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View Full Version : Whitetail and cast bullets



mike3132
04-07-2007, 10:25 AM
What design and grain bullets do you think are best for whitetail in .45? At what speed? mike

I should have been more specific i mean in a .45 lc handgun. mike

Onlymenotu
04-07-2007, 10:51 AM
Mike ,Whitetail arn't all that tuff of game to kill it's mostly about hit'n the spot..*I'm not a hangunner* but they take deer around here with 357 mag 150 grains up I do hunt with a inlinemuzzle loader and use a 45 cal flatnose 300 grn in a 50 cal sabot at about 1500fps while others shoot large conicals 500 grnish 800-900 fps... so it's mostly about being able to hit what ur shooting at,,,, that begin said i like a large meplate myself

ktw
04-07-2007, 12:05 PM
250 grains or larger. 800fps or faster. More meplat is better than less meplat.

It is more important that you limit shots to ranges at which you are proficient. Gutshot is gutshot, no matter what you hit them with. Hit them in the right spot and it's been my experience that even 128 gr, 45 cal roundballs go clean through.

-ktw

Hackleback
04-07-2007, 03:14 PM
Any reasonable wt and velocity load should do the job. After shooting many whitetails, I have come to the conclusion that they are not very hard to kill. Shot three with a Marlin FG - 41 mag, 265 cast loaded warm, all were complete pass through shots.

GLynn41
04-07-2007, 05:35 PM
I have a friedn who bought my .45 and Thompson mold for it by Lyman - that bullets has worked fine for him -- I shoot nothing but .41s

Old Ironsights
04-09-2007, 08:19 AM
Not a .45, but my 20" .357 Rossi did a doe just fine at about 95yds. DRT. No tracking required.

No expansion in the CB though. Needs a softer nose.

Dale53
04-09-2007, 10:38 AM
The Classic Keith bullet (Lyman 452424) will do just fine at velocities of 1000 and up.
I venture to say that most hand gunned deer are killed at fifty yards or less. A good big bullet (.41 or larger in diameter and 220 grs and up) at 1000-1400 fps works just fine.

The most importaant thing is that the hunter practices enough to hit a pie plate EVERY TIME at the distances he will shoot. Shot placement is far more important than the cartridge but I do believe an adequate cartridge, as I have described, is the other part of the equation.

Dale53

T-Bird
04-13-2007, 05:56 PM
I shoot the RCBS 270SSA loaded with 19gr Lil Gun standard LP primer (CCI). I get 1100fps out of a 7.5 in Ruger Bisley. Have killed several deer with it all under 35yds. I had trouble with the "lighter" 250gr Thompson running 1050fps not always exiting the deer. This was only important once when I lost a nice 6 point that ran down into a swampy bottom with no blood trail at almost dark.We mostly hunt from treestands here, so the entrance hole is almost always high.no exit hole means no blood on the ground.So far I haven't had one hold the 270SAA (actually 282gr with WW+2%) and it is very accurate. Shoot straight, T-Bird

GLynn41
04-14-2007, 06:59 PM
wow t-Bird -- even at that velocity I never thought about the bullet not exiting-- when I used the mold the weight ran about 263 or so-- but I did push it faster about 1350 --- the friend who has it now changed nothing - same load, mold everything --when I first started casting I used the Thompson mold in my .357 and my .44 magnum--then when I played around with the .45 colt I had such good success with it -- I got one for it too... anyway sorry about your six point- and surprised at that bullet-

Lloyd Smale
04-16-2007, 08:38 AM
2 years ago i took a deer with a 45 colt with a 250 lyman cast out of ww +2 percent tin at 900 fps I shot the deer in the chest and found the bullet just under the skin in the right rear leg. It had broke through the biggest part of the bone in the leg. Shot was at about 50 yards and thats over 3 foot of penetration. Bullet nose was rivited form hitting that bone and i have no doubt that if the bullet would have been slightly harder, like #2, i wouldnt have found it.

carpetman
04-16-2007, 10:27 AM
Lloyd Smale "Two years ago I took a deer with a .45 colt with a 250 Lyman cast" "Shot deer in chest." If I run across a deer so armed I'm going for a head shot.

ebner glocken
04-16-2007, 03:49 PM
LMAO!! I had to read it twice to get it......but funny.

Blackwater
04-17-2007, 09:56 PM
Mike, you ask a darned good question, but the more I've seen in the field, the more I doubt there's really an answer to it. I think Onlymenotu had the answer, as closely as one can get to it, at least.

FWIW, I've only shot one deer with a handgun to date, but I've been around a number that were shot by others. A buddy shot 3 last year with his .45 Auto with 5" barrel. He worked up a load with some Lee 230 gr. TC bullets I cast that sent them along at 965 fps. 2 of the deer he shot were taken with that load, each at under 50 yds. and each requiring only one shot. Death was quick and one fell at the shot and never got up, the other went 3 or 4 leaps and then fell and died. Both were forward heart/lung shots very near the heart. Probably got the aorta's, I think, but can't verify that. The 3rd was at @ 50 yds., and was taken with the 200 gr. Oregon Trail RNFP at 1060 fps. That one turned at the shot, but fell, and never got up. Again, it was a heart/lung shot with the bullet very near the heart. All 3 were does, and the heaviest was maybe 130 lbs., with the lightest being maybe 90.

As Onlymenotu said, it's really about where you hit them. In that respect, it's a lot like bow hunting, really.

Give me a good shot who knows deer habits and how to sit still, armed with a .22 RF handgun over a man with a .458 who doesn't have those qualities ANY day.

This subject will be argued until Doomsday, and never be resolved, but if you have the above power level, and don't get your deer, it won't be the fault of the gun.

BTW, those bullets don't lose a lot of steam in going out to 70 yds., and ought to do about the same at 70 as they did at a bit shorter distance. These type kills come from penetration and bullet placement rather than overwhelming "power" to the nervous system like high velocity rifles can, so that makes it all about bullet placement with the big slow numbers.

Old Ironsights
04-17-2007, 11:33 PM
Consider:

A Combat Handgun with factory ammunition is designed to be effective on a 200lb adrenaline pumped human at somthing less than 50 yds... as the above anecdote demonstrates. More than that, and everyone I know is trained to go for the rifle.

Add a longer sight plane and a custom load and you get out to 75-100... with a heavy bullet and perfect shot placement.

JMO anyway.