311291 in the .30-.30 marlin

[muffinman]

My 336 shoots this boolit great. Was wondering for hunting our Missouri whitetail what would work best, soft point ala BruceB. Bump a flat point on it with my sizer or just cast the boolit out of a softer alloy? Thanks Mark

[TAWILDCATT]

what did hunters use before jackets.most cart were loaded with lead.and really the 45/70 trap door should not be used with Jackets as the steel is not that good.
I intend to hunt next fall with lead in my rifles.provided I am able,getting kind of tired.and walks are getting shorter.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[DLCTEX]

I am using 50/50 WW/pure in my Marlin casting Lee's 311-170 fp with good results. I have only taken 1 doe with it so far, but the boolit went clean through both lungs and exited. She ran about 60 yds and piled up. They blow up gallon jugs of water impressively.

[MtGun44]

File a flat on the nose, maybe 3-4 strokes with a good flat file should do it to keep
from making a kaboom in the mag tube.

Bill

[Bret4207]

How big are your deer? Are they small (<125 lbs), average (150-175 live weight) or big ( >200 lbs actual live weight)? Resistance will determine in a large part how much expansion you get and how much penetration you need. In smaller deer I'd cast as soft as I could and maybe HP the boolit. In average deer I'd keep the alloy no harder than WW and try for around 1850-2000 fps and in large I'd consider HT the boolits to slow expansion while keeping the speed up.

In the end, unless you have access to carcasses or can shoot lots of deer it's really hard to say how much expansion you'll get. Too many variables. What type of deer, what alloy, what range, exact mould and did you do anything to it (FP/HP/SN), what speed, etc. Do you expect "dead right there" kills or can you track? And even then it's a "Well, you'll probably be okay if..." situation.

I prefer a good FN, a fairly heavy for the caliber boolit and speeds of 17-1800 fps as a minimum in a rifle. In a revolver it's different because you use a boolit with far more metplat and are generally much closer. So it all depends on your specific situation.

[1Shirt]

I would recommendthat you go with HP on 291, w/about 15-18 BH.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[muffinman]

Our deer are average here. I guess my question should have been is the roundnose ok for hunting. I have shot a few deer with flat nose boolits with great results just not sure about this round nose. Most of the ones I have killed have been drop right there although I shot one through the heart that completely penetrated and he ran about 70 yards, go figure.

[pdawg_shooter]

Try casting of pure lead (maybe just a pinch of tin for fill out), size it to .301/.3015 an paper patching up to .310. Load like it was jacketed and go hunting. You will have a perfect hunting bullet!

[357maximum]

Make your boolits out of 50/50 ww/pure and then waterdrop. Take 20 for hunting and 20 for confidence testing and de-temper the noses in a shallow pan of cold water with a propane torch and live happily ever after. If you are concerned about a mag tube bang a slight bump in the lubrisizer will make a small flat on the boolit.

I do this with the Rcbs 165 Sil boolit and the 311291..I would not hesitate to shoot either into our 150-170 lb whitetails with the turty-turty. These loads are shot out of a pre 1973 h&r topper so nose shape means nothing ...no mag tube. Both boolits perform flawlessly for 'all intents and purposes' on deer. If you are concerned about the rounded nose really bad you could always use a 311440 if it helps you rest easier.

[Bret4207]

Our deer are average here. I guess my question should have been is the roundnose ok for hunting. I have shot a few deer with flat nose boolits with great results just not sure about this round nose. Most of the ones I have killed have been drop right there although I shot one through the heart that completely penetrated and he ran about 70 yards, go figure.

It really depends on your specific alloy and what the striking velocity is. I have RN designs that seem to mushroom quite nicely at 1600 fps but that's based on exit wounds as I've never recovered one. How they work in flesh I'm not entirely sure because woodchucks aren't deer. But the 'chucks indicate expansion, but I think a chucks hide is tougher than deer hide.

The higher the striking velocity, the more expansion, even with a RN. A small HP, easily drilled, will increase expansion.