.359 cast boolits

[GOODWIN]

Got some of these from Hunter 257 to try in my Marlin 336 .35 Rem. As I told him I can't help but think these flat nose ought to knock a deer down with ease. I know my shoulder didn't appreciate them. Only appropriate powder I had was Varget so they got 38gr, CCI 200, R-P brass. I did not crimp them but probably should in the future. First 3 fell in 3/4" at 50 yds the last one opened up to 1 1/2 or so. I take it with the Williams front fire sight and ghost ring I have on the receiver. I like it for hunting but for group shooting it's not the best. I bet with a low power scope it'd stack 'em in tight. Ended up loading the rest. Ready for a live target.

 

[Hunter 257W]

Glad to see they worked for you. Can't wait to see how they work on an actual deer because water jug testing looks real promising. I have also been pleasantly surprised how well the micro-groove rifling seems to tolerate cast bullets.

 

[dirtyhands]

I know this is a bigger boolit but I hit a smallish deer with a Hardcast 430gr 45-70 it knocked the deer back about 8 feet it's was dead before it hit the ground. The round then went straight through this tree.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I know this is a bigger boolit but I hit a smallish deer with a Hardcast 430gr 45-70 it knocked the deer back about 8 feet it's was dead before it hit the ground. The round then went straight through this tree.

Why do you use hard alloy, if I may ask? It seems like so many shooters go to a harder alloy by default when, in my opinion, it's either not necessary or a softer alloy would even be better. With 430 grains, you certainly don't have to worry about so much expansion that you won't penetrate a deer. :) Pure clip on wheel weight alloy seems to work so far for rifles for me. At least at 35 Remington velocities. If we're talking about say the 30-06 which is capable of higher velocities than cast bullets can withstand, and a shooter wants to go for as high a velocity as possible for cast, then I can see the harder alloy being justified. Anyhow, just curious why you are using "hard" cast.

Impressive results on the tree, by the way! :) I have a 500 grain mold from Lee for a .458 flat nose that I've shot some out of my 460 Weatherby using manual "Minimum" loads but have never shot a deer with one. I have NO DOUBT that would do the job of course. :tu: It's just hard to convince my shoulder that it's necessary to use that load when headed out for a practice session.

Oh yeah, have you ever recovered one of these bullets from a deer? Maybe hit one head on such as the buck I recovered a Barnes TTSX from last year by shooting it in the chest while it stared at me so that the bullet stopped in the pelvic bone. Sure would love to see how those big 458 bullets behave in a deer.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I'd love to try some in my 35 but it only shoots bullets, I don't think those would work in my rifle.

Yeah, I don't know how cast bullets started being referred to as "Boolits"?? :) I think it happened on the CastBoolit website?? Regardless of what they may call them, there is a lot of good info and ideas on that website. I'm just amazed at how well these seem to work in the Marlin micro-groove rifling. I've always heard that they wouldn't shoot cast bullets but didn't put much thought into it since I never had a Marlin until last year.

 

[dirtyhands]

I know this is a bigger boolit but I hit a smallish deer with a Hardcast 430gr 45-70 it knocked the deer back about 8 feet it's was dead before it hit the ground. The round then went straight through this tree.

Why do you use hard alloy, if I may ask? It seems like so many shooters go to a harder alloy by default when, in my opinion, it's either not necessary or a softer alloy would even be better. With 430 grains, you certainly don't have to worry about so much expansion that you won't penetrate a deer. :) Pure clip on wheel weight alloy seems to work so far for rifles for me. At least at 35 Remington velocities. If we're talking about say the 30-06 which is capable of higher velocities than cast bullets can withstand, and a shooter wants to go for as high a velocity as possible for cast, then I can see the harder alloy being justified. Anyhow, just curious why you are using "hard" cast.

Impressive results on the tree, by the way! :) I have a 500 grain mold from Lee for a .458 flat nose that I've shot some out of my 460 Weatherby using manual "Minimum" loads but have never shot a deer with one. I have NO DOUBT that would do the job of course. :tu: It's just hard to convince my shoulder that it's necessary to use that load when headed out for a practice session.

Oh yeah, have you ever recovered one of these bullets from a deer? Maybe hit one head on such as the buck I recovered a Barnes TTSX from last year by shooting it in the chest while it stared at me so that the bullet stopped in the pelvic bone. Sure would love to see how those big 458 bullets behave in a deer.

I didn't cast those. They were 430gr plus p bear loads that I bought because they were on sale. They do push the shoulder a bit but not quite as much as you would think. That's the only deer I've shot with that round and obviously there was no recovering that one. To be honest they are around 1900 fps so they aren't likely to stop in a deer no matter what angle you shoot em at. I just bought the rifle about 6 months ago and am still collecting items for reloading. I'd love to eventually start casting my on one day.

 

[GOODWIN]

I know this is a bigger boolit but I hit a smallish deer with a Hardcast 430gr 45-70 it knocked the deer back about 8 feet it's was dead before it hit the ground. The round then went straight through this tree.

Marlin 45-70 is on my list of "need to have" :mrgreen: . Hard to find a JM though.

 

[GOODWIN]

Glad to see they worked for you. Can't wait to see how they work on an actual deer because water jug testing looks real promising. I have also been pleasantly surprised how well the micro-groove rifling seems to tolerate cast bullets.

Hunter are you crimping these?

 

[Hunter 257W]

Yes, I am using a crimp. Also an expanding die to flare the neck with before seating so you don't damage the bullet. I've never tried not crimping a cast bullet to say whether it's really essential though. Who knows, you might get away without doing it? If the powder fills the case, that would keep the bullet from being pushed deeper into the case by the magazine spring. The spring might be enough to keep recoil from pulling it out of the case. Ignition might be more consistent with a crimp? It would be worth a try to compare loading some with and without crimping. If you could do without it, case life could be longer - IF cases are failing 1st on the case mouth. I haven't had my 35 long enough to see how the cases fail. With my 30-30, which i used to shoot cast bullets also, I'd mostly get splits down low in the neck but they sure lasted a long time before that happened. Crimping with the 30-30 didn't seem to hurt case life at all.