Von Gruff
01-15-2010, 07:38 PM
I have been experimenting with cast softnose for my 7x57 as reported, with a 65gn soft nose on a 160gn bullet at 2415fps, and yesterday was to be the day that it was to have its first run at meat. My wife and I left home at 5.30 yesterday morning for a day in the hills. Arrived by 8 and spent a couple hours in the lower ground and got about twenty rabbits for the chiller, then drove up the track to the tops to look for a goat. We had a cup of tea and a bite first and again I was very slack with the camera but here is where we stopped for a break
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/001-3.jpg
As you can see there is quite an elevation difference down to the river and there is a series of bluffs right along a 2-3000 yd face which I didn't get a pic of and when I went down for a look I went with as little extra weight as possible simply because of how steep the climb is especially if I have to carry back up. (the truth added is, of course, that I am old and unfit and puff like a train on the climb out)
I saw the first pair at about 80 yds and my first soft nose cast shot on the nanny was a bang - flop. She was lying down facing directly away from my down a 60 degree slope. Later examination showed the bullet entered just to one side of the spine and exited out the bottom of the brisket taking one lung and the heart on the way. The bullet went through the back strap without bruising but opened and destroyed very well after the first couple of inches. The next shot was on the 3/4 grown kid and it was a broadside shot , but still down the 60 degree slope at 80 yds or so, and I had momentry concern about a zip through on such a light animal, however with a point of entry high in the lung traversing down through to exit and leave frothy blood mixed with lung tissue followed by a 15yd blood trail of very big splashes - small pools culminating in a fall to a shelf that was unreachable, (for me anyway) especially as I had the nanny to carry out. I took the legs and beack strap and was just finished and had a look over another bluff to a sunny face about 120 yds away and 50 down on the slope and there were another 8 or 9 so took another nanny. I wanted to see how the bullet would perform when it had slowed down a bit in case the softnose was a bit hard but a high lung shot was as effective as I could have expected from a jacketed cup and core so to say I was pleased is putting it mildly. I didn't try for shoulder - spine shots as this would have not given my the feedback on the softnose I was after and came away with the understanding that I will use this bullet for everything now where I expect the shots to be within 250 yds.
Setting off back up the hill with the rifle on one shoulder, the 4 legs on the other and carring the backstrap required much stoping for a breather, but eventually I made it back up to where my wife and dog had waited. The dog wanted to help with the backstraps till I explained that was not the way we did things, so we ambled back to the truck for a coffee .
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/004.jpg
This is what all the fuss has been about, and what I will be casting for now.
65gn softnose on 160gn Lyman 287641
39gn ADI 2209 (H4350)
2415fps
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/castbullets001.jpg
Von Gruff.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/001-3.jpg
As you can see there is quite an elevation difference down to the river and there is a series of bluffs right along a 2-3000 yd face which I didn't get a pic of and when I went down for a look I went with as little extra weight as possible simply because of how steep the climb is especially if I have to carry back up. (the truth added is, of course, that I am old and unfit and puff like a train on the climb out)
I saw the first pair at about 80 yds and my first soft nose cast shot on the nanny was a bang - flop. She was lying down facing directly away from my down a 60 degree slope. Later examination showed the bullet entered just to one side of the spine and exited out the bottom of the brisket taking one lung and the heart on the way. The bullet went through the back strap without bruising but opened and destroyed very well after the first couple of inches. The next shot was on the 3/4 grown kid and it was a broadside shot , but still down the 60 degree slope at 80 yds or so, and I had momentry concern about a zip through on such a light animal, however with a point of entry high in the lung traversing down through to exit and leave frothy blood mixed with lung tissue followed by a 15yd blood trail of very big splashes - small pools culminating in a fall to a shelf that was unreachable, (for me anyway) especially as I had the nanny to carry out. I took the legs and beack strap and was just finished and had a look over another bluff to a sunny face about 120 yds away and 50 down on the slope and there were another 8 or 9 so took another nanny. I wanted to see how the bullet would perform when it had slowed down a bit in case the softnose was a bit hard but a high lung shot was as effective as I could have expected from a jacketed cup and core so to say I was pleased is putting it mildly. I didn't try for shoulder - spine shots as this would have not given my the feedback on the softnose I was after and came away with the understanding that I will use this bullet for everything now where I expect the shots to be within 250 yds.
Setting off back up the hill with the rifle on one shoulder, the 4 legs on the other and carring the backstrap required much stoping for a breather, but eventually I made it back up to where my wife and dog had waited. The dog wanted to help with the backstraps till I explained that was not the way we did things, so we ambled back to the truck for a coffee .
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/004.jpg
This is what all the fuss has been about, and what I will be casting for now.
65gn softnose on 160gn Lyman 287641
39gn ADI 2209 (H4350)
2415fps
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/castbullets001.jpg
Von Gruff.