Casting Softnose Bullets (Handloader Apr/May 2003)

[ohland]

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/article.cfm?tocid=974&magid=71

Another way using small ladles and a lot of OCD. I believe that you can set your boolits in a pan of water and use a torch to heat the noses until they turn color or appearance, then tip the bullet over.

Just because I wouldn't do this doesn't mean you can't do this... A good hollowpoint and alloy should be able to meet your needs. Enough SD, and I can move the earth!

[quasi]

that is a Ross Siefried written article, but they do not show his name on it. Not nice people at Wolfe I guess.

[44man]

Good article and many things he said are what I found. I cast my .500 JRH boolits like that but use 3# of pure with 1# of WW metal. I just do half the nose. Deer drop at the shot, even a big 8 point last season at 55 yards. Before I did this, deer would go 100 to 120 yards with just a 1/2" hole and no blood trails. My boolit is a WFN of 440 gr. 1350 fps. Meplat size alone is false as the larger meplat moves tissue out of the way in a secondary wound channel. That will close back up after boolit passage. Get a little expansion and all changes.
Now the little dipper is what I used but I don't like it, does not hold enough heat so I am going to make one from cast iron. I have the LBT soft nose pot but can't keep all level and lead starts to set too fast for a good bond. I put the mold on a board rigged to sit level with a rubber band to hold the handles tight. I pour the nose and follow up quick with the hard metal dipper in my other hand.
Results on deer are just amazing and penetration will go through any part of a deer even front to rear. I am not shooting through a donut of lead either. I got the alloy just perfect and the BFR has taken over as the most deadly deer dropper EVER. I lost no meat to speak of, most damage was internal and I butchered to the holes. To see deer belly up out of recoil is something to see.
I hunted 3 days last season, doe season, dropped a large one at 60 yards. Gun season, dropped a doe and the 8 point one after the other. Next day dropped a doe and a 7 point that made 20 yards spraying blood. 5 deer in 3 days. Had to quit since we can only shoot 3 doe a season now. I maxed out.
The softer nose is a wonder and mine is not pure lead. A slower boolit should be softer like the .45 Colt.
Try it for sure.

[44man]

that is a Ross Siefried written article, but they do not show his name on it. Not nice people at Wolfe I guess.
I found that myself, wanted .475 load data since not much was out there. Called Handloader and got a nasty response, saying they had articles. I had all issues and found one with no hand loads. Freedom with bought loads.
I dropped the rag. I took it forever, since the beginning but they went to pot and the way they talked to me finished it right fast.

[ohland]

Now the little dipper is what I used but I don't like it, does not hold enough heat so I am going to make one from cast iron. I have the LBT soft nose pot but can't keep all level and lead starts to set too fast for a good bond. I put the mold on a board rigged to sit level with a rubber band to hold the handles tight. I pour the nose and follow up quick with the hard metal dipper in my other hand.

Heat retaining small ladle
Seperate pot for the soft (or hard) alloy
Mold on flat surface with handles rubber-banded together
A ladle in each hand

[catskinner]

When I cast soft nose bullets I used my bottom pour pot for the hard lead and set my Lyman dipper on a camp stove to melt the soft nose alloy. Soft noses were cast ahead in a Lyman adjustable core mold ahead of time. Cast regular bullets while waiting for the soft alloy to melt.

[NVcurmudgeon]

There are stickies showing exactly how to cast SP bullets by the late Bruce Bannister. Go to advanced search, search for "casting soft point bullets" and use author name BruceB. There are five BruceB stickies. If a Luddite like me who remembers WWII clearly can find it, anyone can.