Anybody use RN/FP on deer?

[kgb]

I've got a Lyman 41028 that looks like it should function well through my Marlin and a mock-up shows it will fit in all of my handguns. Seems the meplat is the equal of the LFN group buy boolit although the RN/FP will be about 212gr instead of 232gr.

I don't see any downside to using it for deer and these seem to be a common enough style in .45 and .44 so has anybody here used them yet?

Kirk

[Jack Stanley]

The only two deer I killed with cast were done in with a cast hollow point from the forty-four . Since so many have been doing in the little brown goats with semi wadcutter bullets for so long , I can't imagine your bullet not working . If the bullet and velocity will put two holes in the critter to leak from I think you will be good to go .

Jack

[exile]

That looks like the mold I have been thinking about for taking a deer at 50 yards or less with my new Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum. I guess they probably don't make it anymore. Good excuse to start haunting gun shows. Thanks.

exile

[HammerMTB]

Where's 44 Man? He swears by 'em. You could look for some of his recent posts. He had one not too long ago with a forest rat and the punctures from a WFN :cbpour:

[44man]

Where's 44 Man? He swears by 'em. You could look for some of his recent posts. He had one not too long ago with a forest rat and the punctures from a WFN :cbpour:
I'm here and yes I love them cast hard and water dropped in the .44, .45 and .475. Also the 45-70 revolver but they must be softer.
No reason at all why they wouldn't be great in the .41. You might want to start a little bit of expansion, not too much, not enough to prevent penetration.
I can't speak for the .41, it is a great caliber, I just never bought one.

[Winger Ed.]

I've shot a couple of the small-ish Texas white tail deer with a .30cal. gas checked round nose at 75-100 yards.
I can't remember the number and all that meplat stuff, but its the old, common RCBS round nose,
about 179 gr. going 2,000 or so fps at the muzzel. I shoot alot of them in .30-30, .30-06, and a M1A (7.62NATO).

They work fine and go all the way through.
The only down side is that the wound channel is about double the size of a regular jacketed rifle bullet at that range.

.

[winelover]

Lyman 429667 (Cowboy / RNFP) worked well, out of my Marlin 1894 SS, with 8.5 grains of Unique capped with a Win. LP primer on this seasons whitetail deer.

Winelover:castmine:

[WHITETAIL]

So far I killed 3 deer with the 45-70 and 405 RCBS boolet.:holysheep

[runfiverun]

452664 here in my 45 colt levergun it works like the xtp when soft enough.
and just like it [better] when the xtp don't open.
thats what first made up my mind that i might as well use cast as jacketed.
hain't looked back yet.

[MK111]

I have taken 20 deer with the .44 mag all with hard cast lead bullets. Used 240 gr on 16 and the other 4 was with the 310 gr Lee bullet. I like big meplats and full penetration. No stopping of bullets in game in my mind. I have only recovered one bullet which was a 240 gr and that was on a 1800 bull we had to put down because he damaged his leg. That bullet was recovered under the skin of the off shoulder after going through both front shoulders. I was diappointed that it had stopped.

[303Guy]

That bullet was recovered under the skin of the off shoulder after going through both front shoulders. I was disappointed that it had stopped. Oh, it didn't stop. The skin followed it like a bungee sheet and slapped it back to where you found it. Notice the bloody patch just under and in the skin? That's where the skin stretched. It probably stretched some 12 inches befor snapping back.

[44man]

Oh, it didn't stop. The skin followed it like a bungee sheet and slapped it back to where you found it. Notice the bloody patch just under and in the skin? That's where the skin stretched. It probably stretched some 12 inches befor snapping back.
That is a smart answer! [smilie=s: I watched a slo mo video of a razor sharp broadhead exiting a large buck. The skin poked out a good 6" before the point broke through.

[Jayhem]

I drop a deer almost every year with my .45 cal black powder rifle. I'm firing 255 gran flat point bullets of pure lead. Only 1 deer I've shot has traveled over 50 yards after hit well with this bullet.

[44man]

I drop a deer almost every year with my .45 cal black powder rifle. I'm firing 255 gran flat point bullets of pure lead. Only 1 deer I've shot has traveled over 50 yards after hit well with this bullet.
The slow velocity of a round ball in any muzzle loader from .45 up will put deer on the ground either right there or just a short run. Of all the guns that I have killed deer with over the years, the round ball has been the most effective, in fact my .45 flinter was all I would use in Ohio gun season or PA late season.
Now I like my .54 Hawken, deer just drop without a wiggle.
I work with a lot of friends and their inline rifles, I have learned to HATE them and will never own one. Never have I seen such persnickity pieces of junk that are so hard to load. I had to get out my special rod with a big wooden end to beat a sabot down the neighbors clean bore. You need to run the ramrod against a tree to get one down and the bore needs wiped between shots.
He changed to Power Belts this year and never sighted for them so he missed deer.
To clean most of them you need to take the whole rifle apart.
But that is all different then a revolver, except for one, the cap and ball. That round ball is death to deer and does nothing but amaze me with how it drops deer. I have used my Old Army on many deer, WOW. The only thing bad about it is it cuts range.
Anyway, the inline works but I don't like them. I can shoot 200 times in a day with my round ball guns and never wipe the bore. Accuracy is as good or better then an inline out to 200 meters but I have more drop and no scope.
Whatever gun you use, don't look down your nose at a round ball, WLN, WFN or a RNFP.
If you can shoot pure lead like a muzzle loader you will find it is deadly but don't expect it to work from the .44 mag revolver.

[StarMetal]

The deer I took with my 94 Winnie in 32 Special was the Lee 175 grain 8mm bullet which is a round nose and it's performance was spectacular.

Joe

[Willbird]

That is a smart answer! [smilie=s: I watched a slo mo video of a razor sharp broadhead exiting a large buck. The skin poked out a good 6" before the point broke through.

That is some tough skin :-). But when skinning them we often make a cut to use as handle to pull more hide off....and you can dang near hang on the deer without tearing that hide even though it is lready cut.


If you have a bow and some broadheads try this experiment and it might amaze you (it did me and I am not easily amazed)

Take a 2 liter soda bottle, fill it with water, and shoot it dead center with a broadhead....

The arrow just slips through leaving a nice entry and exit wound, does not even knock the bottle over....I shot 4 of them and thought I was missing or something until I went up to look at them....there was a little spritz of water on impact is all.

Bill

[BD]

These guys have pretty well spelled it out. I've yet to meet anything that couldn't be dropped inside of 100 yards with .44 WFN out of my DW. These days that 100 yard limit is more like 50 for me. But it's sure not the fault of the WFN.
BD

[76 WARLOCK]

I would guess millions of deer were killed with the 44/40 in the various winchesters over the last 136 years.

[kgb]

Thanks for the responses! Starting off, all of my boolits will be WW and I don't plan on hardening any of them just yet. If I can't make some of these work well, I'll try heat treating and water drops. They may just work out fine as-is, I imagine a range of hardness was used in .44-40 handguns and rifles, and .38-40 and .45 Colt rounds for that matter.

All of my ML hunting has been with roundball .490's, they've worked fine including one shot nearly head-on that cut through the juncture of the lungs, the rest of the chest and exited in front of a hind leg....distance was really close and velocity was up there pretty good since I'd switched to Swiss powder. Elephant was extremely slow, if you use it I'd recommend checking things over a chronograph. Goex was in between. A friend used an inline before switching to a T/C Encore this year and the inline with .40 cal handgun bullets performed fine.

I always wipe the bore between shots with my ML, or wind up using the rifle as a ram to get the bullet seated.

[leadman]

I have the same mold but haven't shot the boolit yet. Even with a bolit a heavy as this a pretty high velocity is possible, especially with Lil"Gun.

If you have a need for a gas check you can put an inverted gas check in the case and push it in with the boolit.

I think this boolit will be real good on game, even at a somewhat reduced velocity.

[44man]

That is some tough skin :-). But when skinning them we often make a cut to use as handle to pull more hide off....and you can dang near hang on the deer without tearing that hide even though it is lready cut.


If you have a bow and some broadheads try this experiment and it might amaze you (it did me and I am not easily amazed)

Take a 2 liter soda bottle, fill it with water, and shoot it dead center with a broadhead....

The arrow just slips through leaving a nice entry and exit wound, does not even knock the bottle over....I shot 4 of them and thought I was missing or something until I went up to look at them....there was a little spritz of water on impact is all.

Bill
I think it has more to do with being loose and flexible because it does cut easy. I used to get buckskin made and it was a chore to keep from cutting the skin.
It acts like a shoulder blade when hit with an arrow, it flexes in and since the blade is soft and flexible, it close on and grabs the arrow shaft like a Chinese finger puzzle. Nothing will stop an arrow as fast as a shoulder blade.