Shooters Forum banner

Hunting with hard case bullets

3K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  stalker76z 
#1 ·
When using hard case bullets on whitetail deer, is it recommended that you shoot for the shoulder bone inorder to break the animal down rapidly? I typically shoot for the lungs when using jacketed bullets to avoid meat lost, but worry that such a shot using hard cast would result in a long run by the animal waiting for it to bleed out. would appreciate any info from those experienced with using hard cast on whitetail. The cartridge I'm considering using is the 38-55 with BTB 265 grain GC. I have an accurate load for this but am hesitant to try it on deer.
 
#2 ·
I've killed a lot of deer and 19 black bear shooting 255 grain hardcast thru a 44 mag revolver at velocities between 1200 and 1400 fps at ranges from 35 to 200 yards and found a heart lung shot is just as effective as with jacketed bullets. You'd be surprised how well hard cast lead bullets of large diameter kill.
 
#4 ·
You won't have any issues if there is a good meplat, say around 0.3" or so. Been using cast bullets for a while in the .35 Rem and handgun calibers with no issues. Have had deer run 50 yards or so, same as expanding rifle bullets. If you want the honest truth they've probably ran farther, on average, with expanding rifle bullets than with good hard cast bullets, even though the cast bullets are usually going much slower.

Have fun and good luck to you.
 
#7 ·
Hard Cast Bullets for White Tails

My only experience was using a 510 gr cast lead (Lee C457-500-F) two years ago in Wisconsin. I shot a doe about 100 #, and it dropped her right in her tracks. This was a heart shot and it did "topple" her a little, into a small ditch at the edge of a wooded area, off my cousin's cornfield.

The other bullet that I was itchin' to try was the TLC460-425-RF from RANCHDOGMOLDS.COM, but in the four-day special "T-Zone" on Oct 16-19, I didn't see one darned deer------too many standing cornfields!! They are pickin' like crazy now, however, and I 'spect that will change with deer runnin' all over the place! I am itchin' to try out this bullet in my MARLIN M-1895 lever rifle, because of the very large meplate on the bullet nose, along with a gas check. It shoots very clean, with no leading residue in the rifling of the barrel, and at 100 yards, it holds about a 1.25" center-to-center group.

Good Luck!
 

Attachments

#8 ·
Hardcast bullet, M-1895

I forgot to mention, the reason that you see a bullet hole in the target "9", is because at the moment of ignition, I got stung by a bee. They were prevalent that day, and that darned thing sure spoiled a nice group!!

Incidentally, this group was shot from my M-1895 MARLIN, with ghost ring rear sight with a home-made blued front sight blade, set to 100 yards.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top