45-70 loads for deer.

Not trying to say that bullet expansion isn't a good thing, just don't agree that it is needed for the 45-70 to be effective.

Using that logic you should be able to increase an arrow shaft to .45" from .33" and, without a broadhead, use it as an effective deer killer that will drop them in their tracks.
 
Using that logic you should be able to increase an arrow shaft to .45" from .33" and, without a broadhead, use it as an effective deer killer that will drop them in their tracks.

Well, if you sped up an arrow shaft another 1,000 feet per second, it would have a great BC, but section density would suffer. And not hold together well.:p

I see these various caliber/velocity debates like I see boobs.....I like them all! Fast as lightning or slow and lumbering, they all have their place.
 
Using that logic you should be able to increase an arrow shaft to .45" from .33" and, without a broadhead, use it as an effective deer killer that will drop them in their tracks.

There are plenty of hunters on the net using hard cast .458 and dropping deer in their tracks. Do you believe them? Well that's up to you. But I would guess that most of them are speaking from first hand experience. Relating that to an arrow is not an apples to apples comparison. Like I said earlier, I plan on trying some hard casts on deer this season and will hopefully be one of those people speaking from first hand experience.
 
the bullets I cast were not even that hard, I shot a running bull moose in the hump, and picked him out of his tracks, literally crumpling him when he fell. I have shot moose with lots of other cartridges up to '06. they were nothing like this. I have come to the point where I like small cartridges that spin bullets very quick, like the swede, and cartridges that shoot bullets over 200 grains at modest velocity, and the 45/70
 
Yes...........I've shot truckloads of moose with 6.5x55 and the 156=160gr . Also seen them wilted with the 140gr Partitions.Harold
 
It's not the size of the "hole" that matters but rather the cavitation and damage to the surrounding tissues that happens during the energy transfer while the bullet is being deformed. Simply poking a .45 calibre hole through an animal will not the cause rapid blood loss needed to drop an animal within a reasonable time.

I think this has a GREAT deal to do with where you shoot them. If I can, I will always wait/manoeuvre for a shot low through the lungs; the heart continues to beat, and rapidly dumps all the blood out (with the help of gravity) into the chest cavity.

Generally I agree with you though.
 
I have two loads that work very well on deer and bears in my guide gun. First is 48g of rx7 and a rem 405 and second is 52g of 3031 with a 390g gas checked. I also have a few non gas checked 405 loads I use but those work the best. They never take more than one or two steps and flop.
 
If only expanding bullets kill why are there so many large caliber solids on the market? And why are they trusted when hunting game that hits back? .458" and larger calibers don't need expansion to cause tissue damage. They plow thru and kill well if placed correctly.

The 45/70 has similar energy as the 22250. Which would you hunt grizzly or buffalo with?

I've seen small fast expanding bullets fail. I've never seen a large flat hard bullet fail
 
...two broad options: fast n' flat, or slow n' fat...difference is between immediate kinetic e* transfer and momentum...100 years ago only the later was available...read up on early 19th c. effectiveness...elmer keith, paul matthews...20 years ago i shifted from the former to the later...haven't regretted this move at all...

best
 
Well, if you sped up an arrow shaft another 1,000 feet per second, it would have a great BC, but section density would suffer. And not hold together well.:p

I see these various caliber/velocity debates like I see boobs.....I like them all! Fast as lightning or slow and lumbering, they all have their place.

Beautiful...sig line worthy!
 
It's not the size of the "hole" that matters but rather the cavitation and damage to the surrounding tissues that happens during the energy transfer while the bullet is being deformed. Simply poking a .45 calibre hole through an animal will not the cause rapid blood loss needed to drop an animal within a reasonable time.

Some bullets such as the solid copper expanding types work to cause excessive bleeding by cutting the wound track open similar to the action of a broadhead on an arrow rather than the sheer blunt-force trauma of a standard lead bullet.

Unless you are going for central nervous system hit - spine or brain - animals die though blood loss. The more rapid the loss the quicker they pass out and drop.


For what it's worth my favorite 45-70 bullet for black bears and deer is the 330 Grain Gould hollow-point. It will expand reliably over a wide velocity range.

I think I have that 330gr mould somewhere. Should work like a hot damn.

Apparently the wide meplat causes considerable cavitation and leaves a larger permanent wound channel than a round nose style bullet. All my info on this subject comes from the debate between African hunters as to the better style of solid bullet - apparently the flat-nosed solids from Nosler, Barnes etc leave a larger permanent wound channel than the Woodleigh, Hornady and such.

Now I won't debate that a high-velocity (say 2200-2500 fps impact velocity) 30 caliber expanding bullet likely does more damage to tissue than a 45 caliber minimally-expanding bullet (don't want the game wardens to get the idea that cast bullets are non-expanding) loafing along at a moderate velocity, but you're probably getting comparable destruction. The trade off is expansion vs penetration. For most of what we're talking about on North America we're not too concerned with maximum penetration but I still like to have a healthy amount of penetration mixed with some expansion (or better yet, a bullet that starts out wide) to hedge my bets.
 
Apparently the wide meplat causes considerable cavitation and leaves a larger permanent wound channel than a round nose style bullet. All my info on this subject comes from the debate between African hunters as to the better style of solid bullet - apparently the flat-nosed solids from Nosler, Barnes etc leave a larger permanent wound channel than the Woodleigh, Hornady and such.


There is some evidence that the wide meplat, rather than causing cavitation and a wide temporary wound channel, may cause the bullet to yaw and tumble on contact with the heavy hide of a large animal like Cape buffalo. This tumbling will usually produce a fairly substantial temporary wound channel similar to what is found with an expanding bullet. The round nose solid on the other hand tends to be less prone to tumbling and will usually penetrate deeper on large dangerous game.

This "yaw & tumble" phenomena was used by the Brits when they designed a type of .303 bullet with a light-weigh nose using wood in the nose. They found their "weight to the rear bullets" were not only more stable at long range they also caused much greater damage on contact with the enemy when compared to the "standard" non-expanding bullets.
 
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I've shot the hornady 325 ftx on white tail and found that these projectiles bust up when they hit a rib bone. In fact the last white tail I shot had four or five exit wounds and a bunch of bullet chunks all through the internals so I've been looking for a projectile that will stay together and make one large exit.
 
ok I think ive made up my mind... I would like to cast some 350 to 450 grain hollow points of my own... (if anyone has a good mold that they would recommend, it would be much appreciated ) IF I cant get a mold and cast my own bullets in time for hunting season, ill just pick up some 405gr hard cast bullets from rusty wood trading co. and call it done.... anyone know the BC on those bullets?
 
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