Thoughts about this bullet for Deer

[sathington]

I would be loading it in a 45 colt behind a healthy dose of unique, 10 grains or so. I know the name of the bullet is the 453-210gr, but if the bullet actually weighs out to 240gr with my alloy (I spoke to Al and he said the guy that designed it named it, but was wrong about the weight). To me it looks to have enough weight and enough meplat to do the job if I do my job.

That being said, I've never hunted before, so I figure I would ask some cast bullet hunting experts. Any thoughts?

[jcren]

Not an expert, but a simular 250 grain bullet over 9 grains of unique is potent hog medicine out of a 16" carbine.

[shoot-n-lead]

I dumped my 45colts, but for years, my experience pulled me toward heavier bullets...my guns just shot the 250's better. And, if you are going to be shooting a bigbore...might as well take advantage of the weight available for improved penetration. If the bullet goes 240...I would say, go for it.

I would probably opt for a pb mold over a gc...JMO

[Hickok]

Not an expert, but a simular 250 grain bullet over 9 grains of unique is potent hog medicine out of a 16" carbine.

I can verify that the load that JCREN mentions shot out of a Ruger Vaquero revolver 4 5/8" barrel will shoot through both shoulders of a whitetail at hand gun ranges, which are 50 yards and under for me.

Your load is nearly a duplicate of the above mentioned combination.

I say a resounding YES, it will be a good deer load.

[Wolfer]

What Hickok said

Ive shot several deer with the lee 452-255RF and 8.8 gr of Unique from a 7-1/2" new vaquero.
It is extremely difficult to recover a boolit from a Missouri whitetail.

[DougGuy]

OP that boolit will take whitetails day in and day out for as many years as you want to use it on them. I like the heavier RF boolits with the big wide meplat because my guns shoot the lighter ones too far below point of aim and no I am not going to file down the sights.

If you're shooting that out of a Ruger single action, being the boolit is a gas checked design, you can use a soft enough alloy that you can dig a thumbnail into it, and use soft lube as well, this is a really great lube/alloy combo for Ruger .45s personally I use 50/50+2% and Felix lube and never have to go as far as to even run a cleaning rod down the bore. Accuracy is VERY good and pretty much zero leading.

IF you are using a Ruger single action revolver, make sure your boolits can be pushed through the cylinder throats from the front, if not, might want to think about having the cylinder throats reamed so a .452" boolit will go through them with slight resistance.

The SINGLE most important thing about hunting with this booit? SHOT placement is KEY!

[sathington]

Thanks for the answers, gentlemen. I'm glad there is approval, and now I will just keep practicing. I should note that I see that I accidentally grabbed the wrong picture and the bullet I will be using does not have a gas check. Would the soft alloy still be approriate? I'm probably going to powder coat, but have been thinking of trying a different lube, as the only stuff I have is some old RCBS green business. I'll look into the 50/50+2%and felix.

Thanks!

[DougGuy]

By the sound of it, you are looking at 1150 ~ 1200fps with that load am I close? I think the 50/50+2% and Felix would be good up to that velocity. If it leads, you could try straight ACWW with Felix and see how that does. What gun is this for?

I have also used dental wax for soft gas checks with pretty good success by getting some .060" thick sheets from fleabay and cookie cutter them over the charged case mouth before seating the boolit and these worked pretty good for some 340gr SSK TC boolits I used over 22.0gr W296. Pretty hot load and I was seeing wax in the bore between shots so it had a little seasoning for the next shot this is fairly good thing for a Ruger. The Felix lube will do the same thing.

[sathington]

I think that's about right, DougGuy. I'm hoping to use a Freedom Arms 97, but if I'm not comfortable enough with that, I'll use my Rossi 92. I'm in the Seattle area, and most the places I've scouted are pretty woody, and most shots would be less than 50 yards. The wax idea sounds interesting, I might give that a go if I see any leading.

Thanks.

[Pumpkinheaver]

That flat point should work good on whitetail deer. My kid uses a similar shaped bullet in a .357 carbine and it knocks them dead.

[runfiverun]

I use something semi-similar to that set-up and have no second thoughts when I pull the trigger.
9.3 grs of unique under a 240/250gr boolit in either a 44 mag or 45 colt whether it's a revolver or lever gun will flat out put 2 holes in stuff.
heck it'll do it in a 41 mag with a 210gr boolit and only 8.5 grs of unique.
put those holes on either side of some central nervous stuff or some blood carrying organs and you'll have a dead animal.

[Hickok]

Sathington, I see you are new to hunting. If I may add some advice to the other great information the above members have given.

When shooting a deer with a handgun, on a through and through lung shot, expect the animal to run off and then die. Give the animal some time to bleed out, just as a precaution, then follow up the blood trail. They usually just run and drop, but you don't want to spook a wounded animal and then have a long chase.

On a good shoulder hit, they usually go down due to the lose of one or both front legs, but not always.

As stated, boolit placement is the key to success. Put the slug in the right place, and the rest is field dressing and dragging!

[sathington]

My confidence is bolstered, thank you sirs! Now to the range to practice, practice practice. I'm thinking my chances of getting one are low, as I didn't grow up in a hunting family, and there's not much hunting culture around Seattle, but if I get one, I'll post some pictures and tell the tale.

[quilbilly]

That is similar to the Lee boolit I am using with sabots for long range muzzleloader shooting for desert mule deer. It has an MV of 1600 fps and will shoot as far as I can get a decent sight picture with my old eyes and the required iron sights. I think it is a little bit much for up-close-and-personal hunting for black tails so for that I prefer PRB.

[Cornbread]

I use a somewhat similar bullet but not gas checked for whitetail in both 45 Colt and 454 Casull. It is the most accurate 45 cal pistol bullet mold I own:


Out of the 454 I push them anywhere from 1,500 to 1,700fps. Out of the 45 Colt I push them at 1,000 to 1,200fps. The deer don't seem to know the difference between the two as they die just as fast either way. Results were as follows on my Montana whitetail "B" tag (antlerless) last year:

[DougGuy]

Oki.. New to hunting bambi.. Not a problem. Here, in Virginia/North Carolina we have lots of farmland. Corn, soy beans, peanuts, and the deer pretty much live in the woods surrounding the food fields. They eat mast in the woods, browse on acorns and bushes as well as crops, and you can go along the edge of the fields and in the first 10yds or so of the woods, you can walk along and see the trails they have been using. My choice of hunting spots would be where it is pretty thick, as deer prefer thick cover to open areas, and I usually use a climbing stand. This gets me above their line of sight and above the smells of the woods, doing this will let deer walk right up under the stand without a care in the world.

For a handgun hunt, you would want to pick a spot that will put you in close over some of these trails. You can also look for sign in the woods, scrapes and rubs on trees, find a tree that will let you get up far enough to overlook the areas with scrapes and rubs this is a good strategy. When I get in where it is thick, I am almost always going to take home meat. This is the deer's living room, this is their comfort zone. This is where my hunts produce the most meat year after year. I have taken more deer shooting straight down on them from my climbing stand with a .44 magnum than with all of my other guns. This .44 has put more venison in the freezer than any gun I have ever owned. Most of the shots are less than 10yds, MANY of them are near straight down.

Good luck with your shooting and your hunts, I don't know what kind of terrain you have where you will hunt, this is how I hunt where I live, this is what works the best for me.