So I'm looking for information from the seasoned guys on here. I have no experience in shooting game with hard cast bullets. I have been shooting paper in the last year and feel confident that I want to try my luck at hunting with Hardcast. I will be using the 45lc and maybe a 475L or 500L too. Hope to hunt whitetail, hogs, and maybe a black bear. I know the Hardcast maybe over kill. Do I shoot the standard spot to take out the vitals like an expanding bullet or go for the shoulder to break them down first?

You're not shot limited with the hard cast bullet. It's nice knowing you can punch through any part of the animal. They break bones well, so I like high shoulder shots that break the animal down.

Whitworth, would you say that this is true even with a 357 mag?

Shoulder blades X3. The shattered bones are projectiles of their own and do additional damage.
Jacketed: in .475L only the 275 gr. X works great on deer. It's really beyond great-4to6" internal damage, 3" exits. Horn. XTPs, Gold Dots are too hard to perform well on deer for immediate reaction. They'll die, but in a while. Nice thing about the X is that it won't break up on deer. Do a shoulder shot and you get all the extra help from the bones. Do a lung shot and the hydrostatic forces from that massive HP does extremely good.

Hardcast are my favorite bullet. If you like the animal dropping very close to the shot break the shoulders.[WFN or LFN] If you don't mind it going a little ways shot it anyway you can get it through the vitals. My experience is if you do not break the shoulders the animal will still go down but, usually in about 70 yds.

Thanks for the experienced information on shot placement.

Agree on front shoulders, both at once if I can

another vote for shoulders

Cast and shoulder shoots go hand and hand

Badubet, I thought that you might find this article helpful.

Shot Placement and Bullet Selection by Randy Garrett

Thanks Darrell. Very helpful article.

Another vote for high shoulders.If you have a soft nose cast then anywhere in vitals will work. In my opinion they offer the best of both worlds.

As many other have said.... shoulder is the way to go.... what I have also noticed, on whitetail deer, is hard angling shots seem to have better results due to deeper penetration by the bullet.

Ive shot deer with both, hardcast and jacketed, the other main difference is the reaction the animal has. Ive experienced the drunken wobble with hard cast on 20+ deer... all the same effect. Mixed results with jacketed.

Now, im not saying jacketed is bad or less adequate with proper placement, in my experience, hardcast seems to have more consistent results.

All my hardcast with a handgun has been with a 7.5 in Redhawk 44 magnum.

Ive always aimed with all firearms for the "Magic Triangle"
The shoulder blade area on a deer is like a super highway of nerves, blood , and bone.
Also you get the shattering fragment of bone that help.
If to shoot high its the spine, low and its the heart
Left its the neck and right its lumgs.

Most deer hit in the magic trangle drop. Its like a stun gun hits them.
Im using hard cast this 2015 deer season out of my 44.

I have lost count of deer shot with cast bullets. The shoulder will provide aditional projectiles which in turn causes more trauma. That said I have shot a bunch of them right through the aorta with cast bullets and they just die.The 370grs at 1500fps from a .475 or .480 will do as much tissue damage as a expanding bullet when put right throuugh the heart and lungs. reflex264

New guy to forum here. Good reads. What cast recommendations are here in forum land for a 460 Smith. Looking forward to the dialog.

If you put a toothpick thru the aorta they die. As sure a death as there is.

Tradmark,
Sounds like a quote from Yoda!