500S&W/Lee 440gr FN

[reloader28]

I made some of these with 50/50/2% alloy and medium heat treated them a week and a half ago. According to the tester on the nose, they are at 15.4 BHN. It seems that usually they dont change a whole lot more after a couple weeks, so I figured this to be fairly close to the final numbers.

These boolits will be for bear protection/hunting.
My question is, do you guys think this is a good hardness, or should I go harder?

I would think that these boolits would expand some, but I've also read that you want a hard cast FN and to let the nose do the job.

I was just wondering what the majority of the experts here thought.
If it should expand or stay FN?

[44man]

I made some of these with 50/50/2% alloy and medium heat treated them a week and a half ago. According to the tester on the nose, they are at 15.4 BHN. It seems that usually they dont change a whole lot more after a couple weeks, so I figured this to be fairly close to the final numbers.

These boolits will be for bear protection/hunting.
My question is, do you guys think this is a good hardness, or should I go harder?

I would think that these boolits would expand some, but I've also read that you want a hard cast FN and to let the nose do the job.

I was just wondering what the majority of the experts here thought.
If it should expand or stay FN?
That boolit will expand, the BHN means nothing. The S&W is a fast boolit so some expansion is good and you have good weight for penetration. Only accuracy would be my concern, if it shoots good then no worry. Yet the bear is the final answer.
I would be inclined to a 75-25 alloy with a good meplat and water dropped for toughness.
NO, a good meplat at high velocity with a hard boolit is not always good unless the animal is very large or you take a frontal shot that needs to go through the whole animal.
I can't break it down but the 50-50 might be better for black bear and 75-25 better for griz. Or maybe just WW for Griz.
Need guys with .500 experience on bear to say.

[idahoron]

I am using that mould for my muzzleloader. I paper patch it and it is a great bullet. I am using lead that is slightly harder than pure. it is about 6 to 7 BHN. I have shot through deer and antelope with it out past 100 yards even breaking shoulders. Those things hit like a hammer. From my experience I will say if the gun likes them you will love them. Ron

[Beagler]

I cast my 440's out of straight WW with a little tin added and water dropped. Shot out of my H/R Handi. It will shoot through some of the trees around my place. recovered a few and they only lost a couple grains of weight

[reloader28]

Thanks alot guys, I appreciate the input.

I would've water dropped these instead of heat treat, but I have only about a 2/3 succsess rate with this mold, so I look at each one before setting it aside or throwing it back in the pot. I should've got a single cav. I think the 2 cav mold heats up to much.
I have a bunch from straight WW for normal shooting, but figured they would fragment to much.

I guess I'll just leave these another week or so and then test a few to see how they do.
I'll probly just use them as they are for the time being. Thanks again.:grin:

[Beagler]

Oops I lied it lost about 80 grains of weight. I shot this one into a seasoned round of Shagbark Hickory. Shot it across the grain and it penetrated 9 1/2 inches. Shagbark hickory is some hard stuff when dry,

[onondaga]

If you are delivering 1000 foot pounds or more at the range of your hit on game, it is reasonable to expect double caliber expansion and 100% weight retention with a BHN 15 alloy like yours and a FN boolit. This is in fact why Lyman alloy #2 has been so famous for so long. This is also why I prefer Lyman #2 alloy boolits to any jacketed bullet.

This is the bear alloy I use, COWW : Lino at 7:3 and it consistently tests a little over BHN 14 at 30 days. . I have had frontal hits on 200 pound plus deer entering heart high in the front and exiting the anus with a 2 inch exit wound. Bear hits show similar exit wounds no matter where they are hit. My boolit is the plain based .457-340 gr Lee RN-F that casts at 329 grains in my alloy and is driven to 1610 fps having over 1000 foot pounds at 200 yards. I have used this same load as a protection load for Polar Bear while Bow Hunting Muskox in Alaska without any misgiving doubt of the boolit choice.

I suggest you run ballistics on your load and see where 1000 foot pounds lies along your range and you will feel more confidence. Fill in your data into this free to use ballistic calculator online at:

http://www.handloads.com/calc/index.html

If you are running that boolit at 1410 fps from a handgun you will have just over 1000 foot pounds at 20 yards. That sounds like a good bear protection load to me.

Gary

[reloader28]

Thanks for the info and calculater.
I'm going to play around with that.
Pretty cool.:drinks: