Hunting with a semi-wadcutter

[rlb]

I would like to hear some input on hunting with the semi-wadcutters out of a 44. I am looking at something along the line of the Lyman 429244. I would be driving them as hard as the accuracy will let me. I have the 429650, but I really don't need a 330 grn bullet for deer. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks.

[9.3X62AL]

No deer to date with Lyman #429244, but it has shot accurately for me past 1400 FPS in 44 Magnum revolvers and shoots well out of my Win 92 to 1800 FPS, though I haven't shot it extensively in the rifle yet. My loads (22.0 x 2400) were shooting in the 2"-2.25" range at 100 yards, which is very deer-capable to the rifle's/caliber's limit of 150 yards (my choice). Same load with a 245 grain Accurate round flatnose gas check design shot just about as well at 100, perhaps 1/4" wider overall. It's a 20"-barrelled carbine with open irons, and that is decent work from such a platform in my view.

I have zero doubt that such a bullet at 44 Magnum-potential velocities in either a revolver or rifle will harvest deer very efficiently. I own a much-used Win '73 in 44-40 WCF that served as a ranch and meat rifle for many years, firing a 200 grain bullet between 1100-1300 FPS. This rifle took several deer each year--and at least 2 black bears as witnessed by my grandmother right at the ranch house. The 44 Magnum from a revo has a 25% or more power advantage over the '73 carbine, a 44 Mag carbine is more like 60%+. You might choose to cast your boolits as soft-points via the BruceB Method (on this site), but the 44 Mag is a decisive venison harvester if the guy or gal squeezing the trigger steers things correctly.

[RugerFan]

I've taken a few deer and hogs with the 429244 out of a .50 cal ML in plastic sabots. They kill VERY well.

This was recovered from a boar hog. (cast from ww)
http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/bullet.jpg

50/50 ww/Pb expands even more.

[**oneshot**]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?60112-Hunting-Deer-with-the-Lyman-429244

[winelover]

My first handgun harvested whitetail deer was with my RH and RCBS's 240 GC SWC over 22 grains of 2400. Large doe went 65 yards after the boolet took out two 1" saplings. When I first went to track, I thought I missed, after seeing the two trees cut cleanly in half. Then I found a swatch of hair and the rest was ancient history.

Winelover

[Hickory]

I have killed several deer and a black bear with the 429244 HP it does a very good job.
Since using the 429640 HP I don't think any other cast boolit out there will do a better job on deer.

[nekshot]

yup, every deer we shot with those 240 gr semi's are all dead. All shot between 125 and 150 yards. It now is our "standard" load for our muzzle loaders. Would do the same in a 44 magnum(cast ).

[HollowPoint]

I started out by taking coyotes with semi-wadcutters out of my 1911 Kimber 45. (targets of opportunity; wasn't really hunting them) This lead me to believe that semi-wadcutters out of my then Rossi M92 lever gun would be just as lethal.

It was plenty accurate for the type of coyote hunting I was doing in thick brush. The problem was, I never
was able to call up or come across a coyote any time I had the 44 caliber wadcutters out in the field.

I have no doubt they would have done the trick; either on coyote or deer.

HollowPoint

[rlb]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I guess I am going to have to buy another mold.:drinks:

[merlin101]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I guess I am going to have to buy another mold.:drinks:

Sorry to hear that[smilie=1:

[x101airborne]

Say, I think... And that is a long stretch that 330 grain mold is probably meant for the 444 marlin. Of wich I have two. Would you like to sell or trade that mold? I have SEVERAL 44 molds from Lyman, Accurate, Miha, NOE, etc. May keep you AND I from having to shell out some money right now. PM if interested.
Trey

[fatnhappy]

I have both moulds. I used to use the 429650 for deer since it shoots so well in my redhawk. Eventually I came to the realization that:

it doesn't kill deer any deader than a 429421
it uses substantially more lead
it uses an expensive gas check
it recoils more than I care to endure for no substantive increase in lethality over a 429421


Consequently I circled back around to where I started with a 429421. I see you're in Idaho so your perspective on what constitutes a balanced boolit for expansion and penetration in elk or bear is likely vastly different than my whitetail only boolit. I will say this, the 429244, 429336 and 429421 are peas in a pod.

YMMV.

[rlb]

Say, I think... And that is a long stretch that 330 grain mold is probably meant for the 444 marlin. Of wich I have two. Would you like to sell or trade that mold? I have SEVERAL 44 molds from Lyman, Accurate, Miha, NOE, etc. May keep you AND I from having to shell out some money right now. PM if interested.
Trey

Actually I would consider trading if it didn't shoot so well. I have done quite a bit of work on it and got it right where I like it. It shoots just under 2" at 100 with Enforcer if I am up to it. I might use it for elk if I can't get the 454 to shoot the way I want it to.

Appreciate the offer though. I am looking for a good 45 mold for the Cassul.

[x101airborne]

I think I have a 300 WFN mold for the 454 that I bought used here and never used. But, that is about as heavy as I have. My 45 colt Ruger finally settled down with Blue Dot and a 250 WFN, so I loaded about 500 and havent touched them since. If it would be agreeable, maybe I could cast you 250 of my 454-300 WFN's and you could cast me 250 of your 430-330's and we could trade. What do you think? The mold would also be for sale if you are interested. It is one of Tom's at Accurate.

[Loony44]

x101airborne,
If you haven't found any heavy 44's yet, I have a NOE mold 44-300 and with 50/50 lead it casts 315gr hp's & 325 gr solid. If you would like to try some let me know and i'll send some of each.
I was in the 101st in 84-87 & 88-90, now retired.

Take care & let me know. Dale

[Larry Gibson]

57097
I would like to hear some input on hunting with the semi-wadcutters out of a 44. I am looking at something along the line of the Lyman 429244. I would be driving them as hard as the accuracy will let me. I have the 429650, but I really don't need a 330 grn bullet for deer. Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks.

I used the 429244 on deer and pigs before I went to the 429460 Devestator HP. I cast the 429244 out of 16-1 alloy and drove it to 1425 fps out of my 6 1/2" Ruger FT and 1580 fps out of my Contender. Mine run 270 gr fully dressed and I load them over H110 for magnum loads. They gave excellent expansion and penetration on deer and pigs. For deer however I HP'd it with the 1/8" Forster HP tool for better expansion yet still had through and through penetration. An excellent choice of bullet ifone wants a SWC but since going to the 429460 Devestator HP I seldom use the 429244 for hunting anymore. As already mention it is probably about the best hunting HP 44 cast bullet design available.

Larry Gibson

[Thumbcocker]

Nope. Can't use swc's on deer. Bounce right off. Need at least 340 grains of lead at warp factor 4. Fortunately for me the two in my avatar and several others never got the memo. :mrgreen:

[jmort]

A 255 grain SWC out of a .45 Colt (250 grain .44 mag) at around 950 fps +/- will do just about anything a gun can do. Will shoot through most creatures on a broadside. Yes I agree, it don't take much with an 11.5mm bullet to do some damage.

[GLynn41]

if you like and it shoots good ( i had one too but never shot anyhtijng but paper and two bad dogs) shoot it -- it will do fine -- go to beartooth -look at the permanet woud channel calculator -- play around with -- in my hunting 1 boar and deer --dogs & ground hogs - it has been pretty close- it has an ok meplat and you can likely shoot it with out a gc -- as to their expense at my age and a 1000 rounds a year or so -- I do not give it a thought -- but that is up to you of course-- what ever else ==it will kill

[GLynn41]

Larry i like your .44 mold -- I have one for the .41 from Mihec and it does well too

[rlb]

Well thanks for all of the input guys. It helps a bunch.

[RugerFan]

9 BHN RCBS 44-240-SWC recovered from a boar hog taken at 25 yds. Hollow pointing not required. Just get your alloy right for the application.

http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/RCBS44-240-SWC-2_zps7d238c94.jpg

[Fast Asleep]

RLB--I've killed several deer and pigs with a Ruger Super Blackhawk using the Lyman 429421 bullet. I don't recall any of them going more than a few feet after being hit, including one deer at about 150 yards--I was doing a lot of IHMSA shooting at the time and was confident in taking a shot that really was too far.

Soo--I think 250 grains is plenty in a .44 SWC bullet.

Cheers,
Tim Janke

[Larry Gibson]

No, a hollow point is not "required". The hollow point just kills quicker as does a soft cast expanding SWC vs a hard one that does not expand. The Devestator HP has the larger "meplat" size of a WFN which many believe is more efficient at killing than the Keith type SWC when both are hard cast and do not expand. Plus when the hollow point bullet expands it increases the frontal area doing the damage which slows the bullet quicker increasing target dwell time. The faster the expansion happens, balanced with sufficient penetration, the greater the energy dump in the game. All which relates to a quicker kill

Larry Gibson

[9.3X62AL]

A 255 grain SWC out of a .45 Colt (250 grain .44 mag) at around 950 fps +/- will do just about anything a gun can do. Will shoot through most creatures on a broadside. Yes I agree, it don't take much with an 11.5mm bullet to do some damage.

Come to think of it......wasn't one required attribute of the Army's blackpowder 45 Colt loading the ability to penetrate (side-to-side) a cavalry horse? I may have this confused with the concurrent 45-70 rifle cartridge.....but perhaps not. I do have one Michigan whitetail buck to my credit with a 44 Magnum, using a Speer 240 soft point J-word. It went through and through, started at ~1350 FPS IIRC. The OP's question was specific to castings, so I didn't include that bit initially.

My point here is to highlight J Mortimer's observation that large caliber boolits/bullets can do efficient harvesting work when placed decently, and need not be driven mondo fast to do so--as the work done by Great-Grandpa's M73 x 44-40 bears out.

[reloader28]

I have 2 kills with the RCBS 240gr gas checked. 50/50/2% and HP with 1/8" Forster.
1 deer thru the neck at 20yds and 1 thru the chest at 130yds. Didnt recover either boolit, but they sure did a good job.

[TCLouis]

reloader 28
what load/velocity

[reloader28]

The 240gr RCBS SWC gas check drops at 250gr from mine.
22.5gr 296 and a mag primer for 1660fps.

The meplat on the 240gr aint quite as big as my 245gr RCBS SWC plain base, but the nose on the 245gr is too long to feed in my rifle. Dont matter, it worked good anyway and I am tickled pink, er green.:mrgreen:

I did HP 1/4" deep with 1/8" Forster, but have since coned out the nose with a counter sink bit. I aint tested those out yet tho. They sure look mean.

[BIG BEAR]

9 BHN RCBS 44-240-SWC recovered from a boar hog taken at 25 yds. Hollow pointing not required. Just get your alloy right for the application.

http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/RCBS44-240-SWC-2_zps7d238c94.jpgGuess i will have to visit family in HEALY to try c.b. in my sbh and roa 45 conversion. seems us canadians are not trust worthy enough to hunt with handguns,but its ok to carry a barret 50cal bmg. go figure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pls1911]

Drop a 270 grain RCBS 45 into a gut consistency mud flat, and you get a hole the size of a 10 pound watermelon... Same as a 44 mag 240 grain SWC.
Both will do the same on a hog when quartering away, and placed behind the last rib.... Really knocks the stuffing out of 'em

[walkingstick]

Whats up boolit bros.....new here and never posted anything before...i am looking for help coming up with a load for a cast swc boolit for my Ruger NM Blackhawk .44 mag w/10.5"bbl for deer hunting,i have handloaded before just not with cast boolits. Any help would be appreciated!! I want to cast my own boolits also any recommendations there will also be appreciated. Thanks!!

[Grendel99]

Read the first page of this thread, there are some loads with 2400 powder listed.

[walkingstick]

Thanks!!!