Well I skinned my buck today & found the bullet! I think this might be the first cast bullet I've ever found although I must admit I quit looking a long time ago because they always went out the other side. Three things really surprised me about this, one I just mentioned and that is that I found the bullet. Second one is where I found it, and the third one is how this medium load could do what it did as far as penetration being that it was a hollow point bullet with a BHN of about 8-9.
As I mentioned earlier the buck was getting really nervous the last few steps so I stopped him with a soft grunt & he looked right at me but his body was turned just a tick to my right. The bullet did hit the big shoulder bone in the right shoulder and then destroyed the right lung, after that I didn't know until today. If it's cold enough I like to leave them hanging 5-6 days to age before skinning, that way you only have to skin them once. I had just starting skinning & hit the bullet with my knife blade, yikes!
That hollow point had went through the right lung, intestines & back to the LEFT hind quarter & stopped. I was totally not ready for that. I'm guessing the bucks live weight was about 140 lbs & my load was only 10 grs of Unique with the 245 gr. cast, powder coated HP & it still covered that much ground (meat) Of course the nose had sheared off, I expected that & kind of figured I wouldn't even find the bullet, or much of it being that soft but when I weighed it, it weighed 159.6 grs & had traveled almost perfectly straight across his body, even after driving through that big shoulder bone. The bullet did better than I expected really, being the Penta point HP.
I've shot very few animals with HP's over the years, always preferring Elmer's solids or LBT solids but I have stated a number of times that a HP at the correct hardness was probably a better mouse trap, I just hadn't followed my own advice except for a nice 4X4 3-4 years ago with the same bullet & load. That was a double lunger with an exit so no surprises there. I don't remember how fast this load is running, I'll have to check, I know it was going faster on the first deer because I was using my 10 1/2" Bisley.
This load really caught me off guard, I will use it again, maybe in a couple of weeks after I chase cow elk with the 480.









Dick

Thank you for the detailed description

There was an ole cowboy I once met who said " if you really know how to make `em, cast bullets will get the job done".... OK... so maybe I never met an ole cowboy but those words are true regardless and the person who knows more about casting and how they work has shown this in the above post and photos... Well done Dick Thompson...well done.....
PS- the elk/480HP will be interesting for sure...good luck

We are all cowboys at heart, nice shooting Dick!

I am not surprised I took the same shot a few years back on a Doe at 45 steps-- wound up going in the left shoulder and back to the out side of the right hip just under the skin I could see the lump in made in the skin-- the bullet was a 208 gr HP acww
mine was faster though - 1600+ from my .410 GNR -- blew off the nose and kept going. -- I have found one other cast bullet-- I shot a wounded doe in a slew as she tried to get away. The 240gr LBT from 5.5" .41 mag Redhawk hit the water 5-6" in front of her shoulder-- then into her and across behind the shoulder and stopped behind the other should just under the water-- I then stripped down to my BVDs and walked in the ice water about 6-8 ft and pulled her to shore-- I then stood in the sunshine until I had dried off then re dressed

Fun to find bullets and compare. Itd be interesting to see how the penetration woulda been if it was a solid and not a hollowpoint amd retained more weight and what the wound channels woulda been in comparison. Me, ill take the hp's and
The extra damage and ya had obviously good enough penetration.

Well, this is all new ground for me because I've used very few cast HP's in my life on big game. Also I've used very few jacketed HP's on big game so I really got a surprise today when I dug out that bullet all they way back by that hind quarter. Would it do it again, I don't know but I liked what I saw.
I've always swore by cast solids & they've always exited but it hasn't ever caused me a problem as far as killing & killing quick.
I'll say it again, I've preached a bit over the years that a good HP was probably a good idea for medium game like deer, antelope & similar game but I never followed my own advice until now other than that 4X4 buck I used the same load on 3-4 years ago.
Now I've got 12 days to get ready for a cow elk hunt with the 388 gr HP in the 480.

Dick