Is there a perfect alloy for deer?

[Abert Rim]

Have a friend who wants to work up a cast load in his .308 for deer. He was asking about an alloy that can be pushed to 2,000 (with GC) that will reliably expand. I have no first-hand experience with this, and was thinking something like 20:1 or 16:1.

[TXGunNut]

I think antimony is useful for making a boolit tough enough to be fired at that velocity, 20:1 or 16:1 are excellent BPCR alloys and likely killed millions of buffalo but BP velocities are well under your desired velocity. WW's contain lead, tin and antimony making them an awesome alloy as is or a good starting place. My hunting alloy is similar to Larry Gibson's preferred alloy; I mix WW's and pure lead 50/50 and add a bit of tin as needed for good mould fillout. For higher velocities or added toughness I often heat treat my boolits.
I've arrived at my hunting alloys by reading Larry's posts and Glen Fryxell's excellent book on handgun alloys.

[Larry Gibson]

COWWs + 2% tin then mix 50/50 with pure lead.

Larry Gibson

[missionary5155]

Greetings
I just re read an article in Handloader about there Not being any "do it factory" jacketed thing. Much less a cast boolit.
I would write the closest I can come to that "reliable expansion" would be a paper patched cast boolit. Then you can push easily a "range scrap" plus 1% tin to 2000 and it will expand at any range. But to just cast a boolit from even 20-1 and expect it to hold together on a shoulder at 20 yards and about 1975 fps may be disappointing. Plus at 200 yards it may not expand at all cruising through the ribs.
At what velocity and range will be the expected impact ? I hunt river bottoms and have never ignited a load farther than 33 yards. Most are under 20 yards. What weight cast is he thinking ? What stye... hopefully a flat nose.
Those are some questions I would be asking my friend to help steer him a bit more.
Mike in Peru

[Abert Rim]

Thanks fellas. Mike, he is in eastern Oregon, mule deer country. I sent him that article from teh Cast Bullet Association Journal by Frank Marshall that I mentioned over on Paco's site, and I believe he is now getting religion on a 180-190-grain flat point at 1900, .303 Savage territory.

[Cornbread]

I use air cooled 50/50 == 50% COWW / 50% pure lead for all my hunting bullets in any given caliber. I might target shoot with a different alloy sometimes but that is what I hunt with and it has never failed to properly expand in revolvers, or rifles. For what I have found it seems any load that generates 800ft/lbs or more at the deer when it hits will expand this just fine. I haven't hit a deer with anything less than that ft/lbs wise so I can't tell you if it expands going slower than that or not.I imagine it also depends a lot on what type of bullet shape you are shooting for how well it would expand when it starts to slow down a ways.

[44man]

It all depends on caliber, velocity, etc. No answer can be right.

[Duckdog]

I push straight WW in my 06 to 2100 fps and do not get leading, and as expected with that alloy, I get excellent retention and expansion. A good bullet fit in the given bore of the gun is a major factor.

[waksupi]

I use wheel weights for everything. By varying the temperature of an oven and quenching, you can achieve nearly any hardness you want from around 12 Bn to around 27-28 Bn.

[runfiverun]

you'll never have the perfect anything but under certain circumstances you can sure get close.
I use ww alloy cut with softer lead at a 3-1 ratio [no tin added] then water drop from the mold for rifles and don't for handgun cartridges whether for rifle or not.
I favor flat points.
[shrug]
same alloy different treatment.
I use gas checks in my rifle rounds and don't in the handgun rounds too.
but that's how I do things.