Tell me again what it takes to kill a mulie?

[brewer12345]

I have a tag for a mulie doe next month and it is in a place that can have kind of sparse cover between the Ponderosa stands. That means that most likely I will be on the ridge looking down or straight at a deer, and the lack of cover means the shots can be a little longer. My comfort level is 150 yards, 200 tops. Beyond that I will likely pass on the shot and try to get closer, cover or no. I most likely will be hunting with a Tikka T3 in .30-06 for which I have two developed loads to choose from. The first is a cast load based on the Noe 311-195 mold. This throws a 198 grain boolit lubed and checked and it has a big meplat (almost as big as the one on the RCBS 35-200 mold I use in the 35 Rem). Over a charge of 4198 I get about 1900 FPS. The ballistic calculator I plugged all of this into suggests that the boolit will still have 1000 foot pounds or so at 200 yards, with a 10 inch drop from a 100 yard zero. That sound like enough sauce to put down a good sized mulie doe with a shot into the boiler room?

My other choice is a Nosler partition load that flings a 165 grain jacketed slug at 2800 FPS. I have no doubt this will kill deer at 500 yards, not that I would take such a shot.

I would really rather hunt with cast this year. Good idea? I suppose I could figure out the difference in POI between the two loads and just keep a second mag loaded with the partitions for longer shots, but that seems like it would be confusing to sort out as I get excited to have a deer in the scope.

[Wayne Smith]

Choose one and practice until you know where it will hit. Either will kill a deer, given proper placement.

[Hickory]

As Wayne said, shot placement.
One fall I shot prairie dogs for 6 days in Wyoming and was practiced up enough that I got a nice muley with a shot in th ear with a 55 gr .223 @ just over 200 yards.

[Minerat]

A mulie is not an elk. Any bullet over 130gr out of the 06 will put one down if you do your job. Sight factory equivalent j word bullets in 1.5 in high at 100 yds and it will be a dead on hold to 250 yds. I used a 41mag Henry with a 220 gr cast @ 1260 fps on the last doe I shot, approx 125 yds, DRT.

[texasnative46]

Minerat,

EXACTLY. = That is what the Armed Forces calls "battle-sight zero" & it provides GOOD "practical hunting accuracy" likely out to 300M..

yours, tex

[brewer12345]

Yeah, the big boolit load is plenty accurate and the recoil is modest enough that I shoot it enough to be right on at 100 yards. Not worried about being able to put the metal on the meat, just want to make sure it will thump a big bodied mulie with enough authority once it gets there. Given the modest velocity, I am guessing my 94 3 3 alloy probably won't expand, so the meplat will have to do all the work.

[texasnative46]

brewer12345,

Fwiw, MANY a mulie/elk was taken in the 20th Century with a .22 Savage HP, .25-35WCF, .38-40, .44-40, .303 Savage or the .32-40WCF. = None of those rounds is a "powerhouse".
Nonetheless, animals are NO harder to kill now than they were when my grandfather was a hunter in the 1900-1950 period. = His "pet rifle" was a Model 95 Winchester in .30-40 Krag & in those long-ago days, the .30-40 was NOT a "powerhouse" by 21st century standards.

yours, tex

[Texas by God]

I 'd hunt with confidence with your cast load. Even in the West you can get close enough to insure a good vital hit. Have fun!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Harter66]

I hunted Nevada all of my life . The regs call for 1000#@100 yd minimum .
We always planned for a 3-400 yd shot above the tree line but most typically shots were inside 250 yd . The last 3 deer , all antlerless , were inside of 100 .

I'm not going to throw stones as I'm not familiar with your bullet of choice . The Nosler at 2800 isn't even a question .
I would however do some more research on the numbers you have for your cast bullet . I shot one with a paper patched 200 gr spitzer shaped boolit with a calculated .380 BC . Drop calculation on measured 300 yd shooting matched that number within normal known group dispersion . It only just barely made the 1000 ftlb @100 yd at 1900 fps and was only 960-975 as I recall at 1800 fps .

To meet the NV numbers a 223 with a BTSP run up to it's limits in the books would make the cut at some 1012# , but a deference loaded factory RP 300 gr HP 45-70 from a then available ported 1895 Marlin would have been sketchy at best .......but what Warden is going write a guy a ticket hunting any big game with a 45-70 ? The same is probably true of an 06' ......if the Warden is a shooter and not of the cast is only for pistols and paper mindset it shouldn't be an issue at all but if he's a mic , Chrony , scale , BC calculator in his pocket guy ........ You might have a hard sell .

[skeettx]

Your load formula will send the bullet through the deer, good wound channels.
So hit the deer in the proper place and all will be well. Just be patient after the shot
and let the deer bleed out.
Please let us know of your adventure
Mike

[texasnative46]

skeettx,

WELL SAID. = When I took my II-B Hirsch (RED DEER) in Germany long ago, my forstmeister insisted that we wait a 1/2 hour (seemed like a HALF-YEAR to me) for him to bleed out. = He stopped a 175 grain "S-A War clone" JSP reload at about 1900FPS out of a 7x57MM Mauser "sporter".
(He ran about 250M, laid down & was GYD when we arrived.)


To me, who was used to hunting TX whitetails, he looked as big as a house. = Sitting & waiting is a GOOD plan, imo.

yours, tex

[brewer12345]

Sounds like I am good to go with the big boolit load. I have a third load, but at 152 grains, 2000 fps or so, and a small meplat I can't see how I would pick it given that the heavier boolit is at least as accurate.

[500Linebaughbuck]

i have a 30-40 krag(1898 spr armory) using 165gr ranch dogs and a charge of 2400 that goes roughly 1800fps. it kills deer out to 178 yards, i know, i have done it. 200 yards is well within reach. i use 10lbs coww and a smidge of tin(guessing 1/2 pound or so).

[reloader28]

500Linebaugh, did you catch the boolit from that? I'm guessing it went on thru.


Brewer, you should have no problems with that cast load. Load em up and have fun

[white eagle]

Tell me again what it takes to kill a mulie?

A bullet in the vitals

[quilbilly]

That boolit and a terminal velocity of 1100 fps if it is only a moderately hard alloy will do just fine by my own experiences with both muzzleloaders and modern. You just have to hit them in the right place as others have said.

[SSGOldfart]

Good luck with your hunt keep us updated,

[500Linebaughbuck]

500Linebaugh, did you catch the boolit from that? I'm guessing it went on thru.


Brewer, you should have no problems with that cast load. Load em up and have fun

from the deer? no. it expanded and went thru the deer(s). i have shot many deer with 165gr rd. the furthest was 178 yards while the closest was 20 yards+/-. every deer was was one shot and they only go about 20 - 30 yards(most of them crumple at the shot). i do have spent boolits, the 1 on the left is 113.7gr , while the one the right is 90.3gr. they were shot at a 3/4" plywood and dirt(piled up behind the target). it was a 100 yard target. i had to dig for them.

[lobogunleather]

I have hunted Colorado mule deer and elk most of my life (68 trips around the sun and counting). I have taken mule deer with .30-06, .308, .300 Savage, .30-40 Krag, .250 Savage, .30-30 Win, .357 revolver, and other calibers. With cast bullets I have used .357 revolver, .30-30, .300 Savage, and .30-06, and all are perfectly adequate within reasonable ranges when the bullet is put through the boiler works (heart-lung area).

My usual load in .30-06 is the Lee C309-170F, gas checked, Alox lube, and 30 grains H335. This yields +/- 2000 FPS (comparable to factory .30-30). Bullets are cast of 50% old wheel weights and 50% new Linotype metal. I have recovered only one bullet (broke a rib on entry, through both lungs, stopped against a rib on the off-side, moderate shearing of the bullet nose, no significant expansion), all others have gone clean through. All were taken at ranges under 100 yards. None required a second shot. None went more than 100 feet before collapsing.

I regularly load a couple hundred .30-30 rounds every years for the grandkids, using the same bullet and same powder charge. Those have taken dozens of deer all over the US for years.

In my scoped Ruger #1 Light Sporter.30-06 that load will consistently shoot 2" groups at 100 yards. In an old Remington 03/A3 Springfield (unaltered) that load will shoot 3" groups at 100 yards all day long (interestingly the 300-yard sight setting is dead on at 100).

Started loading cast rifle bullets 33 years ago. This is the first really successful cast bullet load in .30-06 for me and I have never found any reason to change it.

[Mica_Hiebert]

Have killed many mulies with a 243 100 grain and many white tail with a 223 55 grain.