I have a question that maybe the vast combined experience found here on GB Outdoors can answer. This may run a tad long so please bear with me.
First I would like to say that I have cast and shot thousands of lead bullets. Mostly hard cast. I have killed many small animals with them in revolvers and autos in 357 Mag, 44 Mag and 45 ACP. I have never killed a deer with a hard cast. In my experience with the small animals, hard cast bullets do not kill anywhere near as quick as a hollow point. This is in animals up to coyotes, bobcat and feral dogs.
I have killed about 10 or so deer with handguns but all with jacketed expanding bullets. They run anywhere from 40 to 75 yards when hit. Never have I had one fall where it was shot. They have all been from 30 to 50 yards. Some through the shoulder and some broadside. Some with revolvers and some with Contenders. I regularly kill squirrels with my pistols so accuracy is not a problem.
I would like to shoot hard cast at deer but Im afraid that I might lose one. Where I hunt if a deer runs 100 yards or more it will most likely get to the water and be lost. In other words while I know that hard cast bullets will kill I just wonder how quickly.
In an article written by Paco Kelly he says that hard cast bullets kill but they kill differently meaning more slowly. A friend of mine had a conversation with JD Jones and Mr. Jones said that hollow points out of revolvers kill quicker than cast. He recommended expanding bullets on deer. My personal experience, as limited as it is, agrees with this.
My question is how do some hunters get the quick kills that they claim using hard cast bullets. I have a theory that is they are using cast bullets but that they are not hard cast. They are expanding. This may be without their knowledge or it just might be them misusing of the term hard cast when they really meant cast. Any thoughts
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