What Makes The Best Hunting Boolit?

[Bigscot]

With everything else being equal, (accuaracy, lack of leading, etc) What makes the best boolit or has the best properties (expansion/penetration) for hunting whitetails.

Is it straight ww-ac, staight ww-wq. Or ww w/tin ac or wq. With linotype ect.

Just curious as I am just starting to cast for .35 Rem and last night I cast some RCBS 200 gainers out of staight ww and ac with the intention then water quenching some, adding tin etc.

Bigscot

[DanWalker]

Straight WW's work for me.

[jhalcott]

I've used straight ac WW and a Lyman #2 alloy (!15-16 bhn) and also LINOTYPE.
It depends on the shape of the bullet and expected velocity.Bullets with flat noses work better than round nose or spitzer shapes. If I expect really big deer like the ones in northern Maine,I'll go with a linotype for maximum penetration. For the smaller crop damage does ,I often use a WW +2% tin air cooled alloy. If the mold gives me good fill out with out the added tin,I don't add tin. When I want to play with the 45-70 I use an alloy of about 20 parts lead to 1 part tin.
In general ,a WW mix that fills the mold well,either ac or wq will work very well. We try to make it more difficult so we can have an excuse for the misses.

[piwo]

Whitetails are thin skin / skeleton animal. Pure lead, WW or other mixes (that are not extremely brittle) and of decent caliber will kill them without exception. I've only used pure lead in my ML, and they are quite dead, quite quickly.

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree with piwo when it comes to deer. YOur better off seeing which alloy shoots the best in your gun as any of them will kill deer if you do your part.

[357maximum]

I waterquench 99% of my boolits for the simple reason I find it more convenient.

Well for whitetail at 35 rem velocities Wq'ed straight WW's are too hard IMO, so I mix 50%ww and 50% purish lead then waterdrop them fresh out the mold.

This will give you a nice ductile boolit around 19 to 21 BHN after a 1 week cure time. This alloy is also really well suited to firing pressures on the 35 rem, and 35 max, plus it kills deer dead at 35 rem impact velocities .....so it is all just a win/win situation.

Another great plus to this combo is that I have tons of ww, and tons of lead pipe/cable sheathing so it is really a win/win/win situation.

:drinks: I have to thank 45 2.1 for the alloy suggestion:drinks:

For me/ my 35rem/357max/and my bucks it is THEE winning combination in my 180 to 220 grain pills. It all just balances out perfectly.

Michael

[44man]

I have to agree with 357! Don't make them too hard or you can lose deer. You need some expansion.

[Johnch]

For deer
I don't care if it leads some
The few I shoot on deer

Needs to be accurate

Out of pistols I have been shooting soft , big meplate bullets so they expand atleast some
Last year I shot a Lee 300 gr RF in the 454
Cast out of straight range lead , about 11 BH
I pushed it about 1300 fps

Out of rifles , my ranges are 100 yds or less
So long range accury isn't needed , 2 - 3" is fine

I shoot a soft nosed , big meplate bullet that I water drop in either a 35 Wellen or 45/70
WW base and 20-1 nose

Johnch

[Wayne Smith]

16/1 did away with the Buffalo. Seems adequate to me.

[Larry Gibson]

Have to agree with most posts. I've shot deer with most alloys from pure lead to linotype. I'm a firm believer that a bullet that expands will kill quicker. The reason should be obvious. Non expanding bullets with a large meplat are next ant then the RNs and SPs. I really dislike using either the RN or the SPS (at normal cast bullet velocities of 1800-2100 fps as, while they kill, it can take a long time and the deer can travel some distance. Note; I said "can". I've had deer drop to the shot with a WW cast 311291 or 311284 when heart shot. However, all in all the cast bullet that expands without shattering with kill deer the best. I like either 16-1 alloy or WQ'd shot with 3-5% antimony. In .30 cal and larger I drive them to 2000-2100 fps. Out of a cold clean barrel the first five shots most often shoot very well (2 1/2 moa or less in my hunting rifles) and the next five will open the group to about 4 moa. Leading will be aparent mostly at the muzzle end of the barrel but it always cleans out with a few brush strokes. All is fine with me as I figure if I've not got the deer in the first five shots I need to go home anyway. Epansion has always been very good with these bullets out to 200 yards.

With handguns if I use a cast bullet I like a SWC GC bullet of normal weight for caliber cast of 2-1 or 16-1 alloy and HP'd about half the depth of the bullet nose. I use these in the .357, 41 and 44 magnums at true magnum veocities (1400-1500+ fps). They give very good expansion in deer at my normal handgun hunting range (max is about 75 yards).

With non magnum cartridges GC'd bullets of pure lead or recovered .22LR can be pushed to the 1000-1100 fps range with minimal leading for a few shots while hunting. I HP these also and they give good expansion also. However, a good Keith SWC or one of the newer styles with wide meplat cast of WWs seem to kill just about as well in the 1000-1100 fps range.

I'll add (I've said it before and I'll say it again) that the bullet should be put into the heart/lung area. That is the soccor ball size area that is low between the legs against the brisket. Long ago I quit using the "behing the shoulder shot" as it just lung shoots them and deer can go a long ways when just lung shot before dying. Doesn't matter what cartridge or bullet.

Larry Gibson

[BABore]

What Max said. 50/50 WW-Pb alloy, either air cooled or water dropped depending on bullet, velocity and the gun's want's

Then what Larry says. Gotta have the big Meplat.

And then.............................................. ............This. Now you got it all!:bigsmyl2: