First Cast Deer

[30hrrtt]

I shot my first deer with a 44 magnum cast boolit I did myself. It was a small WEIRD antlered buck. Three points on one side and the other a tine growing down beside his head. He was trotting away from me at about 25 yards. I hit him high back his shoulder. It went a few inches and hit the very top of his shoulder blade, the cartilege? part, clipped off a few of the tines on top of his vertabrae, and was found under the hide on his other side up close to his head. It traveled about 18" thought meat and light bone.

The bullet was a 429244 cast of wheel weight and 2%, air cooled and hollow pointed about 1/8" with a 1/8" drill bit. Really a small hollow point. It expanded almost immediately and left a large wound channel. It expanded to more that .6 and two pieces of the nose broke upon hitting bone. Retained weight was about 250 although with the two pieces found, recovered most of the 265 which is what it started at. It was launched from a Winchester Trapper with 16" barrel under a full load of 296.

Next one I want to get with cast in a handgun.

[Lefty SRH]

Awesome, congrats!
I got my first hangun kill last week. A coyote 30-40yds and took her with a 260gr Keith boolit from my 9 1/2" SRH .44mag.

[Blammer]

Outstanding!

[Larry Gibson]

"hit him high back his shoulder. It went a few inches and hit the very top of his shoulder blade, the cartilege? part, clipped off a few of the tines on top of his vertabrae, and was found under the hide on his other side up close to his head. It traveled about 18" thought meat and light bone.

The bullet was a 429244 cast of wheel weight and 2%, air cooled and hollow pointed about 1/8" with a 1/8" drill bit.

I rest my case!

Well done.

Larry Gibson

[missionary5155]

Good morning & Congradulations !
That is one satisfying moment to finally get to drop that hammer on a racked corn cruncher using your own ammo! Bully for you !
When Illinois finally started a revolver season some years back next time up north there got out the 375 Supermag DW. Always wanted to pop an Illinois deer with a caliber 38-50 rifle but that may never be. Used 50/50 Lyman 375248 (255 grainer PB) at 1250 FPS just like an old 38-50 BP load.
Yep you have a good reason to wear out those cheek muscles smiling about the neighborhood. Merry Christmas !
Mike in Peru

[Chris Smith]

Good shooting! Cant ask for better bullet performance. I've been told by several people that if a deer has a really strange looking rack (if it is old enough to have one at all) that it generally means there is some inbreeding present. I'm no expert, just what I was told. Not a thing wrong with having it for lunch though.

[Bomberman]

Congratulations on your success! I actually like those "interesting" racks and have killed several over the years. They have a lot more character than the usual "typical" rack. How very satisfying to take it with your own "homemade" boolit...I especially like the HP technique. I would mount that rack to a nice plaque and make up a dummy round just like you shot it with and mount that below the rack.

Congrats again...enjoy those backstraps.

[white eagle]

very nice

[reloader28]

I dont think there is a more satisfying feeling on the planet then getting that kind of performance with a boolit you made with your own 2 hands.
Even with losing those 2 pieces, you still had better weight retention then any jacketed bullet that I've ever seen.

Great job!!

[Beerd]

ya done good!
..

[swheeler]

30 Herret; Congratulations! Strange looking rack on that fellow, toxic waste dump near by?:)

[Chief RID]

Outstanding. I am glad that trapper is spitting out those boolits with authority. Congrats!

[RugerFan]

Ah yes, love that boolit. Great job!

[1kshooter]

well done man...I am going to have to travel a bit next year to fell a deer with my 1894 in .44mag as we only have a shotgun season here that and muzel loader and archery are the only legal means I can hunt deer...but I can use a .338 lappua for ground hogs if I like? ya it's a crazy world!
again congrats on the wonderful harvest done with skill and style!
Jonathan

[Fugowii]

Good shooting! Cant ask for better bullet performance. I've been told by several people that if a deer has a really strange looking rack (if it is old enough to have one at all) that it generally means there is some inbreeding present. I'm no expert, just what I was told. Not a thing wrong with having it for lunch though.

More than likely an injury to the opposite side of the deer. Check the side away
from the deformed antler and see if there are any old injury marks.

[TXGunNut]

Nicely done! Odd racks won't make the meat taste any different, on the off chance it's a genetic issue he's a good buck to get out of the gene pool.

[Crawdaddy]

Way to go! A bunch of us got our first cast boolit deer this year. I credit mine to this forum. It picqued my interest in casting.

I love this place.

[homesteading1]

Great job, I can't wait till next year to start huntin with my new 1894 in 44 mag, I am heading the range on new years to start load testing. Time to make some jerky!!

Dave

[OBXPilgrim]

Nice!!

I wondered what it would take to stop a cast boolit in a deer, especially in the 44 mag out of a carbine.

I got 4 pass throughs with the Lee 310gr this year from my Win94 20" SRC, slug was moving around 1550 fps pushed by 2400.

Any idea what fps you were getting with the 296/429244 with the 16" barrel?

[30hrrtt]

I estimate that the muzzle velocity started over 1700 but not more than 1750, and the range was about 25 yards.

The boolit hit meat from the beginning and opened immediately after entering judging by the wound channel. The opened diameter was between .62 and .65 which is pretty large. The whole path the bullet took was through meat and the few smaller bones from the top of the vertabrae. Much of the muscle was in the neck area.

I honestly didn't expect to recover it either. Last deer I shot with that gun had a Hornady 240 xtp over 24.5 grains of 296. That bullet traveled 27" and exited. It did not have as rough a path. That one entered off center of his front chest and exited behind a rib but it went through the lung area and not as much solid.

[smoked turkey]

30hrrtt: Congradulations from MO also. Awesome job with your homegrown boolit. As crawdaddy said this forum has inspired a bunch of us to "hunt with cast" this year. My buck's rack was also somewhat odd. I agree with those that posted that the non-typicals are more interesting than typical ones. Although I wouldn't pass up a nice typical 10 point....
Nice job.

[ocelott]

Rock on... Nice catch....I hope to be joining the hunting pics next year with my own cast boolits...

[TXGunNut]

Quite true about the inspiration available on this forum. Came here to get a little help on my BPCR 45-90 and have gotten sidetracked quite a few times. I'll get back to work on that 45-90...after hunting season.

:lovebooli

[bart55]

great feeling getting game with your own cast, I have been using cast for deer for about thirty years and have used quite a few different calibers,one thing is for sure ,no problem with penetration,and every one hit right went down just like the j word things , one large doe was taken with 405 gr lee hb rn ,shot was 175yrds and it pretty much raked her from back to front and out .she dropped so fast I thought I had missed but the guys with me were whooping and hollering .I had my hi wall and a shell in my fingers,Pennsylvania deer drive we were getting out of the truck to begin and the deer apeared in the right of way we were to fan out on .Big single shot is pretty quick on the first shot ! never recovered the slug. (water quenched ww)