Jacketed or Hard Cast

[The Norseman]

Casting Call

I like Cast bullets and Hornady XTPs.

Bear = Revolver loaded first two XTPs the rest Cast bullets.

Deer = Revolver just XTPs.

Powder will be Alliant Unique, but Red Dot, American Select,
and Bullseye will work also.

 

[30-30remchester]

Forgot a first hand incident involving a friend, a 44 magnum and 220 grain silhouette fmj ammo. A friend accidentally shot himself with the above. He was seated and it drilled him though the pelvis, exiting his buttock, aka his brain. Had to get up and call the ambulance himself as his wife had fainted. When I saw him a hour later in the hospital, he was kidding with the 18 year old candy striper that was shaving his pubes prior to surgery.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

What WAS he aiming at...?

Cheers!

P.S. Jus' got to LOVE those 18 year-old strippers!

 

[max503]

I go with what my gun shoots best. (Go ask the gun!) I prefer cast but my Contender likes jacketed, so for hunting I'm using jacketed.

 

[30-30remchester]

P.S. Jus' got to LOVE those 18 year-old strippers![/QUOTE]



Spelling wasnt my fourtay, ah strong sut, ah best subjt,

At times if it weren't for a gutter, my mind would be homeless.

 

[max503]

Forgot a first hand incident involving a friend, a 44 magnum and 220 grain silhouette fmj ammo. A friend accidentally shot himself with the above. He was seated and it drilled him though the pelvis, exiting his buttock, aka his brain. Had to get up and call the ambulance himself as his wife had fainted. When I saw him a hour later in the hospital, he was kidding with the 18 year old candy striper that was shaving his pubes prior to surgery.

Ouch. Just ouch. Seems the meds were starting to kick in.

 

[WR Moore]

I kinda hate to point this out, but in some states the use of non expanding bullets for hunting isn't legal. I expect this was intended to apply to rifles and military ball, but the legal beagles might not be that picky.

White tail deer really aren't that hard to kill if hit properly. Back when Remington was developing the .44 Magnum, they realized that performance on the WTD was key to the success of the caliber. The 240 gr SJHP was the result. I used this for quite awhile on PA WTD and never needed a second shot. Somewhere I've still got the one recovered from the first deer I ever shot with it. Entered the rib cage on a quartering shot and was recovered in the muscles of the opposing shoulder, just barely under the skin. IIRC it's almost 7/8 in in the largest dimension (oval expansion due to impact direction.). Come to think of it, all the deer I took with a handgun were with quartering shots.

The black bears I've personally seen taken weren't much bigger than a human. OK, they're fluffy, they might appear bigger. If you're in some area where you can expect the 400 lb + ones, a soft point or just maybe, a hard cast if you're expecting to have to break bones-and it's legal.

 

[smoothshooter]

Everyone thinks they have to use hard cast bullets if using all-lead bullets to reduce leading. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes a soft or medium soft cast bullet is the best choice to prevent leading and get the best bullet performance in tissue.
Wide meplats are a good thing.

 

[Kid44]

Hard Cast

Black bears aren't hard to kill. I've killed a number of them over the years. Either would do the job, but I'd probably use a nice 240 grain JHP load just because I don't like scrubbing lead from my barrels anymore.

A top quality hard cast GC shouldn't lead the bore, or at least very very little. Soft cast cowboy loads can be a different story.

 

[Kid44]

I thought expanding ............

I kinda hate to point this out, but in some states the use of non expanding bullets for hunting isn't legal. I expect this was intended to apply to rifles and military ball, but the legal beagles might not be that picky.

White tail deer really aren't that hard to kill if hit properly. Back when Remington was developing the .44 Magnum, they realized that performance on the WTD was key to the success of the caliber. The 240 gr SJHP was the result. I used this for quite awhile on PA WTD and never needed a second shot. Somewhere I've still got the one recovered from the first deer I ever shot with it. Entered the rib cage on a quartering shot and was recovered in the muscles of the opposing shoulder, just barely under the skin. IIRC it's almost 7/8 in in the largest dimension (oval expansion due to impact direction.). Come to think of it, all the deer I took with a handgun were with quartering shots.

The black bears I've personally seen taken weren't much bigger than a human. OK, they're fluffy, they might appear bigger. If you're in some area where you can expect the 400 lb + ones, a soft point or just maybe, a hard cast if you're expecting to have to break bones-and it's legal.

I thought all bullets sold in the US had to be expanding by law. some just expand more than others, even a hard cast will expand if it hits bone.

 

[30-30remchester]

I thought all bullets sold in the US had to be expanding by law. some just expand more than others, even a hard cast will expand if it hits bone.

From my limited knowledge, there is no law concerning non expanding bullets. I have several cases of 30-30's with factory full metal jacket. About every caliber of handgun ammo is available in non expanding full metal jackets. Lots of military surplus armor piercing rifle ammo available. Handguns can not have armor piercing but non expanding full metal jacket isn't regulated.