Cast Bullets and Hunting

[AlbertaSheepdog]

This is probobly a stupid question, but this year will be my first time hunting, and ive only been in the shooting sports scene for about a year.

Can you hunt with lead cast rifle bullets in Canada? If so, what are the possitives (asside from cost) and the negatives to using them?

I got into reloading in the last few months, and plan on casting my own pistol rounds. I figured if I can use lead cast for hunting then I might as well do them as well.

 

[BigUglyMan]

Yes you can. The only negative is that you can't drive them fast. But you don't need to. I use them in my 45-70 and they drive big holes through things. Big holes work nicely for putting meat in the freezer.

 

[Jeepguy]

shot a nice white tail doe a couple years back with cast outta my 45-70. worked like a charm

 

[Longwalker]

A generalization: If you have a large caliber rifle, .35 plus, then your rifle, shooting well made and appropriate cast bullets can kill most big game cleanly at moderate velocity and moderate range. If you are using a modern high velocity arm .30 cal and smaller, cast bullets may not be very reliable on anything bigger than deer.
Cast bullets are generally not driven over 1800 fps or so in most rifles by most shooters, so bullet weight and sectional density are important. So is alloy composition and a bunch of other technical stuff.
I am an experienced big game hunter and reloader, but even I am a little shy of the experience and confidence I'd need to do much hunting of big game with cast bullets. I plan to start this year with my 45-70, a very cast bullet friendly round.
I suggest that you experiment on targets, have fun, and when you're confident enough, go forth and slay some game with cast bullets. I'm sure you'll find it rewarding.

 

[AlbertaSheepdog]

so would something like a .308 or 30-06 cast lead be advisable? what about something like a 7mm rem mag?

and what is the reason cast bullets are not put down the pipe at higher velocity? im assuming it has something to do with the softness of the metal and barrel fouling that comes along with it... resulting in an inaccurate round.

 

[BigUglyMan]

so would something like a .308 or 30-06 cast lead be advisable? what about something like a 7mm rem mag?

and what is the reason cast bullets are not put down the pipe at higher velocity? im assuming it has something to do with the softness of the metal and barrel fouling that comes along with it... resulting in an inaccurate round.

You could do either the 308 or 30-06 with cast bullets but you'll have to throttle them back significantly. You could use gas checks but that's not a completely foolproof system. Plus cast bullets don't expand all that much so you want to start out with a bigger hole rather than a smaller hole. Modern centerfire rifles were designed to push bullets fast which is why bullets evolved to have jackets.

Cast bullets, when driven too fast for a given alloy, will heavily foul your barrel quickly. I get a little lead out of my 45-70 but the bullets are driven quite fast (1950 FPS with a 418 gr cast bullet) but it's not very much. If you try to run a 180gr cast bullet at 2500 fps out of a 30-06 and you'll see what a leaded bore looks like.

 

[trevj]

If your cast bullets are not expanding correctly, your alloy is too hard. Your alloy may be too hard, if it was leading before you went to the harder alloy...etc.

All part of the huge amount of variables to deal with when shooting cast bullets.

Check out the Castboolits Forum. Lots of data there.

The smaller bore, higher performance cartridges can be shot with cast, but the present their own difficulties, mostly because they were designed around working well with jacketed bullets.

One way to 'cheat' the physics a bit, is to look at paper patch ammo, where the bullet gets a wrap or two of wet paper, and is allowed to dry before being sized and loaded. This technique has it's own set of issues.
Most end up shooting a considerably heavier bullet, slower, than they would shoot at jacketed velocities. Lots of guys were shooting cast in 30-06, for mid to long range target shooting. No issues with using those same bullets for hunting, but you have to know you trajectory better than or at least as well as, the jacketed bullet loads.

In a general sense, the big slow moving bullet carries a great deal of energy and lets the light in to the critter shot with it. Too much light gets inside them, and they die pretty good, eh!

Cheers
Trev