Boolit test

[JJC]

Marlin 1895 45 70, Accurate mold 46 405 R. Alloy was 9.5 lbs #2, 1 lb pure. Air cooled bhn about 13. Muzzel velocity 1730 fps. Boolits expanded 1/2" to 5/8" depending how you measure it across the face. One went 21" the other 25" into wet phone books at 112 yards. Soaked them for about hour and a half, books alittle on the tough side. I was looking for an alloy that would leave an exit hole on an elk. Entrance was impressive for a bit then a straight path of boolit diameter. Sorry for the blurry boolit pictures. John

Edit: the second book is 5/8" dry to simulate bone.

[Bloodman14]

Boy, you just can't beat a big, heavy boolit!

[Tatume]

Hi JJC,

I use the same test medium except that I soak the telephone books overnight in a barrel. Usually I have to add water about midnight as they absorb all the water from the first filling. The books are tied with string in six-inch bundles prior to soaking.

Firing 320 gr LBT LFN bullets from a six-inch Freedom Arms M83 454 Casull revolver at 1430 fps muzzle velocity, with the books at 50 yards, I have this notation in my notebook. "Hard bullets, 30" no deformation, wheel weights 26" slight mushroom."

The hard bullets had a bit of linotype added to the wheel weight metal and the bullets were dropped into water. The straight wheel weight bullets were air cooled. I still have a couple on my desk, so I photographed them, with an unfired bullet for comparison.



I believe these bullets will out-penetrate any jacketed bullets except solids. On thin skinned game like deer and hogs they kill like lightning. I use the same basic design in the 45-70, 9.3x74R, a modern muzzleloader, and a Parker-Hale Volunteer rifle (Lyman # 451114 w/ soft lead). I’ve never recovered one from an animal, and I’ve never lost an animal I shot with one.

Take care, Tom

[softpoint]

I've used bullets as soft as 8bhn (cabine tree tester) paper patched at 1950 fps. They were paper patched 340 grain out of a Lee mold. (perfect because that is the weight I wanted and the Lee casts undersized already).I killed 2 bucks this past season with this load, and neither bullet was recovered. I've fired these bullets into wet magazines and compared to some Ranchdog 350 grain bullets at the same speed, but about 19-20 on the hardness scale. The soft bullets mushroomed like crazy, went very nearly as deep into the medium as the much harder bullets. The harder bullets mushroomed some but also lost some of their weight due to pieces breaking off as they mushroomed. I figured my test medium was too dense.
I think that thin skinned game shot with bullets that are 350 grain and over can use really soft alloy. Of course developing a load that doesn't lead and is accurate is important, too. One of the big advantages of paper patch.
Buckshot is hollowpointing me a mold now, it is the 500 grain RCBS .45 mold. It is gascheck, and I am going to see how soft I can cast those bullets and still have accuracy without leading the bore. Wondering how fast I can push those with a gascheck out of pure lead?

[1Shirt]

Many years ago there was an article in (I believe) the Gun Digest, that compared the energy of a VW Beatle at 5 MPH, with either a 458 Win, or a 460 Weatherby (I forget which). Of course the VW had greater energy, as it is a weight and mass factor at X Vol. Interesting!
1Shirt!

[Tatume]

VW Beetle at 5 mph (7.33 fps), weight 1800 lbs (12,600,000 gr), 1504 FPE
45-70, 1400 fps, 405 gr bullet, 1762 FPE
458 Win Mag, 2050 fps, 510 gr bullet, 4758 FPE

P.S., at 9 mph the VW would exceed the 458 Win Mag energy.

[44man]

Good stuff and a boolit that will work great. Energy means nothing at all. Penetration with proper boolit work does.
The very worst for me was a 45-70 too hard that poked a little hole.
Some expansion really does the work. Balance for both penetration and expansion for the velocity means perfect kills.

[JJC]

The recovered boolits weighed 366 and 370 gr, from 395 as cast. I think I may put in another half pound of pure? last year I used 60 /40 stick on clip on ww wd. It was to soft for me. This time I went the opposite for the test to find the balance as 44 man says. but I would rather lean towards penetration. The 60/40 wd is great on deer. John

[sbeatty1983]

wish I could do that. Wont work so well around here seing as the phone book for our entire county is only about a 1/2" thick.

[Tatume]

Our county phone book is about 1/2" thick too. I told everybody at work that I was recycling phone books, which I did after the tests.

[Tatume]

Energy means nothing at all.

Which is exactly the point of the VW comparison.

[JJC]

I have been loking for comparisons on my results. Thanks for the info Tatume. I could not get my boolit pics focused like yours for nothing. I found an article about a cast .35 cal 200 gr FN boolit. IV 1700 fps into ballistic wax, penetration was 7.6", that simulated an 80 yard shot. Guess I'm doing fine at triple that. The grocery store has phone books for the taking usually. Now that I know how many it takes I can use less. They do soak up water though.

[fredj338]

Yeah or this. The bullet is range scrap. I would want less expansion for game bigger than deer or hogs, & will try water dropping, but this shallow cup point does really well in wetpack. Vle was 1600fps tested @ 25yds.

[softpoint]

wish I could do that. Wont work so well around here seing as the phone book for our entire county is only about a 1/2" thick.

Some of you in the less populated part of the country don't need as much penetration?

[sbeatty1983]

Some of you in the less populated part of the country don't need as much penetration?

That I will agree with. Our biggest game is a white tail or hog if you hunt them. Never had one of the deer I shot run more than 25yrds with a .243 or .270 with 130gr bullets Also the winters are warm enough here that im comfortable carrying a light and fast defensive load.

[1Shirt]

Tatume, Maybe it was a VW bug at 10 mph, it was an old article, and my memory is old as well

That said, the point is that large mass at low speed equalls higher energy than some low mass projectiles at high vol. It was just a comparison for whatever the purpost the author had in mind of explaination. Would rather be hit by a VW bug at 10 MPH, than a 458 regardless of vol.
1Shirt!