How to 'temper' the nose of a hardcast boolit?

[StrawHat]

I shoot deer with 45 caliber, 240 grain bullets at hardball, approximately 900 fps. Simple binary lead/tin, favoring the soft end of the spectrum. Never recovered one yet and don’t really want to, prefer two holes in game.

Whatever you (OP) do, it is still a 45 caliber boolit, it is expanded enough already.

Kevin

[John in WYO]

I seem to remember Lyman (maybe?) had a two part system for pistol bullets ( Devastator maybe? .45 ACP?) .
Nose was cast of softer lead and inserted (glued maybe?) into a harder cast base…
I have CRS…..

Never tried it.

Edit:

The link below didn’t open for me.
(It was NOT the Lyman Devastator bullet mold, though. Found online images of that one)
Maybe my CRS isn’t so bad…..


https://www.rugerforum.net › threads › two-part-bullet-mold.65813
Two part bullet mold | Ruger Forum
Lyman used to make an unusual, two part, .45 cal bullet mold. The bottom, or base, of the first mold, was to be cast out of a hard mixture, like wheel weights. The top part, was to be cast out of pure lead. This took two different molds. The soft top was attached to the base, with two part epoxy.



Edit again.
The link opened up

https://www.rugerforum.net/threads/t...et-mold.65813/


And it leads back here:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...o-part-bullets

And

Here

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...joined-bullets

[Walstr]

John in WYO; Thnks much for your time spent on my "problem"? Wally

[Walstr]

mnewcomb59: Wow, that's some research there. Thanks. I'll try'er.
You & the others responding to my conundrum is what really makes this an educational, not a BS forum! Wally

[303carbine]

My custom .461" x 405gr Mountain Mold does a great job using COWW+additional 2% Tin, then water quenched out of the mold. Very nice indeed, but not suitable for deer hunting as the nose is very hard.

Anyone care to share a good 'recipe' to soften/temper the nose? Thanks much.

Wally Attachment 318658

Can't seem to delete a 'thumbnail pic' I accidentally added? Just ignore it.

Shooting a deer with that bullet will go end to end and exit every time, how can that be unsuitable???

[mnewcomb59]

Shooting a deer with that bullet will go end to end and exit every time, how can that be unsuitable???

If that bullet mushroomed to 70 cal with 100% weight retention it would go end to end and exit every time, except it would have a better blood trail and way more thump.

[Hickok]

Using BruceB's method, I bought some .177 lead rifle pellets to use for the "soft nose". Just count out 4 or five and drop in the mold and melt (Dip a corner of the mold in your pot) , let it cool slightly before adding finale alloy.

Then reheat the corner of the mold to bind both alloys.

This way using the same number of pellets makes the soft nose the same weight.

I only use cheaper Lee molds for this process, and I don't want to mess up a $100 mold. A lot of work, but you only need 5 or ten boolets for hunting loads.

[waksupi]

Those flat points will do all you need.

[Hickok]

Those flat points will do all you need.

Yes, I will agree with that! Bigger calibers with a good meplat get the job done easily.

I tried the "soft-point" two alloy boolits in .30-.31 caliber. Really worked great on deer. But in reality, so do the flat-nose in these calibers.

[jwhite]

There is definitely a marked improvement when using a softpoint cast boolit on live targets, especially with the under 35 caliber rounds. I have shot and seen shot a lot of deer with various cast boolits out of 7.62x39's and while any decent flatpointed bullet will work if placed correctly it will almost always involve tracking. A soft point dramatically changes the performance on deer size game and shortens any death dash. Based on what I have seen a softpointed 150-160gr 7.62x39 hits deer about the same as a hard cast 190-200 grain 35 at similar velocities out of a 35 Remington.

JW

[mdi]

"If it goes fast enough, the meplat will do the job anyway. No need for SN on deer. It's a big bullet.".That's my thinking too. I went with Ranch Dog's design .44 cal. RNFP for my Puma carbine loads. Comes in 240gr. and 265 gr. Designed as a "hunting bullet" it doesn't need an "expanding nose"...