First cast bullet deer

[richhodg66]

Well, not really, I've done it a lot with .50 and .54 muzzle loaders and this year with .44 SWCs in Sabots, but this was the first one with a "small bore". Rifle is a Savage 340 in .30-30, load was the Ideal 31141 cast of WW with two ounces of 95/5 solder in a ten pound pot in front of 25 grains of B West 36.

[RugerFan]

Well done :drinks:

[Junior1942]

Yep, well done.

[x101airborne]

you gotta love that 31141. Excellent design yielding excellent results. Congrats, Sir.

[richhodg66]

That little Savage 340 is really growing on me, I only made two range trips with it before this and only one with the scope, almost instant success, although the shot was only ten yards or so. This is a n area I never hunted a long way from my usual haunts and it is very dense woods, so this little rifle is about the perfect implement for the job.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Well done. Thanks for the write up. Sure is a great satisfaction popping corn crunchers with home made articles. No matter what I think a little lead in the system adds flavor in the eating.
My last gun deer was with the Lyman 375249. I hunt river bottoms mostly also so that was also close at about 14 yards.
Mike in Peru

[roverboy]

I had a Savage 340 about 15 years ago and killed a few deer with it. I used all J-bullets though.

[Thumbcocker]

Who are you trying to kid. Everybody "knows" that it takes a cartridge with "Magnum" in the name fired from $1200 of rifle and scope to kill deer. :kidding:

Nice eating doe and good rifle and boolit combo. congrats.

[TXGunNut]

[smilie=w: Nicely done, looking forward to my first cast boolit critter this year. What kind of powder is B West 36? Dunno if I'll ever get around to CB's for my thutty-thutty, I'm guessing Lyman's 311041 is a copy of the Ideal mould?

[richhodg66]

[smilie=w: Nicely done, looking forward to my first cast boolit critter this year. What kind of powder is B West 36? Dunno if I'll ever get around to CB's for my thutty-thutty, I'm guessing Lyman's 311041 is a copy of the Ideal mould?

Yes, it's the Lyman 311041, I just have an old Ideal single cavity, but am liking it enough to get a multicavity soon.

BW-36 is a Chinese powder they don't import anymore, which is too bad because it has worked real well for me. I'm down to about my last half pound or so of it. It burns very closely to IMR3031, which I'll probably switch to for this load, either that or IMR4895 or 4198.

This bullet did fine at this distance. I shot a doe during muzzle loader with a .44 SWC in a sabot and basically got zero blood trail, just a splash where I hit her and nothing else. This one bled like a stuck pig, a blind man could've blood trailed her, not that I needed to, I watched her go down from the tree stand. I don't understand the physics involved, but I would've figured a .44 hole to leave more blood than a .30.

[GLynn41]

good on you

[JDL]

Most excellent! I can still remember my first all those years ago.

[OnHoPr]

I shot my first 30-30 and CB deer 2yrs ago and one last year. They were at 100yd and 117yds respectively. Both ran about the same distance they were shot. I have been surprised at the accuracy of the cast boolit and its performance compared to the 06 and 300 win mag. It is very adequate. The last two deer has brought my confidence up to the 7ish level compared to the bigger .30s and J's.

[Beagler]

Great Job! I just started casting the ranch dog for my 30-30. I wacked a doe with the lee 1oz'er years ago. But still waiting on my frist Cast Boolit kill. All my S/W 500 has been killing is push mowers so far.

[richhodg66]

Great Job! I just started casting the ranch dog for my 30-30. I wacked a doe with the lee 1oz'er years ago. But still waiting on my frist Cast Boolit kill. All my S/W 500 has been killing is push mowers so far.

How mant lawn mower tags can you get? Do they taste good? We need some pics, LOL.

I have a bunch to do between now and then, but I'd really like to cast some soft nosed 311284s for my .30-06 and try that during our extended January antlerless season. This particular doe didn't move but maybe 20 yards from the point I shot her and bled heavily the whole way. Granted, the bullet had not slowed down much at that distance, but I was still pretty impressed by the energy transfer. I wish I could have recovered the bullet, but it's buried in the forest floor somewhere now.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

WOW, just think what would have happened if you'd shot the deer with a real cast boolit rifle, like say a 45/70. You'd probably killed her! :bigsmyl2::kidding:

I'm soon after my 3rd and 4th cast boolit critters, but will be forced to use a [smilie=1:[smilie=1:[smilie=1: "real" cast boolit rifle.

Good post, congrats!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[richhodg66]

I actually have a Hadi Rifle in .45-70 that will get hunted eventually. I didn't have a mold for it until recently, so I'll have to start. Previously, I had been using bullets my Dad cast, but he tends to cast with harder alloys than I think hunting would require and they were RN rather than flat. I also needed to mount a peep sight on it, but that's done now. Maybe it'll get used next year if I can fit it into all the projects I have in the que, lol.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Richhodg66,

Unless your dad's boolits are so hard they tend to shatter, the "hard" factor May -?? - not be an issue.

However, as you have likely read, large boolits with big flat meplats seem to find favor in their game taking abilities.

In my limited experience, that is true, in spades!

Being an old "J" boolit hunter, it was normal to see a tiny hole where the "J" boolit entered the critter, but with the much slower and larger cast boolit, that large meplat is showing a much larger entrance wound.

The .45cal boolit is for all practical purposes, "expanded" before striking the hide and remains so for the duration of passage through the critters tissue.

Am interested in seeing the results on a couple more deer this Fall, maybe starting as early as today.

Results on one deer and one elk to this point, AWESOME!

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot