First test of rifle boolits

[glw]

I gave my stepdad some of my first rifle boolits to test in his 30/30. (I wasn't there, but here is the report that he gave me.)

The boolits are 311440 cast of 50/50 cable lead (soft) and coww, air cooled. They were lubed with 45/45/10 and check with Sage's aluminum checks. The powder charge was 17 grains of 4227 (I don't know if it was H or IMR, as I didn't load them.) We estimate it was moving about 1650 fps. It had light recoil.

There was no leading in the worn Winchester 55 after 14 shots. Accuracy testing was inconclusive, as it wasn't one of his better shooting days (some vertical stringing.)

What was interesting was the penetration test. The boolit was shot into a box of dry magazines. The boolit penetrated a couple of the magazines before it started to expand, then it it expanded to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and penetrated about 8 inches. The lead boolit disintegrated.

As a comparison test, a Lee 200 grain RNFP 45 Colt boolit at about 900 fps was shot into the same box of magazines. It penetrated about 4 inches and produced quarter-sized paper punch cut outs.

A future test calls for shooting into water-soak phone books.

So, for those who have real-life results to share, how does this rifle boolit sound for use on deer? It seems like it should have great penetration and good expansion. Dry paper is pretty hard on boolits/bullets, so I don't think that the boolit would disintegrate as much on game as it did in the paper. Of course, the proof is in the actual testing, and I haven't tried it on game yet.

Glenn

[helice]

Wow Glenn,
Very interesting. I look forward to your test in wet books. No comment as to why.

[runfiverun]

I wouldn't try to stretch the distances but you'll be fine hunting with what you have.

[glw]

From what I have heard about the 311440, about 100 yards is tops. This about as far as I would be shooting anyway.

Glenn

[mroliver77]

I run this boolit around 2000fps and keep it pretty hard. It does lots of damage with its flat face with no expansion at all. I have put down a few deer with it. Very nice wound channels but it looses speed quickly.
I have been surprised with how accurate it has shot in a few different rifles.

I would like a heavier version of it too.
Jay

[cummins05]

Very neat I love cast in my 30/30 it's like it was meant to be

[mroliver77]

Very neat I love cast in my 30/30 it's like it was meant to be

Kind of a "funny" statement as the 30 WCF was one of the first (if not the first) commercial JACKETED sporting rounds available.
J

[glw]

UPDATE

My stepdad ran another test, this time in soaking wet phone books. We used two different boolits--311440 and Lee 309-150-f. Both boolits were shot in a 30/30, with 22 grains of IMR-4198. The lead mixture was 50/50 cable lead and coww, air-cooled. The Lee boolit traveled 11 inches in the phone books, with about a one and a half inch wound channel. The boolit mushroomed to .490 and retained nearly 100% of its weight.

The 311440 traveled about 10 inches, but the front of the boolit pealed off. The remaining boolit weight was about 100 grains. The wound channel at first was good, but after pealing off the front of the boolit the wound channel narrowed to about boolit diameter.

It seems that the 309-15-f would work great at this velocity, but that the 311440 either needs to be hardened a little, or the velocity lowered. Does that seem correct to you? (Of course, we are hunting deer, not phone books, so final proof will have to wait for hunting season.)

Glenn

[popper]

A while ago I did some tests on TC 40SW. Hit the nose with a hammer to test expansion. I noticed that the meplat kept getting larger until it was greater dia than the boolit, then it started to peel off. The front band also grew in dia., rear stayed pretty much the same. OK we all know this. Point is that the nose peels when the petals get long and thin. I'm guessing the big one needs to be SOFTER (whole boolit expands) or much harder for NO expansion.

[glw]

I guess that does make sense, Popper. I do want the boolits to expand, though, so it would need to make the boolits softer. I am surprised at how much of a difference there was between the boolits, since the same lead and load were used for both.

Anyone else experienced this sort of problem, and how you fixed it?

Thanks!
Glenn

[popper]

Nose design difference. Look at some of the recovered bool it pics.