I almost always used jacketed bullets in my handguns when hunting
but since getting a 475 you really don`t need much expansion because of the large diameter and just like jacketed, some cast bullets are more accurate then others....I just never realized how much.How many of you guys shoot cast when hunting??

I have used cast bullets as my first choice for the last 40 years for target and hunting in revolvers, autos ( recoil operated NOT gas operated guns ) and single shots. Initially, it was a matter of economics and interest. Now it is a matter of interest and results. New molds are available from a host of manufacturers and "older" molds are frequently available on the auctions. Molds with varied sizes of meplats are available, as are a host of production cast bullet companies, if you can't or don't want to cast your own. Try'em you like'em!

I have been thinking of switching over to Cast for my 44. Just haven't picked a bullet yet. Any suggestions?

Jeremy,

Depends on what your intended use is. For large or tough game a 300-310 grain with a wide meplat is about right. A velocity in the 1100-1200 fps range is more than adequate. For targets, smaller game, etc., the 225-240 grain bullet works well.

In my 454 the 335-grain Cast Perfomance as well as the 360-grain Oregon Trail True Shot work really well for me. The Oregon Trail is a little more accurate but both are great bullets. In the 44 magnum I like the True shot the best. It is a 310-grain flat-nose. The 320-grain CP is also a good bullet seated to the rear canulure but I would give the edge to the True Shot. What ever you go with I would highly recommend a gas-check.

ClayFHT can you share your recipe for that 335 gr load?

I use nothing but cast bullets in my hunting revolvers. As you pointed out, the .475 already has the diameter with no need for expansion. A wide meplat will do more damage than you can imagine. I use a 420 grain bullet that was designed by a friend that is pretty much a cross between and LFN and a WFN. I push it to 1,350 fps. Does it need to go that fast? Nope, but the accuracy is so good, I won't mess with it. Oh, and they are cheaper than jacketed bullets.

for what I hunt which is muley and blacktail deer, antelope, black bear, cougar and elk I prefer a premium jacketed bullet which in .458,.452, and .429 I use the Nosler partitions I will use the Hornady XTP MAGS in .452,.475, and .500. but I also load hardcast for my guns but for me personally I get better accuracy from the jacketed stuff. If I was going to Africa for cape buff or elephand I'd either use a hard cast or a monolithic solid. If I were overmatching the gun against the animal, say a 44 or 41 mag against a mature elk then hardcast would be the way to go in my opinion.

Rod, I would agree with you except I don't like the partition for elk. I've shot smaller game with them and I would be surprised to get complete penetration reliably on an elk sized critter. Not that the bullet won't kill one because it certainly will, but I would be a bit worried about recovering the animal. I would go with a tough jacketed soft point or a hard cast bullet.

The load I use is 26.5 grains of WW296. The load is safe in my gun and is not a max load. However, I would suggest you work up from 25.0 grains and see how it shoots in your gun.

I shoot cast 95% of the time in my .41, .44's, and .45's. I use Cast Performance almost exclusively. When I shoot jacketed, it's Hornady's.

That's the same charge I use........

I got a bunch of cast bullets, but I am getting tons of smoke when I load with them.

Any ideas how to get the smoke down when using cast?

From what I have read its the lube. I am using Missouri bullets in 255grn and 300grn for .460 S&W. They use Thompson's Blue Angel lube which is supposed to be good lube.

They shoot great, but the smoke is way to much at the indoor range.

James, I was like you. Used to, I never even considered cast bullet....jacketed only. Then I got addicted to this site and was reading all the talk about hardcast and said, can't hurt to try. I first tried cast in my 44 SBHH and the results were amazing! The 300 gr WFNGC, Montana Bullet Works, chunk of lead was the most accurate projectile to ever leave that barrel. Then I loaded the same bullet (.475, 375 gr) in my 475 linebaugh and was just as pleased. Both these guns loved the cast bullets. I haven't had the pleasure of field testing on an animal yet, but I'm sure there'll be no problem.




Jeremy, the load I'm shooting in my Blackhawk Hunter is (safe in my gun) a 300 gr WFNGC hardcast by Montana Bullet Works, pushed with 19.0 grs of H110. I can't post pics with my cell phone, but if you look in the bragging board, you can see it's a very accurate load in my gun. The MBW hardcast are just like the Cast Performance (LBT style), but at a much cheaper price and they have a larger selection.

It's not just economical, but their penetration is second only to a bullet like the Punch.

I mentioned the partitions because so far they are best jackedted I'd found, I like the XTP Mag as it's very stout for being a hollow point but I haven't had great luck with sierra or speer. I've thought about trying some of the Hawk bullets and in fact I was told at one time that Hawk was making the FA bullets and of course there is barnes but aside from being more expensive than the Noslers there is just something about them I don't care for. I have seen partitions do very well in standard rifle calibers and I had a buddy use them on a bison hunt in his marlin 1895 and I was thinking about running them in my marlin for elk this year because of erratic performance from the Hornady's I used last year. Because of caliber limitations I've only used the handgun partitions in44 and 45 but they were the favorite of my 460 smith and shooting into a bunch of two by fours on end it opened perfectly and split the 2x4 4feet down the middle, not very scientific but impressive and I got rid of the gun before I ever hunted with it. although I have never shot an elk with these calibers or bullets using what other knowledge I have I'd say as earlier with a 41 or 44 and elk I'd definitely go hard cast I've shot elk with 300win, 300 wthby, 375Rum 45-70 and the only pass through I got was with the 45-70 and 350gr Hornady round nose but one passed through ribs on both sides and buried in the off shoulder socket but the other shot got him in the guts and all i found was the jacket and some small pieces of lead. I guess my point is even with hard cast your not guaranteed a exit wound especially with a 44 if it were a 454 under 100yds I'd say almost definitely even end to end. My elk handguns wich in all honesty are still virgins are my 475 with the 2x Leupy and 400gr XTP's, my Contender 375JDJ with 260gr accubonds and once I get my 500 Linebaugh where I want it I'll be running 435gr CP wfngc @ 1400fps.

all i shoot are cast bullets. from 38sp all the way up to my 480 ruger. cast all myself with many deffernet molds. cast a 140gr hollow point that i shoot out of both the 38 and 357mag, 300 gr wfngc in the 45 colt and the 460, 310gr wfngc in the 44mag, and the 400gr wfnpb in the 480ruger, some of my guns have never had a jacketed bullet out of them. my favorite kill with cast bullets was a whitetail buck. i was on my way to help a friend and his wife drag out a deer she had just killed. i was headed down the trail when i came across this buck feeding. i only had my gp100 with a 4in barrel on me. took aim at 40 yards took the shot he ran about 20 yards and piled up. damage was massive i was shooked by what i saw from this little bullet. best i could tell the hollow point of this bullet blow up inside the deer and the base exited. i am sure we have all seen deer run father then that hit with high power rifles.

I'd really like to get into casting but I have too many pans in the fire now.

I love to cast, but it can be time consuming.

A little frustrating when just getting started also. Nice to see what your own bullets can do when it all comes together though.

Doc: That has been my experience with the .44 mag. I use a 300 gr. Hard cast Gas checked bullet sized .431 in that velocity range. It has penetrated broadside Caribou at 125 and 165 yds. It is very accurate. It is deadly on deer and antelope. I have used Hornady's 300 gr. XTP with good results but prefer the 300 gr hard cast gas checked bullets.
Flyrodder

P.S.,I forgot to mention that I'm a newbie on this forum but I'm a Old Handgunner in real life. I was glad I found this site.

all i use is 240grn cast in my 44. plinking, hunting, woods bumin, ect. its done all ive ever needed

James,
I generally prefer to use jacketed bullets, but have taken big game with hardcast bullets in .357 (158 SWC), .44 Mag. (240 SWC & 300 WFN), .475 L (420 WFN) and .500WE (370 WFNGC).
In the .475, I've used 25, 25.6 & 26 gr. of H110 and Fed 210's with the 420 WFN on game, finally settling on 25 gr. which performs as well with less knuckle punishment.
On deer size game, I still prefer to use JHP's but a good hard cast bullet can really come into its own on truly large game. I kept a .475 420 gr. WFN that penetrated 7 feet of Argentine water buffalo, entering the chest , traversing the length of the body to the hip where it turned and went down the leg to the "knee". It could be relubed and loaded again, as the nose was only smudged.

I have found in my handguns cast bullets are more accurate.I have not hunted with them yet but have done lots of testing.This deer season will tell the tell.It is more economical to load.But like many have said for all animals you hunt what more could you need than a .475 entrance wound and a .475 exit wound.From my test @ 1100 fps it will be closer to an inch than you think.

I'm with you James and you too 500WE. I prefer a jacketed bullet to hard cast unless I'm expecting to shoot something very large or something that I might have discourage from biting me. I've used cast bullets with excellent success with a couple of exceptions. Those exceptions have been with slightly high shots not doing much damage to the lungs and missing the spine. A cast bullet sent high behind the shoulder at best leads to a long tracking job in my experience.

That was exactly what happened to me on a big 3x3 mulie with my 45-70 BFR and 440gr CP. I saw where the buck was hit and it looked like a high lung shot, there was a quarter sized dark spot where the I hit the buck, but we couldn't find any sign anywhere and we looked for about an hour until dark and then the next morning for another four or five hours making circles out from where I hit him. He buckled at the impact but after that he was moving and we never found any sign. I know for a fact it was a pass through because the shot was only 50yds and my loads were chrono'd at 1660fps but I apparently found a spot that didn't bleed much.

James, the best HC bullets are made by a man in New Boston, New Hampshire. His name is Jae-Bok Young. His website is http://www.competitorpistol.com/jbyoung.html Just check out the website, you won't be sorry.

David

They won't bleed much from a hit like that. I've been fortunate and found several animals hit as such but I've also lost a couple that I know where hit there with hard bullets. It's no-man's land... I've also hit game there with an expanding bullet and had little trouble collecting them.

Not handgun shots, but I've shot 4 deer with hardcast in my Marlin Guide Gun 45/70 and am not impressed with the results. Bullet was a 405 WLN going 1500 FPS.

Except for 1 deer that moved as I pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the neck, none of them bled much, if any. Shots were high shoulder shots. I never recovered 2 of the 4 deer.

The next year, I switched to a 300 grain Hornady HP. The one deer I have shot with this bullet (heart/lung shot), ran about 30 yards but left a good blood trail.

Gents,

When dealing with bullets, jacketed and cast, a bullet is not just a bullet. You need to consider the design of the bullet, intended game,range, velocity at impact, bullet profile ( meplat ), shot placement, etc.. If the proper bullet is not selected, nor the point of impact appropriate, neither jacketed or cast will suffice. I've been hunting with cast and jacketed for over 40 years and found the aforementioned criteria more important than bullet type. We all have stories of lost game with jacketed and cast; and, the common denominator usually is shot placement. My 2 cents.

Doc

Well put, Doc!

That link doesn't work for some reason.......

Okay, it's http://www.competitor-pistol.com

those 550gr 45-70 Crater bullets look interesting, I may have to get some when I get my Marlin back from being repaired.

Rod, I was thinking the same thing!

You will not be sorry guys. The .500 bullets work great.