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Old January 1, 2012, 10:55 AM   #1
TXGunNut
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First CB Deer!

Harvested my first cast [bullet] game on a S TX management hunt Friday! Was watching a lone doe and a nice young 8-point most of the evening while waiting for a hog to show up. Darkness fell, hogs didn't show up so I decided the doe would be good for the management effort. She never would give me a full broadside shot so I put a heat-treated RD 460-350 GC [bullet] into her chest and it exited about the middle of the ribcage on the far side. She went about 50 yds into heavy brush so it was a tough track. Blood trail went arrow-straight north for 25 yds and stopped. For some reason she abruptly turned west and piled up after another 25 yards. Used lots of candlepower and two hours of drinking time but we found the old girl.
[Bullet] may have broken up-more testing will be required.
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Last edited by Shane Tuttle; January 15, 2012 at 05:54 AM. Reason: B-U-L-L-E-T!
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Old January 1, 2012, 07:39 PM   #2
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Congrats TX. That'll be some good eating for the family. Don't ya just love those Ranch Dogs?
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Old January 1, 2012, 08:31 PM   #3
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Very nice! Congrats on your first CB Deer!
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Old January 1, 2012, 09:52 PM   #4
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Where`s the tusks ????

Posted that ^^ before reading the whole post


Good shooting & Congratulations TGN !!!!!

Everytime I`ve been with the rifle ,no deer & with the 44 they won`t stop walkin.
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Old January 1, 2012, 11:13 PM   #5
TXGunNut
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Yes, I'm pretty happy with the RD moulds, still working up loads for my 35 Remington and 32 Special. RD hangs out about an hour north of where we were hunting, BTW. Shot a nice spike earlier in the week with my new Super Grade M70 (first critter for this rifle) but this doe was special.
Gonna have to change my siggie, wild pork getting a bit scarce in my freezer. No room to put one in there anytime soon either.
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Old January 6, 2012, 06:23 PM   #6
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thats good shooting..But don;t heat treat your bullets..You want them on the soft side..Ever see a heat treated round ball???// I think not..I used a hard cast bullet for bear once..Hit the thing in the kill zone,,passed right on through...That was a tough track..In a few years I got another bear with a softer bullet..You should have seen the damage that one did....Some people make a two piece bullet...But for hunting I use a softer bullet and a gas check....good luck and congradulations again....John
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Old January 6, 2012, 07:55 PM   #7
Edward429451
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Quote:
RD 460-350 GC bullet
Congrats on the Deer! I know how you feel, my first Deer ever was with a cast [bullet], though not a RD mould. I do have the mould you speak of but haven't hunted with it yet.

You stirred up my curiosity about the details though, tell! What alloy? (WW's, 20/1?), what load? Did you recover the bullet?

Last edited by Shane Tuttle; January 15, 2012 at 05:57 AM. Reason: B-U-L-L-E-T!
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Old January 7, 2012, 11:41 AM   #8
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RD be the man. Congrats on the deer.
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Old January 8, 2012, 11:48 AM   #9
TXGunNut
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You stirred up my curiosity about the details though, tell! What alloy? (WW's, 20/1?), what load? Did you recover the [bullet]? -Edward429451
But don't heat treat your bullets..You want them on the soft side..-savagelover

Thanks, guys.
It's 50/50 clipon/stickon over 46 grs RL7, 210M primers. Did not recover [bullet].
The only reason I heat treated the [bullets] is that I suspected they may be more accurate and they were, for some reason. Don't know why, didn't have time to explore it more fully but I will soon. It hasn't been helpful with the .35 and .32 [bullets], I'd like to keep them softer anyway. I don't feel the .45-70 needs to expand to be effective on deer and hogs, I think a hard [bullet] may be helpful if I want to break shoulders to anchor a big hog.
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Last edited by Shane Tuttle; January 15, 2012 at 05:59 AM. Reason: B-U-L-L-E-T!
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Old January 9, 2012, 08:16 PM   #10
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I have seen haard cast bullets shatter when hitting bone...With my 478 grain .459 inch bullet,it passed through that bear like a pointed pencil....So I made a two part bullet..Hard base and pure lead tip...The next bear a few years later had a hole the size of a baseball on the exit side..I believe the muzzle velocity was like 1500 fps...I have load all my records in a fire so I can not give you all the details..But be proud you got the deer..Not many would even try the cast bullets....
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Old January 9, 2012, 10:35 PM   #11
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I'll work more with the alloys and heat-treating, John. Never even did a hardness test, ran out of time. I've heard the same about brittle [bullets] so will work towards softer [bullets]. May HT some stick-on alloy and work down from there. 20-1 didn't seem to work but it's worth another try. RD [bullets] seem to like hard alloy and high speed, not sure why. I'm considering lapping out a 405 gr .458 gr PB Lyman mould to .460 and working with it a bit more. I honestly don't know how to tweak it from here so will focus on my 32 Spcl for now, then the 35 Rem. After I get them shooting better I'll hopefully have a better idea how to proceed.
I've learned CB shooting and hunting introduces a whole new set of variables to the loading game. I'm just getting started and yes, pretty tickled about bagging a deer with one on my first trip out with it.
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Old January 10, 2012, 07:53 AM   #12
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I've learned CB shooting and hunting introduces a whole new set of variables to the loading game.
Yelp, you said a mouth full there.
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Old January 12, 2012, 06:04 PM   #13
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I think the shattering problem is related primarily to antimony content rather than just to what you harden it to. That is, a linotype bullet will shatter more readily than a low antimony alloy bullet heat treated to the same hardness. I know Veral Smith said wheelweight alloy would shatter on bone in Idaho's extremely cold weather. The rules of thumb I've heard in several places is not to exceed 2% antimony and not to let the tin exceed the antimony level or hardness will age away more rapidly. The 50/50 alloy would be about there (and a little tin could be safely added to it for easier mold fill). Beartooth Bullets, for example, and Randy Garrett's cast bullets also, IIRC, are heat treated to a BHN in the low 20's, but being low antimony alloys, don't shatter.

The issue of penetration seems to depend on how wide the meplat on the bullet is. With the wide meplat designs, like Michael's, the wound channels are often surprisingly large and long, both, even if the bullets don't deform. In that instance an exit hole is just helpful as a second blood leak.
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Old January 14, 2012, 08:53 PM   #14
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I didn't see any evidence of shattering, Uncle Nick, penetration and exit wound size were almost indentical to another deer hit at almost exactly the same angle and in almost the same spot with a Hornady 30-06 handload I've come to know and trust. Only difference was a bit more blood-shot meat with the Hornady bullet. Both entry wounds (center chest) were very difficult to find, never really did find the entry on the doe made by the RD bullet. I don't think the bullet shattered but would have loved to test it on a nice big hog, just to be sure. I'm going to try AC 45-70 bullets again someday but I have a good supply of these on hand.
Yes, LAH, cast bullet hunting is a fascinating and frustrating endeavour.
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Old January 15, 2012, 11:05 AM   #15
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Txgunnut,

Because stick-on wheelweights are essentially pure lead, a 50:50 mix of clip-on and stick-on weights already has half the antimony content of regular wheelweights. I would not expect that to shatter easily. Also, Veral Smith said he'd thought wheelweight alloy was fine for all bullet casting until he moved to Idaho and discovered there that they shattered on bone in the extreme cold they can get in some places in winter (down to -60°F some nights at higher altitudes, IIRC, with Boise getting average minimums of -20°F in January). I don't know what temperature he observed shattering it at, but it was likely a good deal colder than you were shooting in.

Nick
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Old January 15, 2012, 02:11 PM   #16
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Don't wish to be out of line here so take this for what it's worth. I've made a couple tons of bullets from alloy containing 6% antimony. These bullets were fired at one of the Linebaugh shoots into their test media. They bent, they expanded, etc but they didn't shatter. We've laid them on steel & hit them with different weight hammers & they looked alot like bubble gum in various states but they didn't shatter. It wasn't bone chilling cold though. BTW they tested 15 BHN.
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Old January 15, 2012, 02:37 PM   #17
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Thanks, ya'll have convinced me that if hard bullets is what my GG likes, that's what it will get. It was unseasonably warm on this hunt, had to make an ice run to a bar down the road mid-hunt and deer had to be put on ice soon after field dressing. I have been on hunts where we had to put stuff in the cooler to keep it from freezing, no trips to buy ice on that trip! We endured single-digit temps in a primitive camp...in tents. May not be a big deal to some folks but that's pretty remakable here in TX.
.32 and .35 rifles didn't much care for the HT bullets, won't bother with them anymore.
Gotta go, some ladies in town are waiting on some venison sausage!
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