A very unscientific opinion on Cast bullet shap for game.

[tj3006]

I must reiterate I have never shot an animal with a handgun, and so i would not blame you if you just skipped this thread.
  But I have shot lots of them in Various calibers into a bunch of different targets. And it is plain to see that the SWC shape bullet spreads energy outward from the center. If I shoot a Chunk of wood with a RN or WFN there is a whole through the wood.
Sometimes the wood breaks up and or has big cracks in it. 
  When I hit a similar target with a SWC chunks fly in all directions.  plainly to me anyway, The same flat surface that cuts neat round holes in paper creates an outward shockwave of energy that emanates from the center.
  I can only assume that when Going through a deer or elk, that energy leas a wake like a boat through water leaves a wake. 
  When I am packing a revolver in the woods, It will have a heavy for caliber SWC in it loaded to around 1200 fps. 
   Am I onto something here?

[webber]

Are we to assume that you are speaking of brick bat hard tough alloy bullets or alloy that is so soft that nose deformation takes place to some degree or a hardness between the two extremes?
No HP's correct?

[bigbore5]

I've shot plenty of animals with both types. The LBT style wfn and wide meplat swc designs seem to kill the same as hollow points on light game but far out perform them on things over 250 pounds. And I have shot a bunch of critters.

For our light body deer it's the 640 design hp. Everything else is a Keith or my design swc.

[tj3006]

The Bullets I shoot most are from RIM ROCK. They Run between 12 and 15 BHN.
Her in Oregon, where I hunt there are some really big deer. My Biggest buck was around 250 Lbs. I shot him with a 150 grain Speer hot core from a .308. My shot a bit high, and the buck spun in a circle for about 10 seconds before he dropped.
This year I will be using the same rifle with factory 150 grain Cor locked Remington's. But I think My Ruger 44 special with a 240 grain Rim Rock SWC will be on my hip. If I get a close shot, I will use it. ...tj

[AxeHandle]

Makes me think of our 6x6x16 ballistic gel play last week. 454 JSPs out of 2.5, 8, and 20 inch barrels over the chrono and into the gel. Ammo box said 1900 fps. 2.5 inch ran a little over 1400 fps. Gel block had a spasm and jumped off the table with a little side step. Eight inch ran about 1700 and the gel jumped straight off the back of the table. Twenty inch ran over 2000fps. Gel block came to life and energetically sprang off the back of the table. In all cases the bullets passed completely through the 16 inch blocks. As a follow up we put two 16 inch blocks end to end and shot them with the 20 inch barrel. The bullet stopped about 1/3 through the second block. Running the video slow the first block looked like a fat snake getting ready to strike as it jumped straight up and off the table. ...and the boss paid us to do all this...

[iwsbull]

Would love to see the videos, if possible.

[bigbore5]

If you ever want to swap jobs with me, Axehandle, I would gladly!

[sixshot]

Those gel blocks don't lie! A RN bullet mostly just pushes tissue (flesh) out of the way, a WFN or SWC disrupts tissue & the faster you drive it the more destructive it gets to a certain point. But there are other factors also. The size of the meplat, the bullet hardness & the rotation of the moon, not really.
I agree with the 640 nose style, it's hard to beat, put that in a HP with the correct alloy & you will eat venison all year. I recently did a podcast on another forum explaining how I cast my bullets & what alloy I use but I didn't get to finish, I wanted to finish up by saying there are lots of ways to cast bullets & certainly mine isn't the only way. Many people have great success casting totally different than I do & I have no problem with that, I was simply telling how I cast my bullets & how they have been successful for me but it's not the only way to cast good bullets. I think many casters have a better handle on how to cast than I do.

Dick

[longoval]

Dick,

How would one find this podcast? I am very interested and have just started listening to podcasts.

[sixshot]

We did it last week on Handgun Hunters International, not sure when Ryan will run it. Said it will be in two episodes.

Dick

[iwsbull]

Please be sure to let us know when it will run.

[longoval]

That's great. I have listened to every episode so far of the HHI podcast. I have heard from several of our members here on it -- Fermin, Randy, Trapr, maybe more. Not to mention Bowen and Reeder. It's a very entertaining and informative podcast.

[iwsbull]

Will have to get on there and see if I can find the past ones as well.

[2 Dogs]

Sept 5, 2023 13:53:50 GMT -5 longoval said:

That's great. I have listened to every episode so far of the HHI podcast. I have heard from several of our members here on it -- Fermin, Randy, Trapr, maybe more. Not to mention Bowen and Reeder. It's a very entertaining and informative podcast.

If you join HHI you can listen in about 2 weeks sooner.

[longoval]

I am a member, thanks!