22 Bator draws first blood.

[swheeler]

The Mrs took her first head of game with a cast boolit, a nice mule deer doe. She used a Savage M11 in 223 and the 55 gr Bator boolit. She shot at about 60 yds, doe fell and got up, walked a few steps and fell again, tried to get up and the wife shot her in the head. I just got her skinned out, boolit entered left front shoulder way forward and HIGH, within an inch it was boring a thumb sized hole for maybe 2 inches of muscle, passed thru the little void in the top of rib cage right where the ribs hook to the backbone, then size reduced to approx 30 cal, penetrated thru offside shoulder muscle and left a 30 caliber blood blister on the hide. I just spent ten minutes looking for the boolit, cut the muscle away and dug around in the hole, nothing- but it is in there and it will be found when she is cut up. There is one in the brain too, maybe I'll spit her head open to see what it looks like after going thru bone. The amount of blood shock- hemorage- suprized me, boolit is leaving muzzle at only 2050 fps?
Lots of turkey, roast elk and all the trimmings, a nice little one hour nap , and a couple hours spent hunting with my wife- a very good Thanksgiving! A lot to give thanks for. Scot

[Bigjohn]

:coffee: It should appear to the Layman reading these threads that there ain't nothing that a cast boolit can't do just as well as some of them fancy high tech supersonical 'J' word bullets.

It sounds to me that you've got the right package there to do the job required.

Congratulations,

John.

[MT Gianni]

NIce going, good to hear that report. GIanni.

[1Shirt]

Great thread, have that mold on backorder, and am now more anxious than ever to get it. Mind sharing your load with us? And what was your alloy? Presume it was probably WW either air or water dropped, but am not foolish enough to assume either as we all know what that means. A great way to spend a thanksgiving. If and when you do dig one of those out, would sure like to see you post a picture, and tell us of retained weight(s). Cheers!
1Shirt!

[swheeler]

1 Shirt; the alloy is my 7ww/3lt(17 BHN), too hard I know, but the reason my hunting boolits are this hardness is that I smelted about 500 lbs of this alloy a couple years ago, and that is the boolit I worked the load up with, so for NOW it has been my hunting boolit alloy for several guns- but not all, I've used 14 too.. Next time they will be softer, I will start testing 50/50 WW & Pb h20 dropped this winter when time allows, it seems to get rave reviews by several cast hunters here. The wife and I just got back from a 440 mile round trip hunt, filled 6 surplus anterless mule deer tags today- just one with cast.30/30-170F- anywho

Savage M11- 1 in 9 twist
RP case- collet sized
cci #500 sp primer
7.6 grs SR7625
2049 fps
.225/55/Bator-oal2.035"
mild mannered little fella
Scot

[swheeler]

Eleven hours in the smoker at 130-140 deg, with 1 pan hickery chips, then 10-12 min in 160 deg water ontop the stove, then cold water rinse, dry and package. This is 75/25 mix pork to red, cure and seasoning, fully cooked and ready for your eating enjoyment! um-um good! Hillshire Farms eat your heart out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PatMarlin]

Outstanding!!

I need to get a sausage receipie, but I've been to busy to hunt.

Just got that Bator mold, and wondered what kind of accuracy on paper were ya gettin' with it?

Glenn's sending me some carnuba red, and I want to give her a try.. :drinks:

[swheeler]

PM; the above listed load shows- .916" for 10 shots @50 yds, and has done MOA at 100, but usually 1.5-2" for 5 at that range. It is the most accurate load load I have found thus far. I tried to tweek several suggested loads from the board, but without much luck at all. Accuracy seems to start to fall off rapidly at 2100 for me? I know others have said it is most accurate around 2400- my 9" twist? The next most accurate load I show was 21.0 WC846@2433 fps=1.5@50. If you use dacron it can make a big difference in pres/velocity in this little case, and never did find an accurate load with it in 223 and the bator. I haven't even looked at it in the 22/250 yet, still on my todo list.
Scot