.44 Mag Loads for bear

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive been using cast bullets for 30 years and have never witnessed cooked on lube before. Im about the laziest sob in the country when it comes to cleaning guns. My guns get cleaned about once a year or when they wont function properly. Maybe once or twice a year on a gun that is used alot i will hose them off with brake cleaner. I know some of my guns have gone well over 10000 rounds without a cleaning. One thing i do though is if a gun leads i fix it so it doesnt. I can keep my guns lead free with an occasional jacketed bullet run thorugh them or even a gas checked bullet. Sure cast may be a tad dirtier due to the lube but the cost of lead vs jacket well makes up for that little inconvienence. As far as leading goes any gun that leads will also copper foul and leads a heck of alot eaiser to remove then copper. Only advantage and the only time i will use jacketed bullets is in some forms of competition smoke is a pain and cast bullets due smoke. Bottom line is cast is far superior to jacketed in the hunting field and even if i had to clean my gun occasionaly i would still use them and the fact that they are about half the price if you dont cast yourself and about 10 times cheaper if you do cast is just icing on the cake. Personaly i dont believe anyone, other then a filthy rich man, could possibly ever shoot enough to truely master a gun unless he used cast bullets. When i go to the range i will sometimes shoot 500 rounds and very seldom under 200 and at 20 bucks a hundred it would get pretty expensive when you figure im there 3 times a week or more. quote author=Lone Star link=topic=146543.msg1098602267#msg1098602267 date=1214363585]

What hassle with cast bullets???

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but anyone who has used cast bullets for many years - I started casting in 1970 - realizes at some point that they are just not as easy on the reloader or the shooter as are store-bought jacketed bullets.  To many shooters the joy of casting  and the cleaning of cooked-on lube are considered hassles - just ask a hundred average shooters at any range.  You and I may not agree with that, but then we are in the minority of most shooters. 



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[Redhawk1]

Ive been using cast bullets for 30 years and have never witnessed cooked on lube before. Im about the laziest sob in the country when it comes to cleaning guns. My guns get cleaned about once a year or when they wont function properly. Maybe once or twice a year on a gun that is used alot i will hose them off with brake cleaner. I know some of my guns have gone well over 10000 rounds without a cleaning. One thing i do though is if a gun leads i fix it so it doesnt. I can keep my guns lead free with an occasional jacketed bullet run thorugh them or even a gas checked bullet. Sure cast may be a tad dirtier due to the lube but the cost of lead vs jacket well makes up for that little inconvienence. As far as leading goes any gun that leads will also copper foul and leads a heck of alot eaiser to remove then copper. Only advantage and the only time i will use jacketed bullets is in some forms of competition smoke is a pain and cast bullets due smoke. Bottom line is cast is far superior to jacketed in the hunting field and even if i had to clean my gun occasionaly i would still use them and the fact that they are about half the price if you dont cast yourself and about 10 times cheaper if you do cast is just icing on the cake. Personaly i dont believe anyone, other then a filthy rich man, could possibly ever shoot enough to truely master a gun unless he used cast bullets. When i go to the range i will sometimes shoot 500 rounds and very seldom under 200 and at 20 bucks a hundred it would get pretty expensive when you figure im there 3 times a week or more. quote author=Lone Star link=topic=146543.msg1098602267#msg1098602267 date=1214363585]

I agree with your statement  ( Personaly i dont believe anyone, other then a filthy rich man, could possibly ever shoot enough to truely master a gun unless he used cast bullets.)

[Cottonwood]

I use Rim Rock Bullets exclusivly in a 305-gr WFN GC with H110 powder for all my hunting needs.

[Lone Star]

Ive been using cast bullets for 30 years and have never witnessed cooked on lube before. Im about the laziest sob in the country when it comes to cleaning guns....

That's all very nice I'm sure, but the reality is that most non-CB users believe their use is a hassle - just like most shooters believe that handloading is dangerous/time consuming/not worth it. 

Argue til you're blue in the face if you wish, but nothing you nor I nor anyone else can say will change that reality.     



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[Redhawk1]

Ive been using cast bullets for 30 years and have never witnessed cooked on lube before. Im about the laziest sob in the country when it comes to cleaning guns....

That's all very nice I'm sure, but the reality is that most non-CB users believe their use is a hassle - just like most shooters believe that handloading is dangerous/time consuming/not worth it. 

Argue til you're blue in the face if you wish, but nothing you nor I nor anyone else can say will change that reality.     



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So exactly what is your point???

[Cottonwood]

Here is a handloading cost calculator

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp

I'll stick with reloading.

[S.B.]

I much prefer hard cast bullets?

[Lloyd Smale]

your probably right. Theres alot of people that dont believe in handloading but ive yet to see one that could shoot.

Ive been using cast bullets for 30 years and have never witnessed cooked on lube before. Im about the laziest sob in the country when it comes to cleaning guns....

That's all very nice I'm sure, but the reality is that most non-CB users believe their use is a hassle - just like most shooters believe that handloading is dangerous/time consuming/not worth it. 

Argue til you're blue in the face if you wish, but nothing you nor I nor anyone else can say will change that reality.     



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[S.B.]

Just got this in an email and thought it kind of went along with this post, in a joking way?

[countryrebel]

Thanks for the sign SB. I am still laughing. 

[teddy12b]

It never fails that every year before I leave for a bear hunt that I e-mail gets a couple eye opening messages about bear attacks and little signs like that.  I know I'll be safe, but I also know there is still a chance for danger, but that's all part of the fun.

[S.B.]

Rushes, aren't bad things, as long as your aware of them and their dangers? They keep us on our toes.

[warrior1]

s.b. i believe your question was pretty much answered. have a good trip, dan

[corbanzo]

Saw a really pretty black bear yesterday, but he was small.  I was trying to reason in my head that he was pretty enough to make up for his size. 

The the lady told me to quit, and I wasn't gonna shoot a bear that small... OK....  hahahaha.. women. 

I was carrying the .44mag with 320 grain WFNGC over about 20 grains of H110...  felt like way plenty at the time. 

Had some 300 grains JFP's with me also, they also, felt like plenty. 

[teddy12b]

It's a weird coincidence that you brought up the 320gr WFNGC rounds in your 44.  I'm going to load some of those up tonight for a puma 44 and it might be a packup gun for a bear hunt here in two weeks.

[Default]

ok guys,

   I have to put out there that a good 240 gn JSP 44 mag should do just fine for the blackie as well as white tail ....the Hornady XTP 240 gn JHP 44 should do well also ...... my first deer kill with the 44 mag was at 40 yards running ,double lung (bought a baseball size hole exit side ..need i say more?) deer made a 40 yard sprint after the shot .. Last year my other halfs uncle came down a got onto a 225 to 240 blackie with a XTP 44 mag loading , One and done!

  later after we all got around for skinning the bear i measured a 18 inch path of travel from the frontal quatering entrance to the final resting place of the xtp 3 to 4 inches behind the last rib in the winter fat (Xtp a picture of perfect expansion and weight retention)  those are my personal choices and the ones i would call on , the proof is always in the pudding .... And one other thought , Blackies arent that hard to lay down .... Their brown cousins on the other hand ?!!? well we all know their reputation for being tuff customers

    hope this helps,

         Default

[S.B.]

Default, how much meat was destroyed with a baseball exit hole?

[Ak.Hiker]

That 5.5 inch Redhawk is one tough 44 Magnum. It should do a good job with those heavy weight loads.