Hello boys,
I think I've accidently stumbled onto some first hand knowledge of how my cast bullets performed in at least one application. I cast a 44 bullet from straight wheel weights using a LEE tumble lube SWC mould, and water quench. No sizing, just lube with Alox. I load with 5 grains of green dot for the bullets, which weigh out about 235 grains, and I get great accuracy in all my handguns and lever rifles, and no leading.
I have been thinning the turtles in my pond with this load, and the turtle shell carcasses (after the crawdads clean them up) have been washing up on the bank. I was mowing and kicked one out of the way, and one of my bullets rolled out of the shell, and I recovered it. Other than showing the signs of having gone thru the rifling, the bullet was not deformed at all, and was complete. This bullet looks like I could load it up now and shoot it again.
This round is a cowboy type load, and is not very hot, but i still would have expected it to exit thru a turtle. The hole in the shell is behind the head, and if it hit the water before impacting the turtle, it wouldn't have hit much water. This bullet has a plenty high enough BHN, but I can still easily scratch the base with a thumbnail.
This has really convinced me that I'm casting and loading the perfect
bullet for my applications. Any comments are welcome.
T. Mortis