Maximum Meplat width for close range dangerous or heavy game ???

[pmer]

Yeah I had a 45 Colt Rossi with that safety and it basically stayed out of the way when left off. My Marlin 45-70 with a cross bolt safety is more trouble because it seems to get bumped to On easier. But the 45 Colt Rossi had no trouble getting 300 grains to 1600 FPS. I got a nice 11 pointer with that load, it showed up behind me and I had to freeze with my head cranked all the way to right because he saw me up in the tree. He finally walked by next to my tree and it worked out my way.

[44man]

Joe comes to shoot all the time. I have fun with him. He either forgets to chamber or take the safety off. I count, "That's one deer miss" and never get less then 4 or 5. In the few years I have known him he lost at least 50 deer.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

You must have lots of deer where you hunt.
My very first rifle was an Ithaca lever action , single shot 22. It had the fake under barrel. And was a Martini falling block style receiver.
Cocking the hammer was the most natural thing in the world. Beins I grew up in Maine, lever action Winchesters and Marlins were kinda the norm. When those 2 outfits started putting safety's on their lever guns I was totally disgusted. I tried getting used to one on the Marlin Guide Gun I had , and just couldn't. That was one of the big reasons it went down the road. A Winchester 88 and a Savage 99 need a safety lever . No other lever guns do .IMO.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

On another forum , a guy posted a question about the suitability of a lever action rifle for trophy big game hunting in Alaska . I replied that since Most big game animals are shot at 150 yards away or less . A lever gun is just fine. The single biggest factor is being able to hit what you need to. I'm a bolt action , stainless Ruger M 77 crf guy. They are the toughest rifles I've ever seen, owned or used.
But if a guy is a lever guy , that shouldn't diminish his chances one iota . Just need to be able to hit well with it.

[pmer]

A mauser style controlled round feed is nice. I tried cycling my Marlin on its side or upside down and it had trouble chambering.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Ya, sometimes some of them do . Thats really not the end of the world most of the time. As long as it chambers in the normal positions. I've never had a situation where I was running and jumping and turning somersaults while shooting a bear. Tho I know some guys that have. Havin a foot race with a bear. Running and reloading their 243 and 270 deer rifles. More crazy crsp than u can imagine. How they stay alive I have No idea !!
Only 1 time have I ever done the amount of damage to a deer with my 416s or 458s that the average " deer rifle cartridge" does most of the time.

[starmac]

Cold trigger finger, just curious are you still logging in SE?

[birddog]

Hhmmmm thinking the model 71 Winchester, 348 w/235 gr cast would be fun to work with up there!!!!
Charlie

[starmac]

Hhmmmm thinking the model 71 Winchester, 348 w/235 gr cast would be fun to work with up there!!!!
Charlie

That is where the 50 Alaskan got it's start. lol

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Cold trigger finger, just curious are you still logging in SE?

No, our timber industry went belly up. So I got into banging nails. Then highway construction . Then moved to the Interior when I started working construction on The Slope.
Now I'm getting going on operating and driving full time. Up here. Sure do miss turning ancient boreal forests into logs and clearcuts tho.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

That is where the 50 Alaskan got it's start. lol

IMO the 348 is best served with a 250 gr bullet @ 2300 fps. And a model 71 is a perfect rifle when its turned into one of the 450s . 450 Alaskan , 450 Fuller or 450/348 Ackley Improved. . My favourite is the 450/348 A.I. as it pushes a 400 gr bullet @ 2200 fps with less pressure than the 450 Ak can.
Harold Johnson made the 50 Ak. Because he got an old Ma Duce barrel that had the throat fried, spent some quality time on his lathe with it and came up with a neat barrel. He screwed it onto an 86 Winchester and cut a bunch of truncated cone bullets . Then he started killing bear with it.
Personally , I think the 450s kill bears just as fast and well as the 50 Ak does.

[10or45]

That 480 is awesome. I like the lower pressure and controllability of it while sending a larger, heavier slug than 454. If I was in Alaska that would be on my #1 list to find.

10or45; I think that's a wise choice. Much better than a Smith 329 or. Kinda most S&W revolvers imho. Guns like the Mountain Lite ect. Are far better than nothing. But the Ruger is stronger. I packed a 5" Redhawk for a while in 44 Mag. I shot 320 gr LFN CPB Boolits out of it pushed by 20 or 21 gr of 296. It worked to keep me from getting bit one time when the bear was alot closer to me than my 458 was.
My hope with the 480 is more ability as a stand alone gun . That is still one hand controllable by me.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Hopefully I'll be trying some Accurate Mold, 380 V boolits soon. And a friend got a 5 shot Bisley 6 1/2" a couple weeks ago. The factory Ruger one. Just like Pmer's . My, what a Sweet gun it is.

[44man]

You must have lots of deer where you hunt."Quote."
No, I just have fun with him at the bench. For every CLICK, I call out a missed deer!

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Thats good. Hopefully he doesn't do that stuff on stand .

[Cold Trigger Finger]

Boolits from Pmer got here today. Beautiful looking boolits ! Gonna get some loaded in the morning and check them for accuracy. And velocity.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

[44man]

That is a good boolit.

[Cold Trigger Finger]

That is a good boolit.

They load up nicely too. Starting load of 19 gr of Accurate #9.

So far with this load I got 10" of straight penetration in solid green poplar firewood. I could reload this boolit and shoot it again. Not that poplar is a Hard wood or anything . but with over 83% meplat diameter. The boolit stopped nose forward.

[44man]

Most of you have read my experience with a WFN driven too fast with a hard boolit. At least I hope you think about it. I found the WFN will push tissue out of the way in a secondary wound channel that will collapse from the pressure wave off the nose. A beautiful hole punch. I found no difference between a WLN and WFN and alloy or expansion of the nose counts more. The WLN can kill deer faster at the proper velocity.
I lost deer with no blood trails with a WLN and went to a WFN, 45-70 BFR and it was worse. TOO fast for the alloy. I softened and blew meat that circles Saturn.
My .500 JRH was sad with an 80% meplat, deer going 100-120 yards with no blood to track. I cast a softer nose and got this.
Fellas, a flat point alone is not the answer. But animal size can be different too. I might want harder for a very large and tough animal but I only have deer.
In a large animal the boolit will slow and the wave reduced so more is destroyed inside. I can't tell you what to use for other then deer. You must determine yourself. At least we can tailor a cast to do what is needed.