Don't have a casting thermometer but have a first cast bullet kill story so here it goes.....
1999 was our 25th anniversary and with kids in college we couldn't do too much but wanted to get away for a few days and to someplace we hadn't been to before so we chose to go to VT, specifically the extreme northern part of the state. We discovered the NE portion of the state is the least populated which suited my outdoor interests and back in the 1940's a state official visiting there first referred to the area as the North East Kingdom which had stuck. We went back for several weekends after to continue exploring the area and as the 2000 deer hunting season approached I wanted to go up and scout some big woods and found a friend to go along for a day in mid October. We went to the Bill Sladyk WMA which borders Quebec and spent most of an afternoon on the old logging roads throughout the area. Bear season was open so I took my M94 356Win loaded with the popular RCBS 35-200-FN boolit just in case. We did bump into a bear feeding on beechnuts at about 40yds but the rifle was over my shoulder and we were chatting and enjoying the autumn scenery rather than hunting so that opportunity evaporated in a flash. We walked several miles through the WMA and on returning back to the car we couldn't believe we literally saw only one deer track the whole time.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving and as soon as family obligations were completed I was on my way up to the NEK, solo this time, for the final days of the rifle deer season with the 356 and same load carried earlier. Conditions were be going to perfect as 4-5" of snow fell that day in the NEK. Leaving the motel the next morning at dark for the half hour ride to the WMA I hoped the snow would show more sign than we saw while scouting but just wanted to enjoy the three days I was able to get away hunting a new area. The road into the WMA is mostly flat so getting in on the unplowed road with a car wasn't a problem but the side road up to the staging area I wanted to start at was steep so I had to park off the side of the narrow main road and walk up to the head of the logging road into the WMA.
It was about 7:30 when I actually started down the logging road. I hadn't gone a quarter mile when I saw a 4pt that had just crossed the road right to left and headed into the woods not offering a shot but the sighting already made the long ride worthwhile. When I got to where it crossed it was clear other deer had preceded it so I figured the buck was on the trail of a couple does and I followed as well. After following the trail about a quarter mile I saw the deer had wandered randomly around the area so instead of trying to sort out the tracks I decided to sit where a blow down had fallen across another with a root ball out front breaking up my outline and the top log acting as a shooting bench as I sat on the lower one. With a 15mph west wind blowing in my face it was a perfect set up if the deer were still in the area.
About a half hour later I saw a brown patch moving against the white background about 75yds out angling slightly toward me. At first I thought it was a coyote but as it came out of the hollow I realized it was the back of a deer I saw and the lowered head with nose to the snow has a rack! With forearms resting on the "bench" and quickly lining up the crosshairs of the scout mounted Bushnell 2x scope behind the moving shoulder I fired. The buck didn't even flinch and kept coming so a second shot was taken with the same sight picture with same result. Then the buck stopped behind a tree and stood there quartering toward me with just the head, neck and front of the chest showing. The root ball was now in the way of my bench set up and as I stood to get off another shot I realized I only loaded three rounds so this is it! The hardcast boolit at almost 1950fps hit low in the chest in front of the near leg and the buck clearly flinched before taking off to my right where I lost sight of it behind a screen of brush.
Knowing it was hit I quickly got another cartridge out of my pocket and into the now empty rifle to go follow it up. When I got to where it was standing when hit there was a wide spray of blood on both sides of the track going away and I knew it wouldn't be far off. It was down about 25yds out but trying to get up and as I approached for the follow up neck shot two does jumped up about 50 yds beyond the buck and ran off. After the excitement settled I backtracked from where it was first hit to see what happened with the first two shots. The buck had come down a fresh trail in the snow most likely trailing the does and my first two shots had been deflected by beech saplings the buck ran through as I shot. The boolit had passed through the lungs in front of the heart probably severing an artery which provided the spray trail and broke the offside leg on the way out. At the time I thought the alloy used was 50/50 PB and linotype but now know it was monotype not linotype but was still effective even with the lack of expansions when placed in the vitals. The load was 41.5gr IMR4064.
In addition to being my first cast boolit kill, this was my first hunt in VT and first buck. Seeing the four deer was exciting and this was an example of finding the does during the rut, even in a low deer density area, will give you a chance to see bucks. The friend who had gone on the scouting trip was the most surprised upon seeing the buck.
This was the rifle/scope, cartridge and boolit used in the story.
Picture of the pictures of the buck, one documenting the location with Gore Mt. the highest point in the area in the background. The drag was about 3/4 mile all downhill finalizing at the car on the road down below this point.