I,ve been casting and shooting bullets for most of .35-45-58 caliber rifles for 5 decades,
if properly done and loaded for a velocity range that's appropriate,
there's been excellent results, in fact in many cases I find I have a difficult time duplicating both velocity and accuracy with jacketed bullets.
you must select both a mold design matching the application and cast the bullets from the correct alloy at the correct temperature range.
related info youll want to read
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...you-cast-and-hunt-with-bullets-you-made.6802/
So, why is there the reluctance of a good many people to try cast projectiles ? now I can understand many guys don,t want to get into casting, for various reasons.
but there's certainly a wide selection of commercially available options.
once you find out the ease of use of those cast bullets,and the potential reduction in cost I can,t see why its not a more popular option.
most wheel weight lead already has some antimony and calcium , adding about 3%-5% tin helps a great deal to get molds to fill out and bullets to not lead the bore and hold together,well and expand in a controlled manor on impact. I try to use 3%-to-5% tin as its makes the best bullets in my experience but I will point out that adding more than 5% tin is a total waste of tin as it seems to do nothing more,beneficial, in fact the benefits of more than 3%-up to 5% TIN while noticeable are minimal compared to the first 3%-4% tin, added too the bullet alloy benefits
about 35 years ago I had purchased a marlin 45/70 and at that time I decided to get into casting bullets for that rifle. Id been casting for about 10 years prior, but just for hand gun ammo, as at that time I had heard that velocity's over about 1300fps would not work with cast projectiles. but after doing some research and some experimentation, I soon found I could load 350 grain cast/gas-checked slugs in my 45/70 to be very accurate at up to 1800 plus fps, if I sized and lubed the bullets correctly, and the last bit of doubt fell,
when I shot my first elk, with a 45/70 with a 400 grain hard cast bullet and he dropped instantly. but keep in mind where you hit any big game animal has a huge effect on the lethality and how far an animal is likely to travel after its hit.
(busting both shoulders wastes a good deal of meat but its also very effective in limiting mobility)
(heart and lung shots don,t waste much meat but will generally result in a frantic rush too exit the area, that of course won,t generally exceed 40-70 yards, if your using a properly loaded 45 caliber or larger rifle, and cast bullets within the effective range limitations)
I later found that the 350 grain weight cast 45/70 bullets worked even better, for deer and hogs, as they penetrate almost as well , as the hard cast 400 grain, bullets, but are a bit more accurate and shoot a bit flatter.(I still use the 400 grain hard cast designs for most hunts for ELK)
if you really want to maximize any large bore revolvers lethality you'll most likely want to order a custom bullet mold, too produce an exceptionally effective hard cast gas check bullet design, luckily mountain molds will work with you to produce most of the bullet molds you might want if you can,t find a commercially available design you like, the key is maximizing penetration and having a 80%-85% wide melplat (flat nose) to maximize the tissue destruction,in a gas check design, that keeps the bore clean, in a weight that you can push to at least 1300 fps, the bullet below is decent in a 44 mag , where 1370 fps is not hard to reach, and almost perfect for hunting ammo in a 445 DWSP where it can easily be pushed to over 1570 fps in a 10" barrel revolver, using max safe charges of H110 powder.
now I got asked why I would spend $100 on a custom mold to cast these and what the advantage would be over a $30 LEE 310 grain mold, and truthfully the difference is not huge, but the mountain mold does seem to be consistently a bit more accurate.
in most cases its to your advantage to sight a hunting rifle or revolver in 2"-3" high at 100 yards
many people won,t look at the posted ballistics of a large bore revolver and be impressed as the paper ballistics in many cases are not all that much more than a typical deer rifle , like a 30/30 but both the larger caliber (diameter) and mass (WEIGHT) have a very noticeable effect on improved performance , especially at ranges under about 150 yards IF you can place shots precisely
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/new-reloading-manuals.2379/#post-56752
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/6...er-458-diameter-405-grain-flat-nose-gas-check
bullet stability and twist rates
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi
ballistic calculator
http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/ballistics-calculator
these calculators can be really handy
if properly done and loaded for a velocity range that's appropriate,
there's been excellent results, in fact in many cases I find I have a difficult time duplicating both velocity and accuracy with jacketed bullets.
you must select both a mold design matching the application and cast the bullets from the correct alloy at the correct temperature range.
related info youll want to read
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...you-cast-and-hunt-with-bullets-you-made.6802/
So, why is there the reluctance of a good many people to try cast projectiles ? now I can understand many guys don,t want to get into casting, for various reasons.
but there's certainly a wide selection of commercially available options.
once you find out the ease of use of those cast bullets,and the potential reduction in cost I can,t see why its not a more popular option.
most wheel weight lead already has some antimony and calcium , adding about 3%-5% tin helps a great deal to get molds to fill out and bullets to not lead the bore and hold together,well and expand in a controlled manor on impact. I try to use 3%-to-5% tin as its makes the best bullets in my experience but I will point out that adding more than 5% tin is a total waste of tin as it seems to do nothing more,beneficial, in fact the benefits of more than 3%-up to 5% TIN while noticeable are minimal compared to the first 3%-4% tin, added too the bullet alloy benefits
about 35 years ago I had purchased a marlin 45/70 and at that time I decided to get into casting bullets for that rifle. Id been casting for about 10 years prior, but just for hand gun ammo, as at that time I had heard that velocity's over about 1300fps would not work with cast projectiles. but after doing some research and some experimentation, I soon found I could load 350 grain cast/gas-checked slugs in my 45/70 to be very accurate at up to 1800 plus fps, if I sized and lubed the bullets correctly, and the last bit of doubt fell,
when I shot my first elk, with a 45/70 with a 400 grain hard cast bullet and he dropped instantly. but keep in mind where you hit any big game animal has a huge effect on the lethality and how far an animal is likely to travel after its hit.
(busting both shoulders wastes a good deal of meat but its also very effective in limiting mobility)
(heart and lung shots don,t waste much meat but will generally result in a frantic rush too exit the area, that of course won,t generally exceed 40-70 yards, if your using a properly loaded 45 caliber or larger rifle, and cast bullets within the effective range limitations)
I later found that the 350 grain weight cast 45/70 bullets worked even better, for deer and hogs, as they penetrate almost as well , as the hard cast 400 grain, bullets, but are a bit more accurate and shoot a bit flatter.(I still use the 400 grain hard cast designs for most hunts for ELK)
if you really want to maximize any large bore revolvers lethality you'll most likely want to order a custom bullet mold, too produce an exceptionally effective hard cast gas check bullet design, luckily mountain molds will work with you to produce most of the bullet molds you might want if you can,t find a commercially available design you like, the key is maximizing penetration and having a 80%-85% wide melplat (flat nose) to maximize the tissue destruction,in a gas check design, that keeps the bore clean, in a weight that you can push to at least 1300 fps, the bullet below is decent in a 44 mag , where 1370 fps is not hard to reach, and almost perfect for hunting ammo in a 445 DWSP where it can easily be pushed to over 1570 fps in a 10" barrel revolver, using max safe charges of H110 powder.
now I got asked why I would spend $100 on a custom mold to cast these and what the advantage would be over a $30 LEE 310 grain mold, and truthfully the difference is not huge, but the mountain mold does seem to be consistently a bit more accurate.
in most cases its to your advantage to sight a hunting rifle or revolver in 2"-3" high at 100 yards
many people won,t look at the posted ballistics of a large bore revolver and be impressed as the paper ballistics in many cases are not all that much more than a typical deer rifle , like a 30/30 but both the larger caliber (diameter) and mass (WEIGHT) have a very noticeable effect on improved performance , especially at ranges under about 150 yards IF you can place shots precisely
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/new-reloading-manuals.2379/#post-56752
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/6...er-458-diameter-405-grain-flat-nose-gas-check
bullet stability and twist rates
http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmstab-5.1.cgi
ballistic calculator
http://www.hornady.com/ballistics-resource/ballistics-calculator
these calculators can be really handy
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