Author Topic: Bullet to Hard? (Read 546 times)

Smiley · « **on:** January 02, 2004, 02:32:30 AM »

I harvested my first deer with my cast bullets. I think they may be to hard. The shot was a little high and took out a 2 inch path plus the spine, I found bullet fragments under the hide on far side. It was a Special doe season and she dropped like a rock, Is this the example of to hard of a bullet? The 45 70 is awesome and I want to use for elk, I like pass throu so should the bullets be 30/1 or 20/1 or will these work or fragment on tougher game? Any help would be appreciated...Thanks <

The Shrink · « **Reply #1 on:** January 04, 2004, 02:15:35 AM »

Smiley

You don't say if your shot was through and through with a few fragments left, or if there was no exit and you found the complete bullet fragmented.

If the latter, your bullet is overly fragile, but not necessarily overly hard. This would suggest to me too much antimony in the mix, which makes hardness and brittleness.

If there was an exit and only a few fragments, we don't know anything except that the bullet was soft enough to have some mushrooming on that spine and that the shock was enough to knock off some of that mushrooming. We don't konw how much of the bullet was left to continue penetrating in a larger animal or quartering shot in a deer.

Wayne

Smiley · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2004, 04:18:04 AM »

Sorry, it did pass all the way throu. About 2 inch going in 1 1/5 going out. Small slivers under hide on far side. Bone fragments all over, also hole in liver. She expired quickly. Is there a way to test bullets and how they will do on impact?? Thanks <

Cuts Crooked · « **Reply #3 on:** January 04, 2004, 04:43:39 AM »

Quote

Is there a way to test bullets and how they will do on impact?? Thanks

Wet newsprint around cattle bones from the butcher shop will do about as good a job of evaluating bullet performance as anything I've seen. I used to have a deep "target box" that I used for this, placing cow bones in the middle and wet news print front and rear of the bones and packing it tightly. It was a tedious job to prepare, but I think it did a better job of simulating impact on large animal flesh & bone than any of those rediculous clay or gell substances available for ballistic testing!

The Shrink · « **Reply #4 on:** January 06, 2004, 03:19:24 AM »

Just remember that beef bones are very much larger and thus more resistant than that you will find in a deer. Goat or sheep or even pig bones will be closer. Bullets will break or flatten on a beef bone when they will shatter a smaller bone.

Wayne

Cuts Crooked · « **Reply #5 on:** January 06, 2004, 05:35:30 AM »

Good point Shrink!

Back when I did a lot of this stuff I was thinking more on the order of Elk and Buff hunting! Large sheep or pig bones would much better fer simulating deer type critters!

The Shrink · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2004, 12:46:50 AM »

Cuts

Linotype or harder is probably overly hard, wheelweights, 20-1 or even the original Sharps 16-1 should all be appropriate. This from the Lyman handbook and mostly from the guys on Shooters.com than from my experience. I've cast nothing harder than 20-1. I would guess these would go through and through on elk, but I think I may plan on wheelweights when I cast hunting bullets. Even solid lead should be hard enough to kill an elk, after all a lot of roundballs did!

Wayne

Cuts Crooked · « **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2004, 03:24:53 AM »

Shrink,

I have a strong preference fer pure lead slugs over BP, but my lead source is of unknown origin and I've never tested it for actual hardness. It's more than soft enough for frontstuffers though, being soft enough to easily dent with my thumbnail. (it's counterweight lead from old Airforce jet movers, I got a ton of it for $10.00 years ago) I mix it with wheelweight, 50/50 mix ratio by weight, for hunting slugs but use it straight for frontstuffers.