Viper225
11-16-2015, 01:06 PM
This story started several months ago. I have been casting 375 grain WFNGC bullets for my 480R SRH and my little brothers 310 grain WFPGC bullets for his 44 magnum SRH getting ready for deer season.
We have made multiple trips to the Big Piney Sportsman's Club shooting the Revolvers tuning up, and making sight adjustments. Not to mention load development with 300MP powder. We have mostly been shooting White Dots cut from Card Stock glued to cardboard with spray adhesive. Why White Dots?? We are shooting Red Dot Sights, more specificly 30mm MatchDot and UltraDot sights. The White Dots make Great Targets using a Red Dot Sight. We have been shooting from 25 to 100 yards on the Upper Range, then on the Hi Power Range we have been putting a few rounds on the steel at 200 yards before quitting for the day. My brother has probably ran a minimum of 200 full power rounds through his 44 SRH this season.
My brothers Revolver is a 9.5" Ruger Super RedHawk in 44 Magnum. We have it outfitted with a 480R Weigand Combat Scope base for the most secure sight attachment. For a sight my brother has a 30mm MatchDot. The 30mm has a much better field of view over a 1" (25mm), and the MatchDot has multiple Dot Sizes, the important one for hunting being the smaller 2 MOA Dot Size. The standard Dot Size on an UltraDot is 4 MOA, the 2 MOA of the MatchDot has less problem with Bloom in low light, making it the better choice for a hunting RedDot Sight.
We started off shooting 310 grain Lee WFNGC bullets cast from a 6 cavity mold. A few months ago I ordered a Mountain Mold. As most familiar with Mountain Mold know, they have NO CATALOG. You design your own bullet on a CNC Program. This is not hard at all. Pick the Bullet Caliber from the list, Pick a Bullet Weight from the list, select the Meplat size from the list, the Number of Grease Grooves, and the Base Design from the choices. Our bullet is a 310 grain, with 70% Meplat set up for a Hornady Gas Check with a single large Grease Groove.
We are still using an old RCBS LAM that has the normal issues of not sizing the bullet straight. Well I found a cure. First tumble lube. I am still using my stash of Rooster Jacket. Push through a Lee .429 push through sizer die base first with the Gas Check installed to size and crimp on the gas check. Then run it through the LAM to apply the White Label Carnauba Red bullet lube. Piece of cake. Note: I have a Star, just not set up yet.
My brother is hunting over a 4 acre valley on the corner of my property. He is using a 17 foot Double Wide Ladder Stand that has been modified for handgun hunting with a 16" wide plywood shelf on 3 sides to take a rest. We have the perimeter of the shelf drilled every few inches for zip ties to hold the Burlap camo around the stand. About as good as it gets for stand hunting with a handgun where shots can be over 100 yards.
OPENING DAY
My brother saw 13 deer opening morning, 12 were either does or undetermined. One however was a nice buck, unfortunately he came by on a scrape line about 60 yards behind the stand through a screen of small saplings. (They will be gone shortly after season ends) No shots opening day.
Saturday evening on his way home around 11 pm by brother saw the same deer in the gravel road near the scrape. I told the wife that the buck was making a serious mistake running that scrape line during deer season.
SUNDAY DAY TWO
Again my brother is on stand early. He is seeing lots of deer going in several directions. Three are small bucks. Then at 10:15 he spots the big buck through some open woods crossing the neighbors hay field. He goes out of sight in a wooded corner of the hay field where a pond is located. A few minutes later he comes into view at the corner of our valley. My brother sets up and fires. The deer jumps but does not run off. My brother thinks he has missed, he recocks and makes a hit, the deer bolts into a fence. My brother takes a third shot and the deer goes down, but is still trying to get up. A forth shot and he is down for the count.
Doing an after game while looking over the Deer it looks like the First Shot was high behind the front shoulder under the backbone missing the ribs on both sides. Shot Two was a text book broadside shoulder shot hitting both lungs. Shot Three with the deer balled up after hitting the fence, hit the back leg below the ham, and Shot Four hit the Backbone with the deer down. We recovered 2 bullets under the hide on the far side. The one hitting the backbone, and the shoulder shot.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2vvtcup.jpg
A picture of 2 recovered bullets, and a 480 of the same exact design only larger scale, I did not have a 44 Bullet left that was not loaded to show. The wide mangled bullet still has the gas check installed on the other side. This was the front view. The other bullet has mushroomed fairly impressively. I am totally happy with the bullet performance. The muzzle velocity was 1200 fps at around 15 feet for this load.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2djxssh.jpg
My brother and his 10 point Buck
We went back to the stand with my Lieca Range Finder and a plywood target to accurately measure the range. The laser said 135 Yards. That was Four Shots and Four Hits at 135 Yards. The deer went less than 20 feet from Shot One to Shot Four. That was some shooting with a 44 Magnum Revolver. All that practice did pay off.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
By Bob Roach
We have made multiple trips to the Big Piney Sportsman's Club shooting the Revolvers tuning up, and making sight adjustments. Not to mention load development with 300MP powder. We have mostly been shooting White Dots cut from Card Stock glued to cardboard with spray adhesive. Why White Dots?? We are shooting Red Dot Sights, more specificly 30mm MatchDot and UltraDot sights. The White Dots make Great Targets using a Red Dot Sight. We have been shooting from 25 to 100 yards on the Upper Range, then on the Hi Power Range we have been putting a few rounds on the steel at 200 yards before quitting for the day. My brother has probably ran a minimum of 200 full power rounds through his 44 SRH this season.
My brothers Revolver is a 9.5" Ruger Super RedHawk in 44 Magnum. We have it outfitted with a 480R Weigand Combat Scope base for the most secure sight attachment. For a sight my brother has a 30mm MatchDot. The 30mm has a much better field of view over a 1" (25mm), and the MatchDot has multiple Dot Sizes, the important one for hunting being the smaller 2 MOA Dot Size. The standard Dot Size on an UltraDot is 4 MOA, the 2 MOA of the MatchDot has less problem with Bloom in low light, making it the better choice for a hunting RedDot Sight.
We started off shooting 310 grain Lee WFNGC bullets cast from a 6 cavity mold. A few months ago I ordered a Mountain Mold. As most familiar with Mountain Mold know, they have NO CATALOG. You design your own bullet on a CNC Program. This is not hard at all. Pick the Bullet Caliber from the list, Pick a Bullet Weight from the list, select the Meplat size from the list, the Number of Grease Grooves, and the Base Design from the choices. Our bullet is a 310 grain, with 70% Meplat set up for a Hornady Gas Check with a single large Grease Groove.
We are still using an old RCBS LAM that has the normal issues of not sizing the bullet straight. Well I found a cure. First tumble lube. I am still using my stash of Rooster Jacket. Push through a Lee .429 push through sizer die base first with the Gas Check installed to size and crimp on the gas check. Then run it through the LAM to apply the White Label Carnauba Red bullet lube. Piece of cake. Note: I have a Star, just not set up yet.
My brother is hunting over a 4 acre valley on the corner of my property. He is using a 17 foot Double Wide Ladder Stand that has been modified for handgun hunting with a 16" wide plywood shelf on 3 sides to take a rest. We have the perimeter of the shelf drilled every few inches for zip ties to hold the Burlap camo around the stand. About as good as it gets for stand hunting with a handgun where shots can be over 100 yards.
OPENING DAY
My brother saw 13 deer opening morning, 12 were either does or undetermined. One however was a nice buck, unfortunately he came by on a scrape line about 60 yards behind the stand through a screen of small saplings. (They will be gone shortly after season ends) No shots opening day.
Saturday evening on his way home around 11 pm by brother saw the same deer in the gravel road near the scrape. I told the wife that the buck was making a serious mistake running that scrape line during deer season.
SUNDAY DAY TWO
Again my brother is on stand early. He is seeing lots of deer going in several directions. Three are small bucks. Then at 10:15 he spots the big buck through some open woods crossing the neighbors hay field. He goes out of sight in a wooded corner of the hay field where a pond is located. A few minutes later he comes into view at the corner of our valley. My brother sets up and fires. The deer jumps but does not run off. My brother thinks he has missed, he recocks and makes a hit, the deer bolts into a fence. My brother takes a third shot and the deer goes down, but is still trying to get up. A forth shot and he is down for the count.
Doing an after game while looking over the Deer it looks like the First Shot was high behind the front shoulder under the backbone missing the ribs on both sides. Shot Two was a text book broadside shoulder shot hitting both lungs. Shot Three with the deer balled up after hitting the fence, hit the back leg below the ham, and Shot Four hit the Backbone with the deer down. We recovered 2 bullets under the hide on the far side. The one hitting the backbone, and the shoulder shot.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2vvtcup.jpg
A picture of 2 recovered bullets, and a 480 of the same exact design only larger scale, I did not have a 44 Bullet left that was not loaded to show. The wide mangled bullet still has the gas check installed on the other side. This was the front view. The other bullet has mushroomed fairly impressively. I am totally happy with the bullet performance. The muzzle velocity was 1200 fps at around 15 feet for this load.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2djxssh.jpg
My brother and his 10 point Buck
We went back to the stand with my Lieca Range Finder and a plywood target to accurately measure the range. The laser said 135 Yards. That was Four Shots and Four Hits at 135 Yards. The deer went less than 20 feet from Shot One to Shot Four. That was some shooting with a 44 Magnum Revolver. All that practice did pay off.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
By Bob Roach