Finally got it done

[35 shooter]

I've done it with cast in a handgun and also a muzzle loader, but this was my first cast boolit deer in a modern rifle. All i saw was yearlings last year and although i wanted to see what a 358009 boolit in 35 whelen would do i passed.
Cracked ribs first and then a cold kept me from hunting most of the season this year so it was getting time to just do some meat hunting.

Today i put the second one down for a total of two for the weekend. Just does, but the freezer is full again! I took pic's on my camera phone so hopefully i can get my son over here tomorrow and get him to show me how to post em.
Boolit was going 2200 fps. plus and just put a 3/8" hole in and about a 1/2" hole going out.
First one was shot at 40 yds. and ran straight to me and fell under my tree stand. The second one ran about 100 yds. and left a solid blood trail about 1 1/2 feet wide. I followed it at a fast walk all the way to the deer after about a 20 min. wait. Bhn was about 27 and it still totally destroyed the lungs on both deer. Can't believe either one made it as far as they did. I believe a bit softer boolit would be DRT!
I dead centered the shoulder going in and out on the first one and still you could eat to the hole....unbelievable!!
I am definitly sold on cast boolit hunting!
I would still be just thinking of hunting with cast in my rifle instead of doing it if i hadn't found this site.

Thanks to everyone for all the knowledge so freely given here. I have benefited greatly from it....35 shooter!!![smilie=w:

[Yodogsandman]

Awesome!!! Congratulations!!

[richhodg66]

Congratulations!

Maybe try softer bullets or softpointing next time. Be glad you had a good blood trail. It's been my experience after a few deer with them that cost don't seem to do that very often.

[Djones]

Great job and thank you for sharing!

David

[Friends call me Pac]

Good going. Surprising how little bloodshot meat there is. I'm in the same boat as you as far as this being my first year shooting a deer with cast out of a modern gun, in my case a 30.30
Pretty dog gone cool. I bet you will be toting a rifle with cast again next season.

[35 shooter]

Good going. Surprising how little bloodshot meat there is. I'm in the same boat as you as far as this being my first year shooting a deer with cast out of a modern gun, in my case a 30.30
Pretty dog gone cool. I bet you will be toting a rifle with cast again next season.
Pac congrats on your first too and yes, it will be cast next year too. Since l started loading cast for the whelen over 2 years ago i haven't even fired another jacketed bullet!
It was a good feeling to finally see the results of a load that i had confidence in.

[taco650]

Congrats! Also glad to read a report on a 35 Whelen. For the past couple years I've been thinking about having my 30-06 bored out to 35W by JES but several things have been holding me back, one of which was do I really need a 35W for GA whitetails in the brush? NO! However it still appeals to me and seeing you do it keeps the idea cooking in my head.

Question: did you heat treat your boolits to get them that hard?

[TXGunNut]

Glad you finally made it happen, good job! Once you use real boolits it's hard to imagine using j-words again.

[35 shooter]

Congrats! Also glad to read a report on a 35 Whelen. For the past couple years I've been thinking about having my 30-06 bored out to 35W by JES but several things have been holding me back, one of which was do I really need a 35W for GA whitetails in the brush? NO! However it still appeals to me and seeing you do it keeps the idea cooking in my head.

Question: did you heat treat your boolits to get them that hard?
Thanks taco650 and yes i do ht @ 465* for 1 hour and then water dunk. I had to do that with my rifle to get past 1800 fps. with accuracy with the straight ww. I'm going to experiment with alloy now that i have my loads worked out, but bottom line i will go with what shoots best in the end.
Lol i agree you don't need a whelen for GA deer and the 06 was my all time favorite cal., before i tried the whelen. I knew i wanted to get into cast rifle shooting and had always "wanted" a 35 whelen and figured the larger dia. would be a good thing for cast boolit hunting. It has proven out to be a good choice for me.
I will say i have never followed such a massive blood trail as i did the other day on the one that ran so far. Literally looked like it was poured out of a bucket on the run! Actually the other deer was like that too...it just didn't make it very far. I attributed that to the larger dia. of the whelen.

[35 shooter]

Glad you finally made it happen, good job! Once you use real boolits it's hard to imagine using j-words again.
Thanks TXGunNut a double with cast over the weekend still has me in shock this late in the season for sure. Lol i haven't been this excited over shooting ANY deer since i was about 15!!
Nope no more jackets for me. Just got a free bucket of wheel weights today on top of everything else.....life is good!:smile:

[smoked turkey]

Very Good 35 shooter!! Glad to know you made it happen. Not a thing wrong with a doe. I actually prefer a doe since I am mostly meat hunting also. I used my 35 Whelen to good effect this year too. I shot a nice big doe and a decent sized buck with mine. I do have to say that I couldn't eat up to the hole with my doe since I wrecked the off side shoulder. It was massive destruction. No doubt the 3589 I used is a great hunting boolit in the Whelen. Congradulations on a job well done.

[35 shooter]

smoked turkey glad you had success with yours also! Ruining the meat is what has me a bit hesitant about lowering my bhn. I actually thought i had done the same thing when i skinned these two. There was massive blood on the shoulders where hit....but, it was only under the membrane over the muscle. Once i put a hole in that with a knife and pulled it off and rinsed that off the meat was clean, even around the hole the boolit made except for only a tiny bit. I guess it had just leaked under the membrane from the boollit hole. I guess the high bhn saved me there.

[pls1911]

35 Shooter, you may want to try a batch made from 50-50 ww-pb, then heat treat at only 450 for one hour.
This casts soft and still heat treats to mid 20's and gives good performance to around 2000 fps ( amybe more, but I have not tried it.)
The bullet alloy heat treated shoots like linotype without the brittleness, so it holds together nicely on impact.
I cannot say the it expands, as I've never had less than complete pass through, but it kills like the hammer of Thor in .30-30, 35 Rem and 45-70 when a big meplat bullet is used.

[35 shooter]

pls1911 that 50/50 ww pb is next on the list to try. I need to do something to save my ww supply lol. Think i've almost figured this pic posting thing out and oldest son is supposed to help tommorrow night. Maybe i can get em on here. Good to know that 50/50 mix will still heat treat that high if needed.
This is one of the things i love most about shooting cast....there's always something else to try. Thanks!

[35 shooter]

These are the pics, hope they come through.128303128304

The one on the left was the first one. On the right was the next days deer with the huge blood trail. It had finally thinned out at the deer, but you can still see it after the 100 yd. dash she made.
You can barely see point of impact on the second deer at front center point of shoulder. Exit was behind off shoulder as she was angled toward me on the shot.
The one on left was in and out center of shoulders.

These are my first pic posts so i'll try to do better next time.

[Yodogsandman]

Those are great photos! Thanks for sharing them! Congrats!

[TXGunNut]

Good job on the pics, deer and boolits. Two deer in one weekend is pretty special, I shot a spike one morning last month and a nice sow that evening, shoulders still hurt when I think about getting them into the cooler all in one day...on a hangover at that. ;-)

Taco650, I think hunting in the brush makes boolit performance even more important. Putting a critter on the ground quickly saves tracking and possibly losing one in the thick stuff.

[DougGuy]

Dang good freezer meat there! Nothing wrong with two holin' them with 35 cal holes! I wonder if slowing them down a bit would actually dump more energy in the animal and shock them a bit harder? If you want expansion and go softer, try going slower too as long as it groups well, they might drop faster.

[35 shooter]

Thanks Doug Guy i have a load @ 1950 FPS. with this boolit that should be perfect for deer in the thick stuff. Probably be next year before i try it though. Either load shoots into 1 1/2" or less @ 100 yds. so the accuracy is good to go. Also have a load of 12 gr. of unique with this boolit @ 1350 fps. estimated. That load will drive a nail @ 100 yds. Yep, i've got a lot of experimenting left to do with "ol contrary", my whelen, as far as alloys go and i intend to enjoy every moment of it.:smile: Wish i had been shooting and hunting with cast in rifles all those other years, but maybe coming to it later in life has made me appreciate more.

[DougGuy]

Wish i had been shooting and hunting with cast in rifles all those other years, but maybe coming to it later in life has made me appreciate more.

There is a LOT of things that come better later!

[Djones]

There is a LOT of things that come better later!

Since you posted that at 3:33am, I am guessing sleep isn't one of them....hahaha:holysheep

I was up at 3:30 with my 4 month old too!


Good job 35 Shooter and son uploading the pictures!

[pls1911]

Congratulation on some good shooting and fine eating.
Cannot argue with that kind of success. In fact, other than curiosity
I would be challenged to improve much on your current loads.

[Grandpas50AE]

Great job 35 shooter, that is going to be some very good eating venison there. I have been shooting deer with only cast boolits for many years now, and my brothers and hunting camp buddies all converted to them years ago after seeing how little meat is destroyed by them. I agree with the 50/50 alloy and heat treat mentioned above, it has worked well in .357 Mag., .44 Mag., and 45/70 in my group for a long time. We have yet to have a deer go more than about 50 yards with the 44's, and none have gone anywhere when anchored with the 45/70.

[taco650]

Taco650, I think hunting in the brush makes boolit performance even more important. Putting a critter on the ground quickly saves tracking and possibly losing one in the thick stuff.

Couldn't agree more, especially in the thorny stuff you mentioned in your hunting report a while back.

[TXGunNut]

Couldn't agree more, especially in the thorny stuff you mentioned in your hunting report a while back.

They lost a deer in that thick stuff last weekend, had three good hunters helping the young hunter track. Feel pretty fortunate to have that spike in my freezer. Looking forward to load development in my 35 Whelen finally taking some of the new boolits to the range tomorrow.

[35 shooter]

They lost a deer in that thick stuff last weekend, had three good hunters helping the young hunter track. Feel pretty fortunate to have that spike in my freezer. Looking forward to load development in my 35 Whelen finally taking some of the new boolits to the range tomorrow.
Yep, looking forward to your results. We have one more week of hunting left in the area i hunt and then it's off to the range for me as well! I'd like one more crack at the buck that's been making all those big rubs i saw.
Good luck at the range!