The Lyman 457122 makes meat

[Vly]

Two years ago I acquired a Marlin Model 1895SS 45-70 from an elderly gentleman in our club. Yeah, it has the stupid cross-bolt safety and micro-groove barrel, but it shoots well with cast and I like the big boolit.

Opening Day was Saturday for us, and I only saw deer very early and very late. Six minutes before the end of legal shooting time, the guy below steps out of the pines. He had to be bedded nearby all day. We have a 3 points on one side rule here. I support the rule, but it does add a moments hesitation while legal status is confirmed before the shot.

I am 20 feet up a tree and the buck is walking through the pines. I confirmed antler config and found shoulder and fired. Here he is as I found him.

http://www.fototime.com/5932ED41FFB7C8F/standard.jpg

I realize you guys from midwest states are chuckling, but that is an average buck for NY.

http://www.fototime.com/65CC1B9DDA6159B/standard.jpg

Hey , you can't eat the horns, right????

So my load in the 45-70 is the Lyman 457122 over SR-4759 ( 28.0 grs ) and a dacron tuft.
On the range it shoots very well. As I recovered the buck I noted there was no exit wound. HHMMMMM. I have been fortunate enough to take deer using cast in 30 cal, 35 cal, and 44 cal and I never recovered a boolit - they were all pass throughs. So this should be interesting.

Here is the entrance wound on the top of the shoulder. I should note that there was no blood trail on this buck. There were leaves kicked up where he ran, and I had noted were he ran after the shot. The good news was he only ran 30 yds, so no blood trail was not an issue.

http://www.fototime.com/53776D17B8B6E4D/standard.jpg

Underneath the shoulder was lots of blood shot meat and bone fragments. At the base of the neck on the far side I recovered 3 pieces of boolit. These weigh 101 grs together. ( original weight was 339 gr ) The other pieces may have been lost during field dressing.

http://www.fototime.com/058EABA984C43B8/standard.jpg

So the obvious question is what alloy? When I loaded these cartridges 2 weeks ago, I was sure they were 20 - 1 ( lead - tin ). But as I went to check later I can't find the tag I normally leave with each boolit lot. So the alloy is not confirmed to be 20 -1 , but I think it is. Do you guys think that alloy would have come apart like this?

It was a fun hunt and I have meat in the freezer. The 45-70 got it done regardless of what specific alloy was used.

[Mk42gunner]

Vly,

Looks like a nice buck, to me. If you had mad that same shot with a 150 gr FLGC out of a .30-06 you would have seen a lot more bloodshot and jellied meat.

Robert

[JJC]

My brother spoke to a guy who shot a huge seven point in southern NJ, and showed him a picture. The guy wanted to see my brothers 7 and he said no way. His was taken near Roscoe NY. A small seven, what you gona do that's the way they are over there. "The 45-70 got it done regardless of what specific alloy was used." I'd say so

[Shooter]

I realy like that bullet. I cast mine from pure WW over 53 Gr. IMR3031 and get pass throughs.

[elk hunter]

Vly,

I see nothing wrong with that buck. Good shooting.

I like a complete pass through so there is a blood trail. For that reason I don't use hollow points for hunting as they can and sometimes do fragment and fail to exit. With the right shot placement hollow points can be deadly as seen with your buck, but I prefer a wide flat point. I drop a lead shot in the hollow point pin hole in my 45 caliber Lyman Gould style mould for hunting loads for some of my rifles. Can't do that if you're using a tube magazine.

Again, good shooting, nice buck.

[45 2.1]

Underneath the shoulder was lots of blood shot meat and bone fragments. At the base of the neck on the far side I recovered 3 pieces of boolit. These weigh 101 grs together. ( original weight was 339 gr ) The other pieces may have been lost during field dressing.

http://www.fototime.com/058EABA984C43B8/standard.jpg

So the obvious question is what alloy? When I loaded these cartridges 2 weeks ago, I was sure they were 20 - 1 ( lead - tin ). But as I went to check later I can't find the tag I normally leave with each boolit lot. So the alloy is not confirmed to be 20 -1 , but I think it is. Do you guys think that alloy would have come apart like this?

Normal behavior for that alloy and the deep Lyman hollow point on that boolit. That boolit was designed for deer hunting at BP velocities. It performed as designed. A heart/lung shot would have caused less meat damage and done the same job. Good hunt and setup.

[home in oz]

Nice shooting, good buck!

[white eagle]

Thats what a deer looks like :???:
Our season opened Sat as well
haven't seen a deer was so fed up I pulled out today at 8:00 and put all my gear away :violin:
anyway very nice deer and I am about as midwest as you get
I would be happy with a spike at this point
like 45 said heart lung that would have been a bomb
you got results be happy and enjoy the venison:drinks:

[Larry Gibson]

Concur with 45 2.1, bullet performed as expected given the range, the load, the alloy and the too deep Lyman HP. Suggest shortening the HP stem so the HP doesn't go deeper than 2/3 the length of the bullet nose. BTW; I use a 1-16 alloy at 1500 - 1800 fps with my 300 gr GC's Bullets with a 1/8" HP to 2/3 the bullet nose length. Expansion and penetration are excellent.

Larry Gibson

[wilddog45]

Nice buck!! Good info!! How far did the buck go after being hit with the "Gould Express"?

[Vly]

Nice buck!! Good info!! How far did the buck go after being hit with the "Gould Express"?

He ran about 30 yards. I could tell he was hit hard by his body language. I normally go for the lung shot, but this situation was a "shoot quick" deal, and when I went to pick an aim point, my eye was drawn to his shoulder.

Thanks to all who responded and especially the comments from Larry and 45 2.1 regarding alloy and boolit performance.

Grilled backstraps for dinner tonight!!!!