Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Favorite 44 Hard Cast Bullet for Deer

What Mackay and SargeMO said. I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot anything with a 250 gr. Keith type SWC, that I cast myself.

Shooting for bone with a 44 pistol! Damn better shot than me. Use an XTP deer are soft skinned animals

^^^^^^^ That's the ticket for me.

Killed this'n with a hard cast Keith over 18.0 gr of 2400

Great news from all three of you, Thanks! you all are making me feel better about using my little FA 97 in 44 Special this season for close range white tail deer, it fires a GT Bullets version of the 255gr Keith bullet, it's an accurate 1030 fps over 4227 powder, bullet has a nice .300 thou meplat, will also be looking for shoulders.

Hell of a deal Dave Keith! Congrats.

I'm an LBT slut

If you can’t shoot your pistol well enough to hit a deer’s shoulder you probably shouldn’t be hunting deer with it.

Trash the "hardcast" crap and go with wheelweight hardness bulets. Hard cast rarely slugs up, leads badly, and doesn't expand. Lyman 429421 or 429244gc over 20 2400 is all I use. M29, Super Blackhawk, 94 Win, 94 Marlin.

Yep. 280 gr WFN LBT. 10 grains of Unique. Kills deer and hogs here at the Ranch graveyard dead.

Any .44 LBT design that starts with a W will kill deer like a rifle with similar shot placement.

The W stands for Whacks Hard.

A wide meplat hardcast leave large wound channels and kill very well in my experience. 75 to 80% meplat hard cast have been very good killers my me on small medium and large game

I recommend the LBT WFN types. Deer don't take a lot of bullet weight so if you shoot anything from about 225 up to 325 you are going to get exits. I use 320 Grain LBT WFN GC bullets in my 44 magnums and nothing else. In my 44 Specials I use 250 and 260 grain LBT WFNS or 460 grain Keith SWCs.

I have read so many posts of narrow wounds and long tracking jobs using cast bullets but I started killing various critters with a 45 colt using cast bullets in 1969 and went to a 44 magnum in 1973. I have killed several dozen deer with cast 44s and 45s and with 44 mags I have also killed a few elk, bears, antelope, cattle, horses and 2 buffalo with wide nosed Keith SWCs and the LBT WFN bullets I have never seen "narrow wounds and long tracking jobs". In fact, so far, every kill I have made in my entire life with revolvers has been a 1 shot kill. I did kill 1 white tail with 2 shots from a 45ACP but those bullet were military hardball. My mistake, because I wanted to use 225 grain HPs but I forgot to swap magazines and killed the deer with what was in the gun. That deer went about 40 yards after the 1st hit but even the hard ball didn't make for a super long tracking job. The 2nd shot finished it off.

I bet at least 1/3 of the game I have killed with handguns fell within 15 feet of where they were hit and about 10-12 have dropped in one step or less. A few have fallen instantly while the gun was still in recoil. I do aim for bone if I can, but I have seen many fast kills when I missed the bones .

My experience with 44 magnums and 45 colts and my 454 Casull, all using hard cast flat nose bullets, has proven to me that they are far more effective than most people thing they are. Thinking back on the kills I have made with 30-30s 35 Remington's and 303 British rifles I have to say that similar hits with my 44 magnums have killed the game just about as fast judging from the time from shot to the animals being on the ground.

I use an LBT 260 gr. WFN at about 975 out of my 44 SPL. I don’t think there is a deer that would stop that bullet. I’ve had straight line penetration for about 28” diagonally through bone.

Old70

I think it's the "hard" part of hard cast that people don't like as much hunting medium game.

I have to agree that hard may not be best for light game like deer. Here’s an option that can give you a Keith SWC along with a hollow point option. Mihec makes beautiful molds, they cast great and this mold is a clone of the H&G 503, which by many accounts is pretty true to Elmer’s original. With the added benefit of a hollow point if you desire.

Cast soft, 8-11 BHN, with the HP pins, would give you a great deer bullet.

Dick Thompson, who used to post here quite a bit has taken a lot of game with soft cast HP bullets.

Mihec 503

I've used 5744 for target loads. But for hunting I use full power H110 or 2400 and 245 semi-wadcutter with GC,

I'm pretty sure the 5744 loads would work, just never tried them.

Is anyone running the Lee 310gr bullet C430-310 on deer? Seems to have a nice big metplat and multiple seating bands. I got one to try in my 1881 Swiss Vetterli for deer, but haven't had a chance to get to the range. As long as it will feed and is reasonably accurate, it should hit harder than the Vetterli replica bullet that has a much smaller metplat. I need to try it in my .44 mag SB Hunter, but it will have a hill to climb to shoot better than 2.5 MOA groups at 100yds that it will do with 240 XTPs.

I've found that bullet to be quite accurate if it's sized appropriately. Small sample in regard to deer and elk, but they certainly exit. The alloy I have run allowed for a bit of expansion or at least riveting of the WFN. I tend to shoot for bone with cast bullets unless the alloy is very soft for the speed I am pushing them.

good to hear. I think the ones I cast were with a 10-11 Bhn alloy according to the Lee tool. The 33" barrel on the Vetterli will get them up over 1400 fps easily so there might be some expansion. I think I'm going to see if I can make a collet up and reliably drill a hollow point in the lathe on a few and see how they shoot. I don't think I need a hollow point, but should be an interesting endeavor.

Don't have any use at all for hard cast lead.

Pure lead works in rifles and pistols if properly packaged.






No exits on deer or hogs, no tracking. Bang-Flop.