boolit too hard, or good for penetration?

[troy_mclure]

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab60/troy_mclure_/sale/100_0108.jpg

this is a .401 175gr tc that i cast out of my #2 alloy.

air cooled, 24hrs after cast, and 5 decent whacks with a 24oz hammer(on a vice).

expanded to .546(ovalish shaped).

i was expecting more of a ..... i guess deformation?

[missionary5155]

Good morning
My approach to casting is keep the boolit as soft as I can. I at first was amazed at how much 50-50 lead-WW could be pushed. But anyway My thinking is get the throat filled first and consider the ammount of base pressure applied to the boolit . Then cast up some boolits that meet those requirements and fire them down range. Retreive some fired boolits and read the base. If the boolit is holding the preassure to the rear all is fine.
I want good expansion. I want most the energy remaining in or on target. I want it as accurate as possible. If the base starts to fail I can add a simple round wad to the bullet base made of cereal box or metal. Super glue it on if need be.
To hard a boolit.. well depends what I want to penetrate. I have shot .685 ball bearings in 12 gauge to make a Toyoto stopper. Linetype with GC will go real fast but shatters on impact with hard objects.
So anyway start soft is my approach and stay soft. BUT ABSOLUTELY fill the throat and you are going to have enjoyable shooting experiences.

[Bret4207]

Troy, your experiment only proves what will happen if you shoot a 24 oz hammer with the same boolit 5 times.

[NSP64]

Troy, your experiment only proves what will happen if you shoot a 24 oz hammer with the same boolit 5 times.

LOL!

Troy, if the boolit stayed intact, it was not to hard. When a boolit is too hard, they will split on the edges when they spread out. Softer boolits smush.

[largom]

Troy, You tested your boolit 24 Hr. after casting. Your boolit will be even harder and expand less 4 weeks after casting. To get a better idea of expansion shoot your boolits thru water filled milk jugs [I usually line up 4 in a row]. If you want expansion mix your #2 alloy with lead, half #2 and half lead, for a 50/50 mix. Even this mix may be too hard and you may want to increase the amount of pure lead.

Larry

[44man]

Bret, nobody could have said it any better! [smilie=s:
IMO, the .41 is very close to the .44 that needs no expansion with the proper boolit but I think just a tiny bit would do it good.
Maybe 75% WW's and 25% pure with a touch of tin and water dropped would be the perfect hunting boolit for it. Don't know for sure because I don't have a .41.
The point being most .41 boolits do not have a lot of weight so you don't want fast expansion that will limit penetration. I would lean towards harder.
Since Troy's boolit is only 175 gr, no. 2 alloy will work fine with a TC nose.
I would take that boolit and go shoot a pile of deer. I have not seen one yet with a hammer head in them. Arrows and other bullets, yes, but no hammers yet. :bigsmyl2:

[troy_mclure]

well at this time i have no other way of testing hardness and elasticity/ductility than ye ole hammer.

and shooting stuff other than steel plates and paper targets is forbidden at my range.

i was expecting the boolit to flatten out more .

[44man]

well at this time i have no other way of testing hardness and elasticity/ductility than ye ole hammer.

and shooting stuff other than steel plates and paper targets is forbidden at my range.

i was expecting the boolit to flatten out more .
There is no need to test because nothing is the same as tissue. Be assured your no. 2 is just fine for deer. You do NOT need the boolit to flatten out. If you can catch a boolit in 2 to 4 water jugs, it is not working.
This is a proper result from a hard boolit with weight and energy. Four jugs blown sky high, two split and the boolit exited 14 jugs.

[45 2.1]

well at this time i have no other way of testing hardness and elasticity/ductility than ye ole hammer.

and shooting stuff other than steel plates and paper targets is forbidden at my range.

i was expecting the boolit to flatten out more .


There is no need to test because nothing is the same as tissue. Be assured your no. 2 is just fine for deer. You do NOT need the boolit to flatten out. If you can catch a boolit in 2 to 4 water jugs, it is not working.
This is a proper result from a hard boolit with weight and energy. Four jugs blown sky high, two split and the boolit exited 14 jugs.

One word of caution........... if you expect for this to work....... hit some bone...........just to be sure.

[fredj338]

I'm not surr you can strike it fast enough to cause serious deformation like you would get form a 1000fps+ impact. It does tell you your bullet isn't brittle but still maleable enough to flatten. I've shot lino cast bullets on steel plates & they pretty much fragment. The softer alloys, like #2 & softter, just flatten.

[NSP64]

I believe he said .401 (40 s&w) I wouldn't shoot deer with it.



Troy what do you want a soft boolit for?

Troy, If you want a soft boolit, look up BruceB's casting soft nose boolits. Time consuming but if the are special purpose ( personal/ home defense) then cast 20 or so for that purpose. Cast regular hard boolits to practice with.

[troy_mclure]

its a 10mm boolit mainly, but its not going to be a hunting round, i need another mould for that.

its not so much that i want a soft bullet, i had never used/cast with #2 before.

[44man]

I believe he said .401 (40 s&w) I wouldn't shoot deer with it.



Troy what do you want a soft boolit for?

Troy, If you want a soft boolit, look up BruceB's casting soft nose boolits. Time consuming but if the are special purpose ( personal/ home defense) then cast 20 or so for that purpose. Cast regular hard boolits to practice with.
OOPS, your right, I must be getting old, thought it was .410"

[1Shirt]

Answer to the question in my opinion is: Yes, no, possibly, maybe, who knows until you test it by shooting it into various media. The hammer bit is just a waste of time I think. Try, soft wood, wet newspaper, jugs of water, etc.etc.etc. and note the results. Also think you ought to wait a couple of weeks or more for testing for expansion. #2, will probably expand well, but think you need to consider penitration as well, and a big flat nose semi wad cutter that is hard will produce a good size hole as it is. If it is air cooled you are probably not over 15 bh anyhow. Good luck!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[excavman]

This 311284 didn't expand thru 10 inches of oak. Of course it didn't get there all by itself.

Larry