where do you shoot deer with cast bullets

[dale.l]

Im new to hunting with cast boolits, where do you shoot deer with cast boolits? I've always shot them right behine the front shoulder with jacketed bullets. Some one told me I should aim for the shoulder because cast bullets just poke a hole. I will be using a 30-30 with a rcbs 30-180-FN. I would think the big flat nose on that bullet should do a good bit of damage.

[krag35]

Deer, Elk, Antelope, or Coyotes, I shoot them in the big middle part.

[hoosierlogger]

Aim for the boiler room every time.

[HammerMTB]

I try to shoot them in the last set of tracks they made before I break the shot.
Kidding aside, it depends.
All my Texas kinfolk think the only way to do it is to head shoot 'em. So if I'm there, that's what I do. But they are mostly under 100 yards away, so that's not hard to do.
Thru the boiler room is fine if there's not a place they might hide between the shot and the bleedout.
The front shoulder will anchor them, but ruins some meat.
How they may be positioned before the shot is also a factor. If going away, you might make a TX heart shot, but there's a mess to clean up.
You'll get lots of replys and plenty to think about.

[sqlbullet]

When I shoot them, it is in Utah or Illinois.

[waksupi]

Shoot them where you have been shooting them. That flat nose will give you a good wound channel.

[mroliver77]

I run my .30 cal 2000fps for out to 100 yards and 2200fps for 100+. 96/2/2 alloy will expand nicely at these speeds. I have used hard boolits with blunt noses pushed 2200+ and got a good wound channel with no boolit expansion. I like quartering shot through lung ending up in off side shoulder to stop em fast. 25-1 lead/tin alloy at 1700fps in my 38-55 expanded to 75+ caliber going through ribs and lungs of a 250lb pig. Boolit stopped on off side rib cage with very little weight loss.
Jay

[dale.l]

When I shoot them, it is in Utah or Illinois.

I knew that was coming, I figured someone would say "in the woods"

[btroj]

I like a shot right behind the front leg. Not much meat to destroy but lots of fragile stuff right ere.

But overall, I prefer shooting em in Missouri since that is where my permit is for.

[Blammer]

dale, aim for the vitals like you have been and you'll bring home the venison.

[JeffinNZ]

I've never seen a deer in possession of cast bullets.

[lwknight]

I had to laugh out loud on the " shoot em in the last set of tracks " .

[XWrench3]

waksupi has the answer i was going to give you. pretty tough to beat a "boiler room" or front shoulder shot on a deer with a good rifle. l ead, jacketed, or expanding copper projectile. do you know how hard the alloy is? if it is hard, like wheel weights, it probably will not expand much, if at all. but if it is soft lead, it should swell up fine.

[crazy mark]

I aim for the area just behind the front shoulder and usually take the spine out just above there as the deer as usually 30-40 yds away and I have my rifles sighted dead on at 100-125 yds. Haven't had to track one in over 40 years. If I hit them where I am aiming the heart and lungs are usually jelly. Mark

[dale.l]

waksupi has the answer i was going to give you. pretty tough to beat a "boiler room" or front shoulder shot on a deer with a good rifle. l ead, jacketed, or expanding copper projectile. do you know how hard the alloy is? if it is hard, like wheel weights, it probably will not expand much, if at all. but if it is soft lead, it should swell up fine.

bhn 22

[lylejb]

well,

I TRIED to shoot one in the national forest, but found not a one, not even a doe.

I TRIED to shoot one on the land of a gracious fellow member, but found only tracks.

so, I guess i can't really answer your question, but if I had found one, I would have aimed in the same place I always do.:smile:

[GP100man]

I aim for the area just behind the front shoulder and usually take the spine out just above there as the deer as usually 30-40 yds away and I have my rifles sighted dead on at 100-125 yds. Haven't had to track one in over 40 years. If I hit them where I am aiming the heart and lungs are usually jelly. Mark

I`m with CM, let the air out of the ballons or break the pump , qwik & to the point , BBD !!!!!

[Dannix]

because cast bullets just poke a hole.
There's a lot of good terminal damage discussion here. Hit the search engine here and look around. :)

[waksupi]

There's a lot of good terminal damage discussion here. Hit the search engine here and look around. :)

Great suggestion! Check the Hunting with CB's section!

[JFrench]

Dale
Shoot them where you normally shoot them. Please do not shoot them in the head; one miss placed shot will cause the deer much suffering. It is a sicking sight to trail a wounded deer missing its lower jaw.
James

[EMC45]

At my brother's property......

[Tazman1602]

"BHN 22"

Try some softer lead and plow them in the boiler room Dale. Wife got a nice spike last year with a muzzleloader using my cast WW bullets and he didn't run 20 feet. She hit no bone but right behind the shoulder.

30-30 + 180 cast + good shot placement = dead deer

The cast bullet naysayers are all over, that's why this forum rules. For years I've used Barnes X bullets at high velocities from a .243 to take white tails. Between wife and I we've gotten several dozen nice deer.

I'm still taking my .243 and wife will be shooting .308 out to the blind, but we're also taking the 45-70 for me and the .444 for her with cast bullets (OK "blind" may be a bit of an understatement...) in case some of them get close enough to take without a large scope.

I can tell you this much. When a 405 grain RCBS cast out of a .450 Marlin at only 1190fps hits a deer, it isn't going anywhere...............

Art

[runfiverun]

you would be surprised at how much damage a flat point boolit will do.
i had to shoot a wounded doe once. and I put it through the lungs and i was surprised at the amount of damage that 98 gr boolit from the 30 carbine revolver made at 70 yds.
i like the soft tissue shots with a not so hard alloy too, two holes or offside bone.

[jsizemore]

I've never seen a deer in possession of cast bullets.

They only borrow them for a very short time.

[Larry Gibson]

All jesting aside (good decent humor there:-) ) I learned a long time ago that the "behind the shoulder shot" does not work well in the places and conditions I hunt deer. Many times it is rainy wet with dense cover all around. That does not make for easy tracking and I abhore the thought of losing a deer. I lost one once and that was enough for me. This shot many times only damages the back part of the lungs and it takes a while for the deer to die. The deer can travel a long distance before dying with such shots.

The "point of the shoulder" shot also is many times not a good one simply because, depending on the angle and where the "point of the shoulder" is at the time of the shot, the vital area (The heart and heavy lung area surounding the heart along with the major arteries and veins coming in and out of the heart) can be missed. A deer with a broken leg can still go a long ways very quickly.

Many years ago it was explained to me by an old timer (he helped look for the deer I lost) that it was better to lose a little meat to bullet damage than to lose the entire deer. He suggested I switch to a heart lung shot. He said, on medium to large deer, to envision a volly ball or soccor ball laying low against the brisket (breastbone) between the front legs. Then he said to put the bullet through that ball regardless of the angle or the position of the legs. He said on smaller deer a cantelope was about the right size, maybe even a softball. On elk he said a basketball was about right. He also said on cougar and pigs the heart is slightly back and really low. I have followed his advise for over 40 years and have not come close to losing any animal, especially deer shot with cast bullets from rifles or handguns. The deer are always down very quickly, if not in their tracks then within a very short distance. The farthest I've had one travel is perhaps 40 yards.

BTW; with cast bullet 30-30 rifle loads I also prefer a softer alloyed bullet (50/50 WW/lead is the best these days) for expansion which kills quicker. I also favor a HP bullet with the HP not mor than 3/4 the depth of the nose, usually 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the nose. I either use an HP mould or use the Forster HP tool to HP with. I've used the RCBS bullet and it works well but I had some chambering issues with some rifles so I use the Lyman 311041. Mine, cast of the 50/50 alloy and HP'd weigh 177 gr. In the 30-30 I push them at 2050 fps out of my 20" barreled M94 and 2150 fps out of my 24" barreled M94. Both are excellent deer killers out to 200 yards, maybe 250 with the 24" barreled rifle. I also clean the barrel every 5 - 7 shots to maintain the best accuracy with the softer alloy pushed that fast. I figure if i've not killed the deer within 7 shots I might as well go home anyways;-)

Larry Gibson

[mpmarty]

Last buck I shot was after a very interesting stalk in a heavy rain (oregon remember) I shot him in the ear or just a bit below it at a distance of less than twenty feet. DRT.

[Von Gruff]

I see some advocate shooting them behind the FRONT shoulder so can only presume they have at some time made a mistake and shot one behind the REAR shoulder :kidding:

Any and every shot will depend on the position of the animal and the expansion capability of the cast boolit being used. It is seldom that we get the 'picture book' profile shot, so knowing the anatomy of the animal, will indicate the aiming point. Essentially a cast boolit that will expand can be a soft tissue hit, that is heart, lung, liver for a good quick, usually non destructive of edible meat kill. A boolit that is a bit harder may be better with a shoulder joint - spine shot which will cost a bit of the meat but be very effective where it might be a lost animal due to delayed lethal pencil through on soft tissue.

Von Gruff.

[x101airborne]

I will throw my .02 in here, as a guide for the last 16 years, and in Texas, i have kicked wholesale ass for shooting a deer in the brown eye. I do not believe in it and no deer is worth doing that to an animal. Wait for a broadside shot and when the front leg is in the rear positon, fire through the point. The bone makes good shrapnel, the heart makes jello, and the offside shoulder is saved. I just dont see what rack requires a brown eye shot. Whenever my hunters ask about it, I just ask, "Lemme shoot you in the butt and see how long it takes you to die". Never had one argue with me.

[quasi]

Here in Alberta, the best place to shoot a deer is between two ditches!

This apply's doubly to Moose and Wapiti.

[qajaq59]

I'd shoot them in the same place you've been shooting them. And a 50/50 ww/soft lead will expand pretty well. That's what I use in my 30-30.

[Leadmelter]

Years ago, I made my brother's brother-in-law a box of 44 mag with a 325 SSK boolits over 19.5 grs of WW296. He told me later, he saw a good deer and shot it. After the recoil and such, it was not there and he could not figure how he missed it.
He walked up to where the deer was standing and five feet away was the deer.
He gave me some meat and I made him another 50 rounds which he still uses.

Gerry

[Recluse]

I will throw my .02 in here, as a guide for the last 16 years, and in Texas, i have kicked wholesale ass for shooting a deer in the brown eye. I do not believe in it and no deer is worth doing that to an animal. Wait for a broadside shot and when the front leg is in the rear positon, fire through the point. The bone makes good shrapnel, the heart makes jello, and the offside shoulder is saved. I just dont see what rack requires a brown eye shot. Whenever my hunters ask about it, I just ask, "Lemme shoot you in the butt and see how long it takes you to die". Never had one argue with me.

+100 to my fellow Texan. :drinks:

My first choice of shot is a mid-neck shot. Second choice is a heart shot. I've dropped both deer and elk with neck shots and never had them move. I don't always enjoy hunting very much, but I do enjoy venison, so I try to minimize my time following a blood trail while maximizing the amount of meat I can harvest.

:coffee:

[10x]

I try to shoot them in the last set of tracks they made before I break the shot.
snip
How they may be positioned before the shot is also a factor. If going away, you might make a TX heart shot, but there's a mess to clean up.
You'll get lots of replys and plenty to think about.

I have taken several deer with a 1910 Ross .303 with the lyman 314299 (ww) . The TX heart shot at fifteen yards slid right along the right side of the spine and broke every rib on the right side. The bullet followed between the muscle and there was less than a pound of meat wasted and no mess. Two inches lower and it would have been very messy as it would have been inside the body cavity.

[10x]

+100 to my fellow Texan. :drinks:

My first choice of shot is a mid-neck shot. Second choice is a heart shot. I've dropped both deer and elk with neck shots and never had them move. I don't always enjoy hunting very much, but I do enjoy venison, so I try to minimize my time following a blood trail while maximizing the amount of meat I can harvest.

:coffee:

This fall my friend Brian (makes and sells the Gamegetter) shot a mule deer doe at 150 yard and cut the heart in half - destroyed part of the liver as well. The doe ran for 15 yards, fell down and kicked for almost a minute - that was with a 7mm mag jackected bullet.