Buffalo Killing Bullet!

[Chakta]

I have been told, that the Paper Patch Bullet was the best way to go about killing Bison! I shoot a Sharps 74 and I am looking for a Postell Bullet that is softer than 18-BHN, so it will flatten out to a quarter size, when striking the animal, to promote more tissue damage.

Is there a certain BHN number I should be looking at in order to do what I am wanting to do? Thanks Chakta

[Bullshop Junior]

Id say 12-16 BHN would be about perfect.

[bhn22]

Smokeless or black?

[Wayne Smith]

History - Sharps made their boolits out of 16-1, Remington made theirs out of 20-1. These almost wiped out the buffalo. That's all you need.

[runfiverun]

18 bhn isn't needed in a non paper patched 45-70.
I'd only look to paper patch if I were trying for velocity and wanted to use a plain based boolit.
anyway the type of powder you use is going to dicate how you go about patching and sizing the boolit.
smokeless and black are two completely different systems.

[MtGun44]

WWt alloy (around 12 BHN) with a 405 GC will do the job at normal velocities without the work of PP, unless you
just want to do it for fun and historical purposes. Many modern hunters with this load report full pass thru on
bison and rapid incapacitation. This is entirely different than shooting a .25 or .30 cal rifle where you really
need expansion. .45-70s arrive at the target "pre-expanded" and will usually drive all the way thru
without regard for angle. You are likely to get some expansion with WWT alloy depending on exactly
what you hit, but it isn't normally thought of as a big deal. I can heartily recommend the RCBS 405 GC as
a really top quality mold and a superbly accurate boolit.

Bill