why hunt with cast boolits?

[texasnative46]

In my case, it is simple ECONOMICS. = Even the thought of paying 42.75 plus tax for 20 pieces of JHP leaves my "cheapskate heart" COLD.
(Personally, I think you should hunt with the same ammunition that you practice for hunting with & in the case of my "big game rifle", that's at least 230.85 per 100 rounds for practice ammo.)

yours, tex

[rondog]

Took my doe last fall with a powdercoated cast .45 Colt, Lee 255gr RFN over 31gr of IMR4227 (31 or 21, can't recall). Sailed true right into her heart at 250yds. Nice little holes in and out, nice trench across the heart. No massive disgusting damage, just a dead deer that went about 25-30 yards before expiring, if that far.

Made a believer out of me!

[Wolfer]

About 17 yrs ago I fell into a deal that left me with a lifetime supply of jacketed bullets. Only in 25 cal, 7mm, and 30 cal.
Since Ive always shot cast out of my pistols when I started loading for 8mm Mauser I just bought a mold after a couple hundred jacketed bullets. These were so much fun to shoot and since I didn't have a lifetime supply of 30 cal bullets suitable for a 30-30 I bought a 311041 mold.

This worked great in my 30-30 so just for giggles I tried it in my 30-06 and then in my 30-40 Krag. Accurate, quiet and low recoil, certainly fun to shoot but could I hunt with them?

For many years Ive been a close hunter. I'm also a very careful game shot. I tend to not shoot until I know where that boolit will land.

So I loaded the old 06 up to 1800 fps and went hunting. I was a little skeptical at first but those of you who hunt with cast know how that worked out.

I haven't killed a deer with a jacketed bullet in several years now. I still load jacketed in my 223 and if I'm going Elk hunting I'll shoot jacketed in my 338. I still load cast and jacketed in my 7x57. Seems I'm always loaning it out to a youngster and while I let them practice with cast I slip a jacketed in when their hunting.

A heavy cast in the 7x57 in the boiler room works just fine but I don't trust their shooting when the battle is engaged. The higher velocity of the jacketed gives a slight margin of error I feel.

[castalott]

Barrel wear also entered the picture for me... I have an older gun with I 'know' 5000 rounds of plinker loads ( 130 grain @ 1100fps) . 5000 rounds of factory jacketed would have a lot of wear on the bore. It looks close to new, at least to these old eyes.

Maybe hunting with just a few shots of jacketed fired might not wear on old gun too bad... but practicing might. Besides, I don't drive with my foot flat on the accelerator.. I don't run my loads wide open either unless it is necessary.


But that is just me....

Dale

[Smoke4320]

Cause I like too!!!
I control the size, the alloy, the features and most of all the supply ! shortages what shortages

have been a 1000 yd competitive shooter, a NRA ranked shooter, a hunter pistol shooter , and for a while magnumitis hunter/shooter
now I find pleasure in slower/heavier bullets and kill just as many deer

[grullaguy]

I just gave it some thought, and I haven't bought any loaded commercial ammo or jacketed bullets since the early 90s. I shoot weekly and hunt almost every year.

[Wolfer]

In 97 my boss gave me a 25-06 for Christmas. Not having any dies, brass etc I bought 2 boxes of Remington cartridges for it. Couldn't wait to shoot it.

Im pretty sure that was the last factory ammo purchase I made.

[GhostHawk]

I don't hunt anymore, getting old, having health issues.

Way I look at it, which would I feel more comfortable with.

A Factory loads or reloaded with factory jackets (which are not often cheap)

B The same cast load that I have punched paper with, that I know where I can put a bullet at a hundred yards. Where I can afford to shoot 20 of those every week for a month before the hunt.

It is not rocket science, it is about confidence and how deep your pockets are.

It is also about that quiet pride when you make a good shot with a boolit you have cast and loaded. And you waited till you had the right shot, and you placed it right and the deer is less than a stones throw from where it was hit to where it lays.

That's why I would, your reasons may vary.

[Camba]

I have learned a great deal about cas boolits here in this forum. I thank all of you who had contributed to my learning. Before casting my own, I had killed deer with revolvers and cast boolits that I bought.
The pleasure is so great when you kill a deer with your own cast boolit, brewed by you.
I wish I would had started much earlier in life.

[dh2]

why ? Because I like to take pride in being able cast a 405 gr slug for my 45/70 that will put a critter down as hard as any j-word ever will. and it is even better when I build the rifle from a bear bones action, in the case of my 9.3 x62 mm Mauser punching a 1 inch group at 100 yards it may not happen every day but when it does it is worth it.

[richhodg66]

I had been casting a long time and had grown up around it before I started using cast for hunting, in my case, I started with muzzle loaders. Kansas has an early ML season, which fit my schedule better than the December rifle season at the time. Anyway, Dad got me a Hawken and we experimented with some REALs and others. I settled on the Lyman plains bullet and it has been my main hunting bullet in that rifle. I also used cast in a .54 and then .44 SWCs in a sabot with a cheap inline I sometimes use.

Didn't start "small bore" cast deer hunting until 2010. Used a .30-30 Savage 340 for that one and it worked just fine. Learned a lot real fast about then and have used nothing but cast (except arrows) since then. I've now killed deer with cast using .30-30, .308, .300 Savage, .358 Winchester, .32 Winchester special and .351 WSL. All worked fine.

[LAKEMASTER]

Archery taught me that hunting is about Human performance, not power

The internet taught me that the 30-06 can't kill anything other then present day jack rabbits.

Casting Boolits allows me to constantly shoot-plink-play with my hunting rounds.

In wind, water, heat, cold.

It allows me to perfect' my performance.

Not to mention, with a bullet trap, my reloads are under $0.15 a piece.

[Budzilla 19]

For me, it was about economics. I can cast and load for my '06 with a 200 RNFP GC boolit for way less than even that old milsurp stuff we bought long ago and pulled the fmj bullets and replaced them with jacketed bullets! And the pistol rounds are so economical, it is just fun to load and shoot.I load for a disabled friend also, and it helps him out! I love the casting process also, from wheel weight remelting, then alloying specific alloys for specific loads,( I learned the majority of the knowledge I have about that part solely from this forum! Thanks to all!!) casting, powder coating, or HiTek sizing, load development! Like was already said, "Why not????" Thanks to all on this forum for your help. Oh, almost forgot! Shotgun slugs, I'm not paying factory prices anymore.

[robg]

I haven't bought any ammunition ( except 22rf) in 15 years always load my own and 90% of my handloads are lead .have to use jacketed for hunting here.

[Gunnut 45/454]

Well I've ben casting boollits for 25 years plus now and for every caliber I shoot! With free lead and gas checks reload on the cheap I've saved thousands in ammo cost! And they kill just as well as jacketed bullets within there limits! Put a cast bullet in the vitals of any animal an you can sharpen your knives there's work to be done!

[trapper9260]

I cast because i can and it dose not cost like jack,also I can shoot better with my own the way I want and do not have to depend on the factory to come up with what I want; I seen that from the past years when everyone else around the area had a hard time to find ammo and I did not.I will keep it that way. also with all you on here help me be better in it.

[psweigle]

I'm fairly new to hunting with cast, but it works. I still use jacketed bullets for my 223 remington, but my357's all shoot cast. The ruger 77/357 and the blackhawk have both taken deer, and a well made home cast boolit in the right place makes for very little tracking. I archery hunt, so I could see no reason why a cast boolit couldn't be an obvious choice. If a 100 grain broad head in the vitals will kill at a little over 300 fps, a 158gr flat point boolit at a much faster pace should be just as efficient.

[Texas by God]

My 30-30 with the Lee 150 FN has been my favorite turkey hunting rifle for years. No meat damage. I've not killed a deer with lead except for blackpowder guns. That should change next season because I'm crazy about my .358 with 200 gr RCBS cast over IMR 3031. Yesterday I put 4 shots in 3/4"@100yds with my JES/700 with Weaver 2.5x
scope. The funny part is I was just checking zero. I just finished dialing in a .308 AR10 with a big Nightforce scope- it's final four went 1-1/8"!
This site has taught me a lot.
Best, Thomas.

[skeettx]

My homemade lead shot is great at doves and quail.
YUM!!
Mike

[Good Cheer]

Started casting in the seventies to shoot cheap. Experimented with it and found I preferred cast to jacketed. Still got the old Lyman cast handbook with all the fascinating pictures of almost a century's worth of designs that were so shortly thereafter no longer available. Used cast hunting, big and small. Designed my own deer hunting cartridge to hold lots of lube grooves and plenty of slow powder. Been having lots of fun.