My first boolit critters

[geezer56]

Shot my first animals with my own cast boolits this weekend. My son and I decided to take the twins hunting this weekend. The twins are a pair of NEF Handi rifles in 444 Marlin. Stoked with the Lee C430-310 bullets over a case full of H335 powder. My son shot a big sow about 5:00 PM on saturday. She was about 50 yds away, boolit entered on the left side behind the shoulder. No exit but she dropped like a rock. I shot a smaller version on sunday about 3 PM. Was going to the stand and saw rooting in the road that wasn't there at 11:00. Stopped and waited to see for a bit. Heard some grunting, watched and waited. I finally made out a pig through the brush. It was in the middle of a blackberry thicket. I do mean a thicket, I probably shouldn't have shot at her. The boolit entered broadside low in the chest, just grazing the elbow. Out on the other side. Broke 3 ribs going in, 5 ribs going out. There was less than half the heart left. Both lungs shattered. Pig ran about 30 feet and keeled over. I am not smart enough to post pictures, but the entry and exit wounds were impressive on the second one. The first one was pretty impressive on the entry, and it worked. The big one was 200 lbs, the second was about 160.

[roverboy]

Congratulations to you both. Does the Handi-Rifle have a lot of kick in .444?

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Very nice!

[x101airborne]

So did yall recover the boolit from the first piggy? Interested to hear your load, alloy, etc...

[geezer56]

First, recoil in the Handi in 444. It is there, but not punishing. Not nearly as bad as the 500 S&W. More of a push than a whack. Secondly, I didn't dig through the gut pile to find the boolit. We were skinning by the headlights of the truck and the light of the silvery moon. The one from my pig is stuck in the state of South Carolina somewhere. I will say that the wound channels from both were impressive. Much more so than any J-word bullets I have ever used. Alloy was just like the ingots come out of the bucket from the tire shop. Mixed clip on and stick on, about 75-25 ratio. Next up, 45-70 and the 405HB boolit!

[1Shirt]

Good post. Am interested in one of those NEF rifles in 444 to see if there is the potential of longer throat, and increased seating. Would really like a 444 in a Ruger #1 with a throat long enough to seat a blt out much further than is possible for Marlin loadings. I like the Lee 310, but just hate seating it deep enough to cycle thru my Marlin. Any idea of vol with your load?
1Shirt!:coffee:

[geezer56]

No clue on velocity. The NEF is short throated and requires the bullet to be seated deep. The brass wouldn't hold a full charge of H335 without a lot of compression. I don't start out at the max load anyway, when the case got full, I stopped increasing. Called it good and went hunting. To seat the boolit out, you will have to throat the barrel. I prefer the new type synthetic stock on the NEF, I dont think they kick as bad as the wood.

[OBXPilgrim]

The H&R 444 handi is known to have a pretty short throat, similar to their 45/70, my H&R 444 does too. I wanted something I could load by crimping in the crimp groove - a group buy 290gr RF slug fit perfect & gives very good accuracy (H4895 powder at 1800 fps - very manageable recoil). I thought about just buying some of the once fired Hornady short brass from their flex tip bullet (what-ever they call it) so I wouldn't have to trim my good remmy brass that far.

Funny how some calibers from them are consistant like that.

Their 357 Mag rifle have a very looong throat. Mine would load 360 dan wesson ammo and still have plenty of room for as long a boolit as you could find.

[geezer56]

Update on boolit performance. We packaged the hams and shoulders from the piggies whole. I like to cook em low and slow in the oven, then pull the pork for use in other things, like burritos and barbeque. While my son was prepping the left ham from his pig, he found a wound channel on the bone. A bit of excavation turned up a boolit, still intact, mushroomed to 0.810 in. diameter. Gas check still attached, no fragmentation, bullet still weighed 270 gr. Did I mention that he shot the pig head on, looking at him? Hit her on the point of the shoulder, right at the neck. The hog was way over 200 lbs. From right shoulder to left ham on a 200+ pig- I am impressed. Too dumb to post pictures, but you guys get the idea.

[runfiverun]

don't be tellin about the 75/25 alloy for hunting.
everybody tells me it don't work.

[Blammer]

geezer56, next time we meet, bring that boolit, I'll take some pics to post up for you.

[x101airborne]

Good deal. Glad to hear you found that boolit. Be sure to post a 'before' and 'after' boolit comparison picture. Great job.

[Rafe Covington]

Congrats, nice shooting.

Rafe:redneck: