what do you use?

[tdoyka]

now i am a cast boolit newbie. i have over 20 years of handloading j-bullets. from the 20 vartarg to the '06 to the 45-70, i shot them all. this year i really wish that i can get a shot at a deer and black bear. with cast boolits that is. its goin take me awhile to start casting, but there are a few that make them.

the first one is a 1898 springfield armory in 30-40 krag with the 165gr ranch dog(95%lead, 2.5%tin,2.5%antimony) on top of a charge of h4198 or varget.
second one is a tc encore(23" mgm barrel) in 444 marlin with the 265gr ranch dog(95%lead,2.5%tin,2.5%antimony) on top of a charge of h4198.
thrid is h&r in 45-70 with a 405gr fbfn(13% bhn) and a charge of h4198 or varget.

the first two are from carolina bullets while the third is from moyer's bullets.
i could use j-bullets from the 6.5creedmoor, 270win, 308, '06, 30-30....but what the heck...i feel real good about cast boolits!!!

what do you use?

[TXGunNut]

Big slow boolits, big meplats. Two good knives and a vacuum sealer with lots of bags.

[Jevyod]

For my 45-70 I use Accurate 46-415V under a 40.5 grain charge of IMR4198. Bullet alloy is 50/50 COWW/Pure + 2% Pewter. Sized to 460 and powdercoated. They weigh 420 with a gator gas check. This load gives me 1,560 fps velocity and 1.5 inch groups @ 100 yards. used it to take a deer this year. Hit like a hammer, but almost no meat loss. I am a fan of a big meplat!

[reloader28]

Once you kill a deer with a boolit you made, its all over.
Its VERY addictive.

We've used 44, 45, 357, and a couple different boolits in 30-06 on deer.
I'd like to shoot one with my 30-30 and the Ranch Dog , but havent yet.
Working on my 45-70 too.
To many guns, not enough deer tags.

For varmiting its 223 with 60gr Saeco HP'd and 243's with 100gr RCBS and HP'd 3/8" deep. Makes a nice mess of things.

[quilbilly]

It looks like your alloy is about right but I was unclear whether you own the molds already. One thought coming from my experience is that you really don't need "top end" loads with any of those calibers to do the jobs you want them to do especially with cast lead boolits.
For either the 444 or the 45-70 using those big boolits, you only need a terminal velocity of 900 FPS to do the job on deer and 1100 FPS for black bear as long as your boolit is in the heart/lung area. No need to beat yourself up with recoil with the "heavies". As for the 30 cal, a terminal velocity with a 165 gr boolit of about 1200 FPS for deer and 1500 FPS for bear will be more than adequate judging by my own terminal ballistics test with the 160 gr Lee RNGC boolits. In my tests, at a MV of 1950 in a 308, the penetration into wet, compacted newsprint with an insert of 1/4 inch plywood at 40 yards was 18" with expansion to .65 inches. Impressive! You will just have to make your own determination of your local conditions (and your eyesight) for a maximum range you will need.
Welcome to our addiction.

[jmort]

"Big slow boolits, big meplats. Two good knives and a vacuum sealer with lots of bags."



​That sums it up nicely.

[tdoyka]

It looks like your alloy is about right but I was unclear whether you own the molds already. One thought coming from my experience is that you really don't need "top end" loads with any of those calibers to do the jobs you want them to do especially with cast lead boolits.
For either the 444 or the 45-70 using those big boolits, you only need a terminal velocity of 900 FPS to do the job on deer and 1100 FPS for black bear as long as your boolit is in the heart/lung area. No need to beat yourself up with recoil with the "heavies". As for the 30 cal, a terminal velocity with a 165 gr boolit of about 1200 FPS for deer and 1500 FPS for bear will be more than adequate judging by my own terminal ballistics test with the 160 gr Lee RNGC boolits. In my tests, at a MV of 1950 in a 308, the penetration into wet, compacted newsprint with an insert of 1/4 inch plywood at 40 yards was 18" with expansion to .65 inches. Impressive! You will just have to make your own determination of your local conditions (and your eyesight) for a maximum range you will need.
Welcome to our addiction.

i use carolina bullets for the 444 and 30-40krag( http://www.carolinacastbullets.com/R..._Outdoors.html ) and moyers ( http://www.moyerscastbullets.com/rifle.html ) for the 45-70.

i have about 3 or so years before i can cast boolits. darn stroke that i have makes it a little hard when it comes to money.

[Dan Cash]

When I was a kid, I started with a .30 rifle. Over the last 50 years, I have used different ones both larger and smaller but since I started casting in earnest and paper patching, I have settled on the cal .30 once again. Cartridges in the 7.5 to 7.92-8mm class, paper patched with at least a 150 grain, soft lead bullet driven to 2000-2400 fps are deadly killers. Paper patching lets you achieve these velocities which extends your practical effective range and eliminates leading. I don't think meplat has much to do with terminal effect at these velocities.

[Swede44mag]

I am going to use my 44mag Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter next year with Keith style 240 gr free checked SWC.
I used the same bullet to take a nice doe with a 44mag Smith & Wesson 29 Classic a few years ago.
Another bang flop at 15yard running side shot.

It is all about bullet placement with whatever you shoot any ware from a bb gun to a cannon.

[.30-06 fan]

Waiting on powder.

Will be using the venerable 12 gauge shotgun, with some cast slugs and round balls that i am currently casting large pile of.

Or

I will be using the 30-06 with 180 grain honady interflops.

[MT Chambers]

Some of the purchased cast bullets are too hard, with flat bases or worse yet, the bevel base, hard bullet can shatter on big bones, I like a Wide flat point cast med. hard, with tin added and a gas check design, esp. with the .444 and .45/70.

[35 shooter]

Got my first two deer with cast in a rifle last season. 35 whelen and a noe 358009 rn @ 2200 fps. Boolit is 280 gr. but casts closer to 300 with straight ww for me. The feeling was about like taking the first muzzle loading or archery deer.
Got a .308 Zastava ordered to give a try along with the whelen next season. The .308 may get a bbl. break in with jacketed, then straight to cast for it also.

Hope all goes well for you and your casting your own before long!!