lee 310 rfn hunting bullet

[Outback32]

hey guys just wondering if anyone has tried this boolit for deer. im looking to load something up for my super blackhawk. I like the lee molds and was wondering if this would be a good choice. or if there was another boolit from lee that you guys like for deer hunting

[Ozark mike]

Works fine for deer elk moose bear jus about anything you'll encounter. Stabilizes in a bh but the rifles usually have to slow of a twist to stabilize it.

[Norske]

:goodpost:

But be prepared for a long tracking. My experience with bullets that don't expand in thin-skinned, light-boned, whitetail moved me from 240 gr jacketed to 200-220 gr quicker expanding jacketed bullets with my SBH revolvers. Deer are a lot different than black bear or hogs.

[DougGuy]

:goodpost:

But be prepared for a long tracking. My experience with bullets that don't expand in thin-skinned, light-boned, whitetail moved me from 240 gr jacketed to 200-220 gr quicker expanding jacketed bullets with my SBH revolvers. Deer are a lot different than black bear or hogs.

I do NOT agree with this at all. If you use hardcast, of course there is no expansion. Nobody would purposely use hardcast for a whitetail, maybe for brown or grizzly, or hogs but not deer or even elk. I got away from the Jhp for deer because XTPs were shedding their jacket and the cores were disentegrating into the meat. You get a rapid expansion and shed the jacket you might not even get penetration to the vitals. Now you got a wounded animal and you may never track it down! This wouldn't happen with cast in a hunting alloy.

The C430-310-RF cast in 50/50+2% with soft lube is an excellent hunting boolit. soft enough to scratch with a thumbnail. Boolit placement of course is KEY. A decent cast boolit with a wide meplat will anchor game pretty dang quick if you do your part, long track I hardly think so..

The other thing with the 310 and the SBH is getting the rear sight to go down low enough. I actually took mine to a belt sander and took the rear sight blade down even with the sight base (which is screwed all the way down on the frame) and filed a new notch in the center to regulate the gun to POI so now that this is done the 310 over 17.0gr 2400 is the only load I use in this gun.

The 310 is quite a bit more boolit than a whitetail needs, so if you don't want to be stuck with a heavy for caliber boolit that takes some judicious sight adjustment to get it on target, I would suggest some of the 250gr LBT WFN and WFN-GC designs. There are other manufacturers here on the forum that offer basically the same boolit, Tom at Accurate sure has one, there is also a Lee 310 improved design with better crimp groove and a gas check shank that actually fits the checks.

Basically if it looks like a flying oilcan, and you cast it in alloy soft enough to dig a thumbnail into, and you use soft lube, you will have a DANGED fine handgun hunting boolit, as this soft alloy and soft lube takes to Ruger rifling like a duck to water.

Make sure your cylinder throats are at least big enough to push a .431" through with finger pressure, this alloy and lube shoots so well for me I never have to clean my SBH barrel.

[Outback32]

I also have some 250gn noe TL432-243RF. also lyman 429667 boolits if either of those are good choices

[Budzilla 19]

I shoot that 310 RF boolit in a SBH also. 50/50 ww/ range scrap with 2% sn , powder coated sized to .430. Gas checked and some 2400! Haven’t downed any thing with it yet, but it is wicked accurate! Good shot placement will help with the tracking. Just my opinion, good luck to you.

[DougGuy]

I also have some 250gn noe TL432-243RF. also lyman 429667 boolits if either of those are good choices


They both would work. I have never been a fan of TL boolits, some folks can get them to work, but that TL432-243RF would be a good hunting boolit if you can get it to shoot accurately. Cast in 50/50+2% or other soft alloy. I'd probably choose the noe over the lyman my instincts say it would yield a more effective kill.

The only drawback to the TL design is that if you need to size it, it will pretty much wipe out the TL grooves, and it drops .432" from the mold so it may not do so well once it gets in the bore if fired from a smaller cylinder throat, which is akin to a multi port sizing die.

[Tripplebeards]

I am going to try a soft cast Lyman devastator this season in my 77/44 after I try out my 35 rem with cast on thin skinned game first. I have some HPs casted up with 16:1, 7.8BH alloy loaded at 1600 fps. Tried them with 15.4 BH alloy the Season before last. The alloy was to hard and never expanded on three deer in a row. Two ran a 100 plus yards with zero to very little blood trails. The other dropped wherenit stood because I shattered the ribs going in acting like an expanding bullet. I'm sure the same softer 16:1 alloy would work great in a 310 as well to get some expansion and energy transfer.

[444ttd]

i use 300gr fn gc but its in my tc encore with a 23" MGM barrel in 444 marlin. i use 24.0gr of 2400 with a tuft of dacron and it goes 1624fps. its great on deer and i guess that the 44 mag velocity is about that much too. i use coww and a smidge of tin. i shoot deer behind the shoulder about 1/3 of the way up and you will find a bloodtrail that a blind man could see. i shot a buck and he ran after the shot about 40 yards or so. that is my longest bloodtrail to date on the 444.

[white eagle]

the beautiful thing about making your own boolits is
you can match you alloy to the game at hand if you want
or need hard you can do that, conversely if you need a
softer alloy that can be accomplished as well

[Outback32]

ive shot loaded some of the noe over 18gns of 2400. oal of 1.60 it is very accurate out my sbh. what hardness would you guys recommend for deer or hogs

[Ozark mike]

What ever hardness ya want i feel hardness is moot when it comes to slower speeds like 44 mag. Now when ya start loading for 308 thats quite a diffrent story. I use coww up to 2000 fps with out leading. Never bought any exotic alloys cause i never needed em. When i order a mould from accurate this is the alloy i specify for every thing.

[Tripplebeards]

ive shot loaded some of the noe over 18gns of 2400. oal of 1.60 it is very accurate out my sbh. what hardness would you guys recommend for deer or hogs


Harder alloy for hogs. The alloy you currently have I’m sure would work just fine. Our down under hog slayer uses plain old 100 AC COWW and gets expansion loaded around 1650fps if I remember correctly. For deer use a softer alloy as previously posted. A 16:1 mix would be my first choice and 50/50 would be my 2nd choice. I’d want the softest alloy that could push accurately for deer. That way you get some expansion for a larger exit and good blood trail.

[Ozark mike]

I dont think you will get much expansion @1000 fps for the 310 or 1200 fps for the 250.

[DougGuy]

ive shot loaded some of the noe over 18gns of 2400. oal of 1.60 it is very accurate out my sbh. what hardness would you guys recommend for deer or hogs

Throughout this forum you will often see a reference to 50/50 + 2% this means 50% pure lead 50% Co w w and 2% tin. This alloy is soft enough to scratch with a thumbnail yet malleable enough to stay together when it hits bone and it is about the best hunting bullet that you're going to find it also takes the Ruger rifling like a duck to water as I mentioned earlier. You can tailor your alloy mix to suit the game you are hunting but you also need an alloy that will shoot well in the barrel and with a Ruger you can't beat 50/50 + 2% and soft lube. I would use this for deer and Elk all day long black bear as well. For hogs less pure lead for a slightly harder mix.

[Tripplebeards]

Here’s an old post from our Australian hog hunter with expanded COWW 310’s and devastators

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?338169-A-few-more-hogs-with-the-Ruger-96-44-and-the-Lee-310gr

[Ozark mike]

I've never ran a 310 that fast out of a 44 mag rifle sounds a lil hot

[Tripplebeards]

Max jacketed book loads puts me close to 1800 FPS, or a little over, out of my crony and 77/44 with a 265 grain devastator. That’s around 23.8 grains of H110. I am at 1750fps with 22.1 grains of lil gun with a 265 Grain HP bullet. The down under hunter is around 1500 FPS. I was wrong on his velocity.

I asked the close to the same question a few years ago.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?362135-How-soft-can-I-cast-a-lee-310

Never tried them on deer and went the HP route with to hard of an alloy for deer imo. Live and learn. It’s the fun and frustrating part about experimenting with alloys to find what works.

I still want to find a road kill deer some day and try various alloys out on it....to see how big of an exit I get with softer alloys. I know what it doesn’t do with harder alloys and my HP. Imo it’s about the only true way of testing imo.

[white eagle]

I think using a road kill like you mention is against the law
but it is legal to call in and claim one if you want so who knows for sure
I would definitely ask someone in the DNR before you risk being arrested
as for the alloy I have been told that 16-1 is a hard alloy when fired out of a revo
and I was told rather firmly so but I like that alloy and it shoots excellent out of my Redhawk
I use it alot on the range if I can get accuracy out of 20-1 or 25-1 for hunting I would
use those in my guns for whitetail in my neck of the woods

BTW this is the mold I use http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-300E-D.png,
its from Tom @ Accurate I do use the Lee 310 as well but lately this is the boolit I have been bangin steel with I use 19.0 gr of IMR 4227 and have been getting real good 50 yard accuracy

after looking my boolit is a plain base,not gc, and I use 20.0 gr W296 not 4227

[Tripplebeards]

White eagle that’s a good point. Never thought it would be illegal. If it is legal and someone trespassed and stumbled across it all shot up im sure it would get reported regardless. I know my 16:1 with a Bh of 7.8 is a lot softer than your 16:1 if I remember. I’d tell the OP to pick up a lee tester to know what their alloy hardness is for sure. Just like you told me years ago when using unknown pewter vs actual tin your hardness will vary. I’m going to guess at pistol velocity using a lee 310 there isn’t going to be much, or any, expansion no matter what alloy is used unless it’s pure, soft lead.

[Paul D. Heppner]

The Lee 310 is the only thing that goes thru my 5.5 inch Redhawk. Sized .432 with H-110 and a standard Federal primer I get a consistent 1200 fps. My alloy is ACWW plus some tin for good fill out. I've taken a bunch of deer with it, none of which have gone more than 50 yards and never out of sight. Most only go a few feet. I have never gotten a boolit back so I don't know if I get any expansion. Who cares, I get two holes and plenty of blood should I need to do any tracking. My shots have all been about 45 yards and under. All but one have been taken from the ground.

Same load works well on grouse and squirrels, bit much on rabbits though.

[Outback32]

I should mention that im loading these for my sbh and a friend's rifle

[taco650]

The Lee 310FN was my first .44 mold. I haven't gotten it to group well in my 6" DW 44 but I've also been loading them under 1000 fps. I was told they need to be going over 1000 fps to be accurate. YMMV. Good luck!

[DougGuy]

The Lee 310FN was my first .44 mold. I haven't gotten it to group well in my 6" DW 44 but I've also been loading them under 1000 fps. I was told they need to be going over 1000 fps to be accurate. YMMV. Good luck!

That boolit needs spin to stabilize. Drive it hard and it will perform.

[gunseller]

I shoot a 240 gr swc cast out of acww out of a SBH. Voliciy runs between 1300 and 1550. Ranges run out to 125 yards. I usually only get about 2 feet of movement. Straight down. I have never recovered a bullet but I know they do not expand. I have also shot deer with a 260 fan out of a 45 colt starting just over 1100 at 200 yards. Only movement was straight down with no recovered bullet. Start with a large dimaminter bullet and make a hole on both sides to let blood out.
Steve

[WinchesterM1]

This deer didn’t complain, shot was 85 yards or so with the lee 310 that I plainbased PCed with 50/50 268031