First cast rifle deer, and bullet considerations

[bmortell]

I got a deer with the lee 170gr pc'd in 3006, it was about ww alloy and 1750fps at the muzzle. It was hit at 100yds angled from behind the left shoulder and hit the thigh bone on the rear right and broke it, stopped 2 inches past it no exit. you can see how its shaped to the curvature of the bone.

only thing i wasnt happy with was the lack of bloodtrail, there wasnt any till the last 25 feet since there was no exit, if there wasnt snow this migh have been a problem. I was considering going to something like the accurate molds 220gr or 240gr just to further solidy an exit on all shots. I know the current boolit is sufficient in most cases but i see no downside to going heavier. Plan on keeping velocity around the same. Is there anything i need to worry about. Stability? Seating depth? Feeding? Ect. It would be shot in a 1-10 22in 3006 or a 300wm same twist 26 in barrel.

[Iowa Fox]

The 30-06 is a nice case for the heavier bullets, 220 or 240. I like the 311041 in the 30-30 but in the 30-06 I jump up to heavier. I've never shot cast in my 300WM because of its short neck.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I use the same boolit at a similar velocity. I've only had one not exit, on a doe I shot head on. I got nearly 3 ft of penetration, though. I rarely hit any bone but ribs. I've been considering using a softer boolit for more expansion and larger exit holes for better blood trails.

[BigMagShooter]

311284 is your friend.

[crankycalico]

or one could try a bigger meplat, something in say an 8x57 mauser.


Bullets do weird things when they lose energy. Its just life, and sadly enough a person CAN use it to decide anything they want to in the end. bigger bullet, bigger gun,,, weve had people here use 45-70 with 450 grain bullets and not get better penetration then you did, on the same shot set up and range.

[richhodg66]

Lots of good designs out there. I had good luck with the Rancgdog .30-30 bullet, also a couple of different 311041 molds on deer.

The 311284 has been mentioned and it is an awesome bullet, but you may want to cast it with a soft nose, I plan to do that.

Haven't used it on game yet, but the RCBS 180 grain FP, which is really about a 195 grain FP for me, sure looks like it would work great and it's a good shooter in various .30s I've tried it in.

[Dr. A]

As mentioned above, that RCBS 180 gr.FP comes out a bigger 200gr. for me. I used it in the 30-30 using Leverevolution sending it down the tube quite a bit faster than what you do. The blood trail was something to behold and she went maybe 10 yards. I did have a soft nose on it.


I've shot a half a dozen with this combination since then at distances up to 175 yards and had good blood every time with a chest shot.

[Hamish]

You could stand to soften it up quite a bit with dead soft or range scrap.

[megasupermagnum]

Shooting 45 degrees though a deer like that is a tall order. It's the only way I've manged to recover bullets inside of deer. Even hard shotgun slugs won't go all the way through that way. If anything, I'd make it a little softer for better expansion.

[500Linebaughbuck]

yep, its too hard. go to 10 coww: .5 tin(11 or 12bhn).

i use a 30-40 krag with 165gr ranch dog(10 coww: .5 tin) that goes around 1900fps.

[CastingFool]

Congrats on your first cast boolit deer.

[RU shooter]

Honestly IMO that bullet penetrated plenty (behind the shoulder to the back leg thigh bone ) and it did indeed kill even without an exit . On a more broadside shot that would go through two deer

[bmortell]

Thanks for the replys and advice on going softer. I went ahead and ordered accurate molds 31-220LG cause i really want to try the heavy end with more exansion and still have mass to exit. My current alloy was 2.3 antimony 1.8 tin, probably mix it 2 parts to 1 part pure.

I got the mold with .308 body, .300 nose and .283 shank cause im planning use PC'd and gc, or paper patched, not really interested in lubed so i got it slightly smaller than normal. Any advice on powder charge for 220gr? I was using 20gr 2400 for the approx 180gr boolit with good accuracy. Does that weight make i want differrent powder i also have sr4759 and imr4895 3031 and some slower ones, if it wont care for 2400 anymore. Again looking for 1800fps or so.

[brewer12345]

I think you are headed for overkill, personally, but its not like a 30-06 won't shoot a big cast slug like that just fine. My deer load is a 198 grain flat nosed boolit with a real big meplat (.19"). The load does something like 1900 FPS and I cast them out of roughly 94-3-3. Even this hard an alloy expanded judging by the half inch diameter exit hole on the mulie doe I shot this Fall with it. I used 4198 to develop the load, but I may eventually try something slower. I'd probably start with 2400 again and see what it will do.

[Static line]

I got a deer with the lee 170gr pc'd in 3006, it was about ww alloy and 1750fps at the muzzle. It was hit at 100yds angled from behind the left shoulder and hit the thigh bone on the rear right and broke it, stopped 2 inches past it no exit. you can see how its shaped to the curvature of the bone.

only thing i wasnt happy with was the lack of bloodtrail, there wasnt any till the last 25 feet since there was no exit, if there wasnt snow this migh have been a problem. I was considering going to something like the accurate molds 220gr or 240gr just to further solidy an exit on all shots. I know the current boolit is sufficient in most cases but i see no downside to going heavier. Plan on keeping velocity around the same. Is there anything i need to worry about. Stability? Seating depth? Feeding? Ect. It would be shot in a 1-10 22in 3006 or a 300wm same twist 26 in barrel.

Not all complete pass throughs leave a blood trail.I found that out with a deer shot at 15 yards with a 45-70 and it went almost 70 yards before dropping.Only blood was in puddles where the deer laid.In and out behind the shoulders.That was a deer shot by my cousin this year while we were hunting.We are still scratching our heads on that one.

[osteodoc08]

There would be no guarantee with a blood trail with a jacketed bullet either. Without a doubt the bullet penetrated more than any jacketed would have. You literally penetrated the entire deer and busted a hip bone. That’s some incredible penetration and retained energy at the hip. Just some food for thought.

[osteodoc08]

Also, a softer alloy would have lead to more mushrooming effect but the boolit shown was still malleable enough to not shear off that entire wing.

[fatnhappy]

That boolit did just fine. If anything, I'd push it to around 2000 in the 06 and have at it. Since you're using the 06 with a long neck and plenty of boiler room, I might suggest my thought process: don't go fast, go heavy.

Others have mentioned the 311284. I use a 311290. It's the difference between 6 vs a half dozen.

[Winger Ed.]

Good job. I always liked hunting with my own reloads, and more so with cast boolits.
The two molds I use are the 311041 and 311644 with a fairly hard alloy for both .308 and .30-06.
I've been happy with gas checked ones going about 2,000 fps or so since I never have a clear shot much over 80-100 yards.