Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire .30 cal RN solids

People shoot sub-sonic all the time with no issues. I have a 300 whisper. I guess if you go slow enough a bullet can stick whether it is lead or copper.

Absolutely true for copper or lead.

Exactly right. It's rather a lot harder to get lead to stick as opposed to jacketed.

Stuck bullets is one issue. Small charges in a large case is one that can result in a big surprise. There are methods to circumvent such things, but it is not as simple as it might seem to a rookie

It's time for Seafire to chime in about his Blue Dot loads.

AA5744 or H4895 with comercial powder coated 300 blackout bullets or plated 30-30 bullets at 1700 to 1850 should not expand much.

Shocked absolutely shocked swamplord promoting low powered loads? What gives? Mb

I’ve killed elk with them 180’s too!

Montana Bullet Works.

https://www.montanabulletworks.com/product/308-rcbs-82014-190gr-fn-gc/

I use moly coated gas checked 165gr cast bullets for subsonic loads in my ???! Use trail boss powder. Works good. They work good on pigs.
I’ve got some old Hornady 150 gr. Rnd nose left over. Used them for 30-30 years ago.
For subsonic I’d go with cast.

Ha !


how much do ya need to axe a black bear offa treestand over bait 30 yards away ?

I't would be like plugging one at 600 yards with a 7.82 Warbird

I have to ask… just what is “hard cast”? It is without definition but used by many who don’t know. I want my cast bullets soft, about 10BHN or so. Anyway, cast is a good suggestion.
Rick

i'd go with a Ranch Dog or a WFN/FN design.

https://bullshop.weebly.com/-30-caliber-cast-bullets.html

on grains of the bullet, depends what type of game he's going after. if it is groundhog or foxes, i'd go with 115gr Ranch Dog. if its lager i'd go with the 173gr (165gr) Ranch Dog.

stay away from cast pointed bullets, unless you want to track the game animal. i don't know about cast RN, as i have never used them.

What I find interesting is wives tales that live on and on. I agree 100% about shooting the wrong reduced load no matter the bullet material. Stay within reasonable loading guidelines and things will be fine.

What seems to a lifetime ago, I helped a couple of gentleman test early versions of what became the Cutting Edge Bullet Safari solids and Raptors. Back then we called them BBW 13s (Bastard Bullet Works) non-cons. That I know of I killed the only Cape buffalo with an early copper non-con which became the brass Raptor.

We did much of the testing to dispel the myth that monolithic solids damaged double rifle barrels which was the “belief” of many DR snobs until Woodleigh started producing one. Also much testing was done to determine the best meplat design, number of bands, and material.

Keep in mind I played a small role compared to the other gentleman, basically they sent me bullets and I loaded them to various velocities, fired, and recovered the bullets, reporting straight line penetration and other observations.

After all the above bs I just wrote one of the things my buddies did was to buy a strain gauge to test strain on the barrel, I think 5 inches from the muzzle. All types of bullets were tested. Guess what gave some of the highest readings, hard cast lead bullets with gas checks and soft cast lead with no gas checks. They surmised the lubricity of brass was butter than copper and lead.

At the end of the day, in bullets that really matter for hunting, there is far more to pressure or what may get stuck in the barrel than whether it is lead or copper or brass.

Could you be referring to wonky powder positioning causing wild pressure swings in a big case with little powder charges?

That would depend on the alloy. I run a base alloy that is 11 BH N air cooled and 19 BHN water dropped from the mold. Take that same bullet and heat it at 400l degrees for four or more hours, then water drop. Age hardened for a month of two and they might as well be solids. The secret is I add 1/3 cup of magnum or chilled #9 bird shot which it high in arsenic. It helps quite a bit strengthening the alloy.
PJ

I read you can load a bullet upside down ain’t tried it 🤷‍♂️

I powder coat and quench with added shot for the As content as well. Have you tried tracking the diameter change? I have some 405 gr hollew base bullets that started at .460 and are now .463+ after a few years and will not push through a Lee .460 die.

Yes. One of the first mistakes is using a powder brand associated with medium to slow burn rates for light loads. Another trick is to put some Dacron fluff in the case to hold the powder in place. It is mentioned quite a bit in the Lyman cast bullet manuals. Option 3 is to use, in addition, a small dose of fast burning powder.

Using hard cast for such projects is silly. I run anywhere from 900-2100 fps with 180 gr cast in a couple of .30 calibers, BHN 9-12 depending on load. Never leaded, accurate and I'll leave it at that.

One of the sidebars on this, assuming that some degree of precision is desired, is what load is required to obturate a given alloy on one part, and what is the max load a given alloy will tolerate before failing to contain the pressure. There are other factors that influence this, but it is a reasonable guideline.

Scroll down and read the fine print: http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm





50 yards with a Model 94 Trapper