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View Full Version : A short story bases on a friend's first time hunting with some cast bullets



gun-nut
05-30-2021, 02:22 PM
Deer hunt 357 mag

The bullet didn't expand into the picture perfect mushroom seen so often in the glossy pages of gun magazines. It hardly deformed at all as it slammed sideways through the lungs; it had clipped a rib on the way in and started to tumble. The bullet had turned about one hundred and eighty degrees by the time it tore through the big arteries just above the heart, it continued spinning, and was facing the right way again as it slipped between the ribs on the far side. The bullet left the muzzle going slightly faster than 1700 feet per second, but after going through most of the deer it had slowed down to only a couple hundred feet per second as it cratered an exit wound through the far side of the deer.

Jeff levered another round into the chamber as the deer bounded away. He knew that the hit was good, his rifle, an older Rossi model 92, was a good rifle that hit where it was pointed, and the deer was only about 20 yards away. Instead of the usual 158 grain Hornady XTP Jeff had tried a 158 grain cast semi wadcutter bullet. He wasn't too sure about the cast bullet, he'd read that they were supposed to be heck on wheels for killing things and he was about out of the Hornadys anyway, so he'd had his buddy Chris load up two dozen (I was supposed to be 25 but Chris had botched the first one with to much crimp). The deer had humped up like they usually did when hard hit, but it was now trotting away at a pretty good clip. Jeff knew the hit was good, he’d heard it hit and saw a puff of dust on the far side of the deer and knew that the bullet had gone clean through it. The deer was going pretty much directly away from him and he was beginning to despair thinking that he might have to track this deer a long ways. The deer turned and began climbing up the hill broadside about 50 yards away. Jeff took careful aim but just before he pulled the trigger the deer collapsed and rolled down the hill flopping into a sagebrush.

Letting out a sigh of relief he lowered the hammer and automatically pulled it back to half cock. He stuck the gun, muzzle down, into the footwell on the passenger side of the jeep and climbed in putting the jeep in 4 low he creeped forward plowing through a bit of sage brush he pulled up next to the obviously dead deer and set to work. In less than 20 minutes the deer was broken down into quarters with the back straps & tenderloin in a cooler. There wasn't hardly any blood shot meat in the shoulders. It was a warm day for November so he tied the game bags to the roll bar of his Jeep where they could get some wind to cool them off and he went home.

versa-06
05-30-2021, 03:30 PM
I like your story! I like all the good stories! But how can one tell when a bullet is at an 180 degree tumbling point, then back to originated bullet direction (360 deg.) before exiting? The boolit performance,? Did he recover the boolit from the dirt after exiting the animal?

PositiveCaster
05-30-2021, 03:47 PM
It’s a beautifully written story, don’t damage it by questioning minor details….





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Hossfly
05-30-2021, 03:55 PM
Oh that’s what I call a slow motion story, very good thanks.

444ttd
05-30-2021, 04:09 PM
great story!!!!!!

my first deer kill with a cast boolit is something i treasure. i used a bubbaed 1898 spr armory in 30-40 krag with a 165gr ranch dog going 1926fps. the doe was shot in the shoulder, tore up both lungs and heart(it caused about 1/2" worth of damage), broke a rib and its exit wound was around 1/2". the doe was 93 yards(laser range finder thingy) and was drt. the thing i treasure most is the sound.
BA....THWAP...NG. i've never heard the sound of a bullet hitting a deer before. using jacketed bullets it was just bang, dead deer. using cast, however, i can hear it!!!(mostly)

joatmon
05-30-2021, 04:35 PM
Welcome board, nice story.
Aaron

Edward
05-30-2021, 05:55 PM
Make sure the bullet is soft enough ,BHN (Brinell hardness number)13 -15 with a Lee hardness tester at that velocity up to 200 yds (for me) and you get a perfect (deadly ) mushroom most every time ! That's one of many benefits of cast boolits/Ed

Jim22
05-30-2021, 06:16 PM
Welcome to a good story teller. I enjoyed it - but it was too short.

memtb
05-30-2021, 06:27 PM
Nicely written and nicely done by your friend! memtb

versa-06
05-30-2021, 06:57 PM
Hey, PositiveCaster--- No harm intended, just asking for clarity in the "details" that make the story. If these items were left out, the story would not be the same. I really thought that the details in a story were the description of the statement.

jaysouth
05-30-2021, 11:41 PM
It’s a beautifully written story, don’t damage it by questioning minor details….





.

I judge stories, especially hunting stories by their entertainment value more than their absolute and clinical truth.

Beerd
05-31-2021, 12:51 PM
Good job Jeff!
Equally good on the write up Gun-Nut.
Welcome to Cast Boolits!
..

MostlyLeverGuns
05-31-2021, 02:46 PM
So... was he shooting from the vehicle? Is shooting from a vehicle or possibly the road legal where this took place? Some places provide for the disabled or handicapped to shoot from a vehicle, others not so much. Is it legal to travel with a loaded rifle in this area. Much of the west does allow a rifle to have a loaded magazine, but none allow a chambered cartridge on any public lands or highwaysm matter of safety.

versa-06
05-31-2021, 05:49 PM
I wouldn't ask any questions about details. You may get Condemned!!!

versa-06
05-31-2021, 06:57 PM
gun-nut ; It Truly is a great story, without a doubt, everybody asks questions. Some of us like actual answers to what happens, Others like the Biden administration tactics. Just tell the story & don't ask any questions, Life is like Biden & his ice-cream. Accept what you are told without any questions, & Nancy will control the details .

Wayne Smith
06-01-2021, 07:30 AM
A good story stimulates the imagination - and this one does. Clinical details should be left to the MD's who need such, that destroys the imagination. Analysis should be left to the Literature teachers, and how many of us enjoyed that process in HS?

This is the reason a good book will always be better than the movie. The book stimulates the imagination and your imagined details will be different than mine. The movie shows one interpretation and only one.

waksupi
06-01-2021, 11:43 AM
I'm also puzzled by the bullet tumbling.

versa-06
06-01-2021, 02:11 PM
gun-nut;- We know you're still watching.: Just boys hav'n fun. Take none of this personal.

ChristopherO
06-01-2021, 03:37 PM
So... was he shooting from the vehicle? Is shooting from a vehicle or possibly the road legal where this took place? Some places provide for the disabled or handicapped to shoot from a vehicle, others not so much. Is it legal to travel with a loaded rifle in this area. Much of the west does allow a rifle to have a loaded magazine, but none allow a chambered cartridge on any public lands or highwaysm matter of safety.

Reread the story, then read it again. It is the style of writing that tells the story in a condensed manner, not necessarily an exact "and this is what I did next" literal method. He could have been 5 feet from the Jeep, or he could have shot the deer 5 miles from the vehicle. It doesn't say he was sitting in the jeep, only that upon reaching the jeep how he placed the rifle inside. I'm a literalist, just like you are, but I've learned to read and listen to a good story in a way that allows the mind to see things in a way that doesn't always demands a precise explanation.

Thanks for the story, Gun-Nut. Keep em coming.

dougader
06-01-2021, 04:57 PM
I loved the story. Successful hunt with a new cast bullet load.

gun-nut
06-01-2021, 05:54 PM
Hi. To answer a few questions no he wasn't shooting from his Jeep he was standing next to it. The bit about the bullet spinning was pure artistic licence on my part although I have recovered several from animal I killed "Jeff" didn't think to dig it up. Also just FYI it was a depredation hunt in southern Utah.

versa-06
06-01-2021, 06:34 PM
Now there is something that's catchy! "Boolit Art" --To paint the picture In the Minds of Man! I like it!

Wayne Smith
06-01-2021, 07:30 PM
Gun Nut I am a compulsive reader - and have learned a lot about writing in the process, although I am a terrible writer. The short story is commonly described as the most difficult form to write well. A truly imaginative story, like The Tell Tale Heart, or The Revenge of Red Wolf, or To Light A Fire, are all bereft of many specific details that the mind fills in. It's part of the skill of short story writing, and you obviously are good at it.

gun-nut
06-02-2021, 12:43 AM
I really appreciate all the nice things everyone's said, I have a few more stories written but this was the only one about hunting with cast boolets, well I guess I have another one about hunting and cast bullets are in it, should I post it here?

Larry Gibson
06-02-2021, 07:05 AM
Sure, post it here. I enjoyed your short story. Those always leave unanswered questions which is why they stimulate the imagination. Well done.....

versa-06
06-02-2021, 07:10 AM
Go For It! I'll back off, I promise. We've had a lot of fun & it's great to see that you are not thin skinned. Welcome Aboard!!! It's always good to see the hearts & minds of others unfold. You do well with words. And again, Welcome Aboard.