348 gets another one

[jwhite]

I had been chasing a couple decent bucks around one the outer island around where i live and after a mishap the previous day i was able to connect with this nice 8 pointer. I used my Browning model 71 loaded with a 220gr LBT LFN design boolit with tinfoil inserted into the nose portion of the cavity before pouring. I am glad i had the 348 loaded heavy that morning as the buck came out at about 100 yards and immediately turned away from me and headed straight toward a patch of thick blowdowns, i took a solid rest on a nearby tree and took a shot at about 125yards. It was quartering hard away from me and the bullet entered just behind the diaphragm and exited through the opposite side front leg. I lost sight of him after i shot and snuck towards where i lost sight of him, he was still standing but obviously hit hard, he started to make a move toward the direction he had come in from and i put another round through the boiler room and he was done.

I had a crack at him two days prior but had miss fire with my new Ruger American ranch rifle in 7.62x39, i had pulled a bunch of russian FMJ's and seated 123r Nosler's in their place, cheap, no cases to pick up and wicked accurate, and up until that day never had a failure to fire. I spotted the big guy in some blow downs at about 35yards away, he finally moved a bit and i had a nice shot at his neck and all i got was a loud click. To say i was disgusted is an understatement! Made up for it though with the old .348.

Having trouble with pictures and will try a separate post with pic's.

[jwhite]

[nagantguy]

Nice buck; 348, is one I've always been intrigued by. Hope you feel guts out that misfire issue with your ruger rifle. That really stinks.

[skeettx]

Well done
Thank you for sharing
Mike

[ericp]

Nice work, also the first deer photo I've seen with lobster pots in the background! How far up the coast are you?

Eric

[Thumbcocker]

That is a pile of venison congrats.

[Texas by God]

Very nice buck and you earned it! You are MUCH better looking in the second pic!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[richhodg66]

That is a big, healthy boy, just look at the neck on him!

Neat that you got him with such a special rifle too. The .348 is an interesting cartridge.

[500Linebaughbuck]

congratulations!!!

[Smoke4320]

Great I love it when we don't first succeed and then triumph
congrats

[james nicholson]

Good deal!! And with a 348.

[Ramjet-SS]

Karma a nice buck like that should be taken with classic cartridge and rifle ..... great shooting.

[CastingFool]

Nice job!

[jwhite]

About midway up the coast, live on an island 12miles east of Rockland.

Nice work, also the first deer photo I've seen with lobster pots in the background! How far up the coast are you?

Eric

[jwhite]

The old 348 has accounted for several of my larger bucks over the years, all of them with cast boolits. I struggle every year with what rifle i am going to use for deer huntings; so many guns and loads to try and so few tags but i always seem to end up lugging the 348 at some point. Now that my girls are both hunting i get them to use some of the other loads i want to try out, had one girl shooting my 25-45 Sharps and the other using a 7.62x39 with the 150 gr Ranchdog boolit this year. For a heavy rifle the model 71's carry like a dream, balance is perfect and mine seems to shoot quite well, got a williams peep sight and a small ivory bead on the front. Definitely give up a bit by going with the open sights versus a scoped rifle but since the majority of my deer are taken under 30 yards with a bow i guess it isn't too much of a handicap. Deer ended up weighing 165lbs which in this part of the state is pretty good, a friends wife shot a 242lbs deer the same day but in the far northern part of the state, we have a much higher deer density and that seems to drive the weights down.

[Eddie17]

Please post a picture of the gun used!

[jwhite]

Please post a picture of the gun used!

[retread]

Very nice. both the deer and the rifle! Nice job.

Jay

[richhodg66]

I'd be curious to know more about how you make your hunting bullets. I've heard of that "split nose" method, but never tried it. How far into the nose do you place that foil divider? What kid of alloy do you use with that? It obviously works well.

[jwhite]

I'd be curious to know more about how you make your hunting bullets. I've heard of that "split nose" method, but never tried it. How far into the nose do you place that foil divider? What kid of alloy do you use with that? It obviously works well.

I use 50/50 wheelweight and pure lead and water drop them, seems to be about as hard as 100% wheel weight when air cooled but more malleable. As for the placement of the foil divider it seems to work well about 1/2 to 2/3's the way down the nose, in this case the foil strips are 3/8" long.
They do work well and are very fast to make compared to two alloy softnosed cast boolits, the two part boolits are probably the best hunting bullet for cast bullet hunting but definitely more time consuming to make. I have shot several deer with the 348 and several different 35 calibers with "plain" cast bullets and there is no comparison in terminal shock and damage when compared to split nose, softnosed or hollow pointed. Many years ago i shot a buck facing me with the 348 loaded with the same 220r LBT with a softnose, bullet entered the neck, left a baseball sized hole for about 6-8" and travelled the length of the deer and was just under the hide on hindquarter, they make a pretty impressive splash upon impact. The softnose bullets are more labor intensive to make but really work well, especially in the 30 calibers, full power 7.62x39's and a soft nosed bullet are a great combination where as the split nosed bolts don't seem to work as well in the smaller caliber, at least in a small case like the 7.62x39.