lyman 358315

[Dang]

I was just wondering if anyone has experience with this bullet for deer hunting. I just picked up one of these molds about 4 weeks ago and have been shooting them in a 357 maximum T/C encore pistol. Seems to be very accurate over 21 gr. of Reloader 7. I doubt this bullet would have much expansion from a pistol barrel. Any ideas on lead hardness, loads,etc would be helpful. Thanks

[jhalcott]

I have this mold and have loaded the bullets in a 35 whelen,a 358jdj and a 35rem. I shot the bullets thru a stack of phone books and got about 7.5" (seven and a half inches) of penetration after flattening the noses.Un flattened ,they went about an inch deeper. They went thru gallon detergent bottles like a drill as RN's but exploded the jugs when flattened. My alloy is the same BHN as lyman #2. Linotype lead and some shot.in case I decide to heat treat it. IF i were going to use this bullet for deer hunting ,I,d use plain old wheel weight alloy! If the bullets did not fill right, I'd add a little tin(50-50 solder) ,about 3 to 4 ounces of solder to 10 pounds of WW .Add more solder if that does NOT do it.Check out cast boolits . com for more info!  BTW, Those recovered bullets fired into phone books at 100 yards weighed 208 as fired and 146 recovered. About 65% retention. 14 inch Contender barrel 35 Rem.

[Dang]

Thanks for the info. I figured there would be no problem with this bullet as far as penetration. I was just concerned about how well they would expand.(if at all). Since the 35 rem and the 357 max have some what similar ballistics I should expect around the same results you are getting. So far I have only cast them out of  pure lino, and all the bullets I have dug up from the clay behind my target have showed little or no expansion.( but they sure hit that clay with a loud THUMP). I need to try casting some from wheel weights and see what they will do. Thanks again

[jhalcott]

  I cast some of lino and shot them with the same load as before.They blew right thru 8 to 9 inches of phone books! There was NO indication of expansion! This was at 50 yards!

[gutshot_again]

I shot one deer with this bullet out of a 35 remington with full power loads.  Worst performance I've ever seen on live game.  Penetration was no problem - blew right through the adult buck.  I shot it twice through the lungs, missing the heart each time and all the deer did was lay down looking around.  After 15 minutes or so I heard other hunters coming through the woods and needed to finish it off.  A shot through the neck didn't do anything except make it stand up and start a slow trot off.  Finally managed to hit it in the back of the head and that finished it.  There was no expansion (straight wheel wieghts) and just pencil size holes each time I hit.  The furtherest the deer was hit was around 40 yards (first shot) and the closest was 10 yards.  Will never use that bullet on game again.

I have since used a RCBS 35-200-FN in a 35 Whelen at about the same velocity or maybe a touch less.  Deer either drop right there or go no further than 25 yards or so.  Much, much better bullet that even if it does not expand will put a hole right close to an inch or so clear through the deer.

Ever since I've just used a flat nosed bullet in other calibers with good results.  I won't use a round nose cast bullet on game again.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I shot it twice through the lungs, missing the heart each time and all the deer did was lay down looking around.  After 15 minutes or so I heard other hunters coming through the woods and needed to finish it off.  A shot through the neck didn't do anything except make it stand up and start a slow trot off.

This is astonishing!  Shot twice through the lungs and it survived 15 minutes with enough energy to get up and trot?!

I would think even a pencil sized hole through the lung would cause enough hemmoraging to extinguish the animal within a minute.

[Dang]

Thanks  Gutshot, thats what I was concerned with. I didnt want to go shoot a deer only to watch him run into the next county to die. I would think that this bullet would have to hit a leg bone to have any chance of expanding other wise its just going to bore a .357 hole in them.
 But on the other hand I figured if round nose lead bullets didnt work so well there might be a few more buffalo running around these days.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Either way I think I will go back to plan A and use a 180 gr. hornaday ssp bullet .  I"ve read they perform well on deer even at lower velocity from a pistol.

[gutshot_again]

I was surprised also when it stood up and starting troting off.  It was sick, and did lay down after the 2nd hit, but was alert and looking around.  I waited figuring it would expire at any time, but it didn't.  So when it stood up I shot again.

I believe Buffalo were mostly shot with 45's or larger and with dead soft lead.  This bullet might do OK with pure lead, but I was using WW's air cooled.  I don't mean to discourage you from using cast on game, as that's all I use now days in the woods.  Just passing on my expierence with one deer shot with 358315.  Like I said earlier, the RCBS 35-200-FN has not let me down yet - on 4 adult size whitetails and numerous adult does.

[Dang]

No  Sir you have not discouraged me at all. Just gave me an excuse to buy another mold.