster loads, I've had better luck with the slower powders. They pick up speed relatively slower, not the same kick in the pants of the faster powders. Of course fit is king, I'd rather have an oversize bullet diameter than undersized. This Higgins barrel measures .310 at the muzzle and tapers to .3105 at the lead. I size bullets to .3125 and have good luck with it. I used to run my 25-20 with Lyman 257420gc bullets conventionally lubed at 2050 fps with no leading. Shot thousands of them before deciding to take it easy on the 100+ year old rifle.

With traditional wax lube - yes, probably. With good powder coating - not at all. You can easily push powder coated cast bullets over 3,000+ fps with zero lead fouling, even with repeated rapid fire (in semi-autos) to heat up the barrel. 2,000-2,500 fps is nothing with powder coating; you can forget about leading issues and adjust your alloy for accuracy and terminal performance, it just takes one of the variables out of the balancing act equation.

Some guys insist powder coating isn't needed, which may be true depending on your definition of "need", but it definitely makes things easier with cast bullet loads.

Of course you can do the same with paper patched bullets as well with equally good or better results, it just requires more time investment.

There is a young man about a mile from me that powder coats metal stuff for sale on the net. I asked him the other day if he would be willing to do a few cast bullets for me when he is running his equipment anyway and he jumped at it. Seems he wants to do it for handgun bullets for himself. I think that will give me an idea whether I want to go that route. I have used the NRA alox lube and the liquid Lee lube and, at my velocities, they both seem OK. When I push the 30 cal velocities, I may have to try others.


Boy did you hit the nail on the head, 270! I'm sitting on a stash of jacketed bullets sufficient to last long past my 'end of hunting' days, yet here I go chasing killing deer with 30 cal cast bullets. Big bore bullets for medium game is a no brainer. Smaller calibers require a lot more care with what you load and where you hit the game than big stuff. I can imagine there will be circumstances where I will walk away from a shot where I wouldn't hesitate using jacketed bullets. So be it....I just want to kill stuff with my own cast bullets like I have with the 38s and 45s.

[quote=Hook] I'm sitting on a stash of jacketed bullets sufficient to last long past my 'end of hunting' days, yet here I go chasing killing deer with 30 cal cast bullets. /quote]

I hear you there. I've got quite a stash of partitions, accubonds, TTSX and similar saved for game larger than deer. Now it seems I may be past the days of climbing high altitude hills for elk. Oh well, I can still get a charge out of putting meat on the table with homecast ammo whether it's deer with the 30 cals, or 38-55, or small game with the 25-20.

I've used cast stuff from rifles on deer and hogs, the smallest being 22, the largest 50 caliber.

Yondering is correct in the adage that what alloy works well for a Spitzer or round nose 30 caliber changes its tune if the nose is flat or hollow pointed and things change as calibers change too.

The one thing that works in almost universal fashion is a heat treated base (or Lino base) with a soft nose, as long as the base exceeds 60 percent. This gives us a safety valve at both high and low velocity and when our noses are too flat.

At handgun impacts with large calibers and flat/hollow points, we get maximum penetration with the magic weight retention. The hollow points make the largest flares.

At the other end, a wide flat rifle bullet with even a pure lead nose, heat treated shank is going to work well if the bullet is somewhat heavy for caliber. I've shot hogs with the LBT LFN 250 35 caliber with pure lead softnoses and heat treated shanks at 2,500 fps impacts.
A 1-20 alloy nose would perhaps be better, but what you have at this extreme situation is a soft nose to cushion the base until it blows off or is blown through by the base. The base sheds some weight, but not enough to keep it inside the hog or dig out of the dirt.
My best description of the carnage is a hole the diameter of the base of a beer can, from entrance to exit.

Similar bullets flat nosed and some hollow pointed in 44 caliber, 45 and 50 at the more sedate impacts from 1,200 to 2000 fps give the same predictable results on deer. Only one bullet recovered, the 385gr. 50 caliber, that was recovered in a rear hip bone (broken) from a slightly angling head on shot.

If I get around to the 308 or 30/30 for the deer and hogs, I'd be pitching them with jacketed loads and heat treated softnoses. The noses would still probably be pure lead, though 1-20 might be "perfection".

If going the single alloy route, pick your cartridge, nose profile (that might depend on the cartridge) and adjust the alloy in wet and dry phone books to get the results you are looking for.

Or, just cast your rifle bullets out of 10-13bhn alloy (unquenched/unhardened clip on wheel weights), select a wide flat nose (or hollowpoint, but trust me the wide solid meplat works), load them to 1600-2000 fps, and go forth and kill things. There is no need to over complicate this stuff!! (Fun as it may be to do that very thing.) Those simple principles have been working for hunters since before our great grandfathers were born.

I suppose that may be one way to try it, but the details on coating bullets are sorta important and different than coating metal parts. I'd be concerned you'll end up with a very thick coating, and/or flashing on the bases or noses depending how it's done.

Better would be to get some powder from him and coat them yourself, see my tutorial in this forum. You don't need much for equipment, and he could bake them for you if you don't have a spare toaster oven.

I have had great success with Yondering's methods. And that is from someone (me) with very little skills.

Probably a bit late to the discussion but I'll throw a log or two on the fire anyway.

First off, I agree with Gnoahhh to a very large degree and will say I don't have his experience with big game and cast bullets. I do have some experience with hogs, competition and the devil that drives me to do as well with cast and I can with that passing fad known as jacketed bullets.

I cast my first bullet somewhere back around 2007 or so, a pure lead picket bullet for an ancient scoped muzzle loader built up in Cornish, NH around 1870. My tutor was Mr. Steve Garbe (SPG) and he gave me a few tips for that particular rifle. 1. Pure lead 2. 800* 3. Lube the slug before putting it in the hammer swage. A few years later my wife and I drove out to Cody for a shoot and I took 2nd place with the gun against about 15 other shooters struggling with 10-15 G20 full value crosswinds. Ya gotta love a breezy day in WY, no?

Well, it came to pass I rather enjoyed the process and as fate would have it a few older friends passed along some moulds of various calibers, some of which I actually had guns to use them. My first try at conventional casting was for the .30-30 with a Lyman 31141. I water quenched, sized to .309" and went to the range. I was not terribly impressed. WTH I thought, I did just what all those guys on the forum said, and.....and....but...but....

So, I went back to class in a manner of speaking. http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm Picked up a hardness tester, a good mix of lead/WW/Lino and tin, a few more sizing dies (Lee) and began futzing around, brewing my own alloy mixes. It worked...


On the 50 yard line, elbow rest with the Trapper:


Subsequent to that I have loaded for the .22 K-Hornet at something akin to warp speed, down to more pedestrian things like the .22 GTC, .30 Sneezer, .38 spcl,, a couple of .25's, 7x57, .38-55, .405 Win, .45-70 and a few ML cannons to name a few. I use Lee push thru sizing dies, pan lube BP bullets with SPG and use ALOX for smokeless w/o exception. I have learned a few things about bullet fit/sizing, alloy hardness etc. that are sometimes contrary to conventional wisdom.

1. Hard lead alloys are overrated by a factor of about 8 bazillion squared. In fact they are usually counter productive to my objective, which is precision.
2. Correlating hardness to anticipated peak pressure is a winner.
3. Using a bit of surgical tube to dip the bullet carefully into dilute ALOX, ie the heel and bands only, leaves the nose clean for pocket carry. Dusting the shank with a mix of mica and graphite leaves it tack free for loading, and when sized properly they will not lead the bore, though they will lead the boar with regularity.
4. I have not hunted with any alloy harder than BHN 9. The target above was shot with that hardness as well. My reference for alloy blends is based on the famous Lyman #2 alloy, generally reported as 14 BHN. The alloys I shoot are referred to on the BHN scale as .25, .50, .75 as a percentage of hardness between pure lead and Lyman #2. Roughly, they are 8, 10 and 12 BHN. It is my own weird reference, your mileage may vary. I also shoot 30:1 in the BP guns that use greasers and pure lead for the paper patch bullets.
5. You gotta slug your bore!
6. A chamber cast won't hurt if you're a world class nit picker, but it isn't mandatory.
7. A fella can do whatever he wants to do with cast bullets, but it requires a little thought and at least a half pound of diligence. Full fill out on the slug requires proper temp for the alloy and mould. It also requires a steady rhythm. It minute of gnat's ass is your goal, weight sort the bullets. My standard is .1% spread. That's about 1/2 grain for a 530 grain bullet.

The 31141 will smack the crap out of deer size game at 2,000 fps +/-
My Sneezer bullet does the same on hogs, despite it's rather slinky form. The alloy below is 75% pure, about 22% WW and the rest as tin.


Shot into soft damp sand at about 900 fps


5 shots each during load development


Hogs disapprove of this round vehemently.

Contrary to popular theory, a fella can hit stuff with a big chunk of lead and Lord Black. So says my .45-70.

Almost forgot to illustrate why I like paper patch and soft lead. Critters don't like it at all.







I have patched round balls too. Tedious I know, but you can put two in a .44 mag case and they work too.

My powder coat procedure is about like Yonderings, except I'm anal enough to stand all my rifle bullets up for baking. I shake and bake, use a gloved hand to pick out the bullets and in the case of these long 30 calibers I place them into a silicon mini ice cube tray that I got off amazon. The small square pockets are just about perfect size for them.Makes it easy.

There's some musings here and there about using really hard alloys; they improve precision but don't work terminally, they suck at precision and are a waste of effort. They lead horribly or they just aren't worth the effort.

I won't argue that if using a bullet of decent weight for caliber that plain wheelweight metal with flatnoses from 1800-2000 impact velocities won't work. At handgun speeds the target hardness of 10-13 works really well too.

Just throwing this out there for the precision enthusiasts. This is Dan Lynch's treatise and findings, not my own.


What we see is 10 shot aggs at 100 yards, with accuracy the primary consideration.
Note the velocity, twist rate and psi of the loadings. Using what many of use know considering obturation levels and what many of us post here as "successes", take a look at the winning loads and multiply 18-22 BHN times 1,422. Pretty interesting.

Bullet hardness is lino (18-22 BHN), across the board. The author does mention he sees even better accuracy with greater hardness.
Here's three shots from a stock 1895 Marlin 45/70 at 100 yards after a 25 yard zero with the softnoses I made to hunt with. The base shanks are in the 28 BHN level, from testing the same solids from the same casting session. I fired these three shots and called it good. Fit was snug to the throat; that's all that is required.


So there's a little bit on precision with hard as nails alloy.
Now let us consider terminal results.

I choose the heat treated base softnose, because of the mentioned "safety valve" at both high and low impact velocities, the variances of caliber and nose profiles. From high speed 22 rifle lightweights to sedate 45 ACP loads, the partitioned softnose, like in jacketed bullets, provides us a wide velocity range for terminal results.
Someone mentioned the universal results of plain WW metal bullets at their specified velocity. The same metal and bullets, heat treated, doesn't lose these attributes, it just requires greater velocity and pressure to act just like they did with 200-500 fps less velocity. They perform universally at that greater velocity impact level. They will shed more weight, but that weight being shed translates on the target, often "powdering down" through flesh and bone.
Is this needed or required? Absolutely not, but if you want to get beyond 30-30 speeds and accuracy, plain WW metal is just a beginning.
One doesn't even need to drive the .30 caliber 170/180 flatnose to 1800-2000 fps to keel over deer with some expansion; simply load up the pure lead/lead tin as Dan posted.....its simply modifying impact speeds with alloy and nose shape.

Yes, exactly. One can also see the same effect with heat treated alloy with a larger meplat instead of higher velocity. Balancing those three details is important.

So are you shooting the PC boolits sans gas checks.

Yes for the most part in everything except gas-operated semi-autos (AR15 etc). I use a gas check in those applications because gas cutting through the coating can happen as the bullet base passes the gas port.

In most other applications, I have had good results both with and without gas checks (usually try both ways) so I generally omit the gas checks now in bolt actions, pumps, etc. (Note the expanded Saeco 352 in my first pic above with a gas check - that was part of early testing to figure out if the check was needed or not in that 35 Remington pump gun. It was not.)

I whacked a small buck at about 70 yards a few weeks ago with my ported .450 marlin using my powder coated NOE 458-396 bullet in front of enough Benchmark to put it at a little over 1,900 FPS. 50/50 ww/PB ladel cast. Severe, severe damage to the deer. That bullet is probably still flying. It entered just behind the left front shoulder as it was slightly turned towards me and exited at the back of the ribs. I watched the blood shooting out of the entrance hole as it ran about 30 yards. Obviously an easy find! This is now my go-to load in. That rifle. Outside of my .300 Wby I dont think I have ever seen as much damage to a deer

That one might have enough umph to get the job done. Maybe on both ends

That's a lot of flat nose for using 50/50 alloy at that speed. It probably blew a significant portion of the nose off, hence the massive damage. Even with straight clip on WW alloy, at 1900 fps that style will mushroom like a hollow point and lose some of the nose. That's not a bad thing necessarily, but should be expected to do more meat damage than some guys are looking for.

The pic of that .44 bullet I posted earlier....under the offside hide on a big doe it was. Broke the right foreleg, 2 ribs, cut the heart in half, 3 ribs on the way out and the left foreleg. Weren't any trackin' done after the fact. Little meat damage other than the heart. MV was ballpark 1,600 fps, the shot was about 80 yards so I figure about 1,400 fps on impact, +/-. Pure lead. 300 grains and as I recall there was 287 grains retained.

yes I hunt with cast bullets.

35 whelen is my favorite rifle and cartridge.



and of course with my muzzleloader.
here is an action shot if there ever was.



yes that is the bullet just before it pokes through the skin on the side you're looking at.

Heckova picture there Blammer!

Wow, what nice surprise that is. I've taken a couple that were in front of a camera and checked later to find no pictures, before or after. They don't seem to get a high percentage of what walks in front of them.

Yes. I've been hunting with cast for about ten years now, on and off. Up until a couple years ago, it was all I used. I all but retired all of my bolt action and "modern" rifles and got bit by the levergun/sixgun bug, in which naturally you have to shoot cast!!

Here is my first cast kill. It was a doe at about 40 yards or so, out of a tree stand in southern West Virginia. I was using a 1970's vintage Winchester 94 with a Lyman 311041 cast from wheel weights over top some 3031; I don't recall the load offhand. She dropped at the shot. The damage was impressive. I have yet to recover a cast bullet shot at game.

I need to get back into it again. From small game and predator hunting with a 25-20 or my 357, through deer with 30-30's, 45-70's, and 45 Colt, I have never had so much fun as I did when I was casting and loading my own, and shooting open-sighted leverguns and single shots.

I have shot a few big whitetail does with a 45 long colt lever gun using 300 grain wide flat point started at about 1500 fps., and frankly it flattens them. Smashes all bones and keeps on going . I believe the ones I used are about 20 brinnell and are from Montana Bullet Co
.These are very accurate in my rifle and have a gas check. I don't think it matters with regard to gas check , may help with accuracy.

Yep, that load in your .45 is about like mine in the .44, bullet weight and velocity wise. Thor's Hammer....

"Anybody do any deer hunting with cast?"

Yep.

I like handgun calibers.

Ruger Flattop 44 Special with 255 LBT WFN running 1050 fps from a 4-5/8" at 15 yds.



45 Colt with 283 gr LBT WFN running 1174 fps from this Taylor (Uberti) 1873 lever gun at 102 yds.



....and when you must go shoot a BIG deer. 45 Colt with a 335 gr LBT LFN running 1050 fps from a 4-5/8" NMBH at 15 yds.



Working my way into rifles with my 9.3x62 with a 255 gr LBT LFN GC, water quenched. With Varget i'm getting over 2200 fps, .8 moa for 5 shots and I wish I could figure out how to load a video for your viewing. I asked Veral Smith how far rifle loads were effective and he says that for rifle, if you shoot a gallon milk jug of water and it literally explodes, you're G2G. I've got a great video hitting a jug at 110 yds and it literally exploded.

No deer hunting experience but I did kill my first bear last December with a 357 Maximum loaded with a 270gr LFP that was PC'd and sized to .360". MV= 1760fps, the 190lb bear didn't stand a chance!

Thanks, Dinny

Here's a small sample of some of he six gunned animals I've taken with cast, most in the last few years but a couple of them are older kills. I've taken 14 elk with revolvers. First photo is my lion taken with a S&W 357 at 4 feet using a Keith cast. Second is a decent muley buck taken long range, about 180 yds steep down hill using a 180 gr GC cast. Next is 2 Texas Javelina taken with my OM 41 shorty & the 230 gr Keith cast. Next is a Montana white tail doe taken at 123 yds with the same 357 Maximum as the muley above, she was facing me straight on, hit her center chest & broke the 3rd rib back with an exit, knocked her flat.
Next is one of my bears at about 65 yds with my 10.5" Ruger 44 & a 250 Keith, did a back flip at the hit & rolled down hill towards me for 10-15 yds & dead. Next is a cow elk at about 55 yds with my S&W model 57 8 3/8" nickel & the 230 gr Keith, one shot & down in 40 yds. Next his my bull moose, off hand at 45 yds, Ruger Super Redhawk & a 370 gr SOFTNOSE cast, one shot, double lung & down in 5-6 seconds. Mule deer doe in Utah on a depredation hunt, Ruger 45 bisley at 67 yds with a 260 gr Keith, blew out the heart, down in 4-5 seconds. Utah antelope at 74 yds with my 8 shot Blackhawk 327 & a 135 gr cast HP, took out both lungs & she barely got tuned around & down. Last is a good muley buck taken close to home at 94 yds with another of my 10.5" 44's, iron sights & a 44 HP, took out both lungs & down in 4-5 steps. I could fill many more pages but another day.











Dick

1945, Great photos..

Cougar at 4 feet. Whoa, that was close! I got attacked by a cougar once, but I have to admit, it was the best night of my life!!

Thanks, Dinny

Yeah. 250 grain home-cast SWC from a .44 works. 300 grain home cast LBT from a .44 works. Most recent was a 245 grain .45 maxi ball from a Lyman mold launched from my .45 cal TC Seneca. Also my personal entry into pan lubing.

Tom

Nice Crocs, Dick!