In your experience what is the best controlled expansion bullet, cast or commercial jacketed, for use on large soft-skinned game? By "controlled expansion" I mean the bullet will expand while losing little or none of its original weight. Bullets weight must be between 350 grains and 480 grains.
The rifle is a 45-70. Bullet's crimp-to-nose length (or cannelure-to-nose) must be .440 inch or less. Nose shape must satisfactory for tubular magazines.
Pressures would be between 40K and 43K CUP -- that is, at the high end of safe for modern Marlin 1895 and Miroku M1886 actions, as would be expected muzzle velocities.
Maximum range for which rifle and ammunition is to be used is 140 yards, with 100 yards a more likely maximum range. The extra is "wiggle room."
Might also mention any of the above
hard cast slugs with the nose annealed
--there are several articles about how to best achieve that in the archives
search function is easy
--I always get more interesting stuff than just what I search for
If you just have to retain the weight, I'd probably go with the Barnes, but the best controlled expansion bullet has got to be the Nosler Partition, bar none. You may very well lose some weight (from the front partition), but it has the best success record of any expanding bullet I know of.
Since you are talking 45-70, you really ought to consider hard cast, wide meplat bullets. That is where Beartooth is making a name for itself. Here is a pretty good article on them:
I have an article that I won't post here since it is under copyright, but it was in Guns & Ammo and was all about wide meplats and their use by a PH in Africa for a stopping round (usually a task for big double rifles!)
Barnes 350 or 450 TSX, this bullet is a monolithic copper hollow point (flat point for lever guns) that performs like all of the TSX bullets do. We tested some pre-production 45/70 CorBon loads in gelatin and had great results.
Many thanks to all who have replied. Along with this query, I have placed similar queries on other forums. I am in contact with Hawk, Swift (A-Frame), and ABW (Kodiak).
Regarding Hawk, they have .025-, .035-, and .050-inch jackets available in their selection of .458-inch bullets. People who have used them report Hawk .035-inch 350- and 400-grain bullets expand too quickly and do not penetrate well. However, they do not disintegrate or shatter. No one has reported on whether .050-inch jacketed 400-grain Hawks solve the penetration problem.
ABW 400-grain bullets have received uniformly excellent evaluations, as have Swift A-Frame 350s. I've queried Mr. Hober whether the 400-grain A-Frame will function safely in tubular feed 45-70s. No confirmation yet.
The evaluations I prize have been from people who have hunted larger plains game in Africa, bison, Seledang, and other soft targets weighing more than 800 pounds. That's from where my previous paragraphs have come.
We have both the 444 Marlin lever and the 1895 Marlin 45-70 caliber lever rifles at our place. We no longer use the jacketed bullets or factory ammo. We instead use very hard CAST BULLETS such as Beartooth and have even casted a few of our own.
The accuracy and penetration of the Beartooth bullets in both calibers has been more than I would have ever imagined in the beginning. The have my vote! Nothing you can not stop with those "Pile-Driver" bullets in the above caliber lever guns.
I've concluded the Alaska Bullet Works 405-grain Kodiak bonded core flat nose soft point bullet is the primary big game bullet I want to obtain for 45-70s. Between Remington 405-grain and Speer 400-grain jacketed flat points, which more closely duplicates the trajectory and point of impact of the 405-grain Alaska Bullet Works Kodiak?
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