30 cal hunting bullets?

[Canuck Bob]

Im familiar with the wide meplat effectiveness of big bore cast bullets.

How does one cast 30 cal bullets to be good game perfomers. Any advice on alloy, weight, shape, etc. much appreciated.

I am asking for a 32 Special and 303 Brit specifically and thinking bullets heavy enough to keep velocity at 2200-2400 max. Is this a workable plan? Currently I'm thinking jacketed would be better because that is what I know best, not looking to stir the nasty pot just being honest.

[Blammer]

what velocity do you shoot cast now in your 303 Brit?

[Canuck Bob]

what velocity do you shoot cast now in your 303 Brit?

I haven't started casting for my 303 yet. I purchased a CBE mold from Australia. It is a 175 gr rounded spitzer style GC bullet but as of now unused.

I have a 170 gr older Lyman/Ideal RN GC mold for my 32 Special. It was originally designed for 32 Rem and Eric's Hollowpoint opened it for me for good fit.

[DLCTEX]

My one deer taken with cast was with a 30 cal. (30-30) 170 fp, at 80 yds through both lungs. Doe ran about 50 yds. I don't know if the boolit expanded (WWAC) as it passed through but the damage showed either expansion or a big shock wave by the fp. You could cast a soft nose using the two alloy method. Do a search. I would not use a spitzer in either alloy. Think how many deer were/are taken with round ball and black powder.

[white eagle]

if expansion is what you are after
you could have your mold hp'd but then you need to pay specific attention
to your alloy and velocity
I am using Two molds for my 30-30 one from Tom @ Accurate Molds and the other a
Lyman 30411 ?

[BABore]

Cast your boolits from 50/50 WW-Pb and WD them. Size and check without lubing. Wait a couple weeks for full hardness. Torch anneal the nose by standing the boolits up in a pan of water (do a search on technique). Lube and load. You only need to do a few for hunting and testing. They will expand and shed the nose down to the water line and act just like a Nosler Partition. This is based on wet media testing and use on whitetails. Another option is to paper patch a 12-15 bhn alloy for your velocity.

[Bret4207]

Find a FN mould, don't cast from hard alloys and get the speed up. Venison for supper if you put the boolit in the right spot.

BTW- The 30 cals don't include the 303 a .311 call, and the 32 Special, an 8mm or .32 cal.

[Ben]

You might want to look at this if you'd like to see photos of what a hp cast .30 cal. bullet will actually do to a white tailed deer :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=44927

[randyrat]

I used WWs cast 170-175 (C309-170F)gr gc boolit using 26.5 grs of 30-31 guessing vel is about 1600 to 1800 ft/sec out of 30-30...One head shot and the other deer was a heart shot. Had whole venison back straps last night on the grill, seasoned, sliced thin after they were cook. The best I've had since last year's deer. WWs cast will kill most any deer sized animal around here. Shot placement is #1. Many have met my grill.

[Al_sway]

In my .30-30 I use a Lee 150 grain FN, cast from wheelweight and lead, and they are somewhat soft. Loaded around 1700 fps and they worked well on a deer. Nothing recovered except for the dead deer. I would not harden them.

[MakeMineA10mm]

I was going to tell you to search a user name of "BEN" and check out his threads about hunting with HP rifle boolits, but I see he's already been here.

But, it still may be worth the search, because Ben has posted MANY good threads about HP boolit moulds and their casting and hunting with them. While I've tried and agree that paperpatching and casting SPs is possible and they work well, Ben's photos and descriptions have me thinking the HP mould is the simplest way to get a good hunting boolit.

[Canuck Bob]

BTW- The 30 cals don't include the 303 a .311 call, and the 32 Special, an 8mm or .32 cal.

I realize that Brett. I was just using that to get an understanding of mid range calibers. I actually don't own a 30 cal., 303, 32 Sp, 32-20 in this range. I figured the most experiance would be with 30 cal bulleteers.

[pdawg_shooter]

Cast them soft and paper patch them to prevent leading. Full velocity, accuracy equal to or sometimes better than jacketed, and near perfect performance on game.

[PAT303]

I cast my 303 boolits 50/50 WW and lead an shoot them at 1800fps and they are very effective on game. Pat

[Bret4207]

I realize that Brett. I was just using that to get an understanding of mid range calibers. I actually don't own a 30 cal., 303, 32 Sp, 32-20 in this range. I figured the most experiance would be with 30 cal bulleteers.

No prob, just didn't want you looking for 30 cal moulds for a 32 Spec.. etc.

[Larry Gibson]

I've shot lots of deer with cast .30 cal bullets from several cartrodges over the last 40+ years. I've found the Lyman 311041 or it's copies to be an excellent hunting bullet to 200 yards if the correct alloy is used and the muzzle velocity is 1950 - 2100+ fps. Less muzzle velocity shortens the max effective range. A striking velocity of 1450+ fps will give the best results. I've used lots of different alloys over the years but have pretty much setteled on WWs+2% tin/lead at 50/50. I air cool the bullets for 2+ weeks before sizing/seating the GC and lubing. My 311041s drop at .311 and I size at .311 for most all my .308 - 309 bores.

The 311041 or a sililar design will give excellent expansion at the velocities listed. I use a HP mould with the HP shortened. A Forster 1/8" HP tool works very well if you don't have a HP mould. I drill the HP 1/8 - 3/16" deep. The HPs kill more effectively (quicker) which many times means less tracking. A shot through the heart/lung area also taking out one or both legs will not damage much meat and is a much surer shot than the "behind the shoulder" or "double lung" shot.

Larry Gibson

[jhalcott]

The 311041 and 311291 have served me well on deer and groundhog shooting. My favorite alloy is ACWW around 12BHN. Next is Lyman #2 . I've used these at speeds above 2100 fps in several calibers from 7MM to 45-70. My HUNTING bullets have gas checks or teflon patches.In my limited experience, it does NOT take a heavy bullet to kill deer. Just an accurate placement of the bullet. Even the IDEAL hit may leave the deer able to run some distance. Therefore I try to take one or both shoulders to limit the deers travel. The RFN is a great design for game, but the 2 alloy "soft nose" will also work very well. This allows a sleeker profile for better long range ballistics, and a Nosler partition type of terminal result.

[Canuck Bob]

No prob, just didn't want you looking for 30 cal moulds for a 32 Spec.. etc.

Thanks Brett, I've done stupider stuff more than once!! For years I thought 32-20, 32-40, and 32 Special all took the same bullet size. Found out otherwise when I bought a 32-20 a couple years ago.