Hunting with 45-70 405gr hard cast?
- Thread starter Camper
- Start date
madtrapper143
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Steep Rock Lake NWO
I shot a whitetail buck last fall in the upper brisket just off centre on a facing shot at 90 yards. The bullet was a 20 plus BNH .460" 405 grain plain base from Jet bullets. It was travelling @1400 fps out of my 1895 Marlin .45-70. The bullet chopped off 4 ribs crossed through the deer's boiler room wrecking both lungs and liver. It was recovered under the loose flank hide at the hindquarter on the off side. The deer dropped on the spot and did not even kick. The bullet nose was slightly smeared but you could reload and re lube and shoot it again. I believe that on any broadside shot hopes of bullet recovery would be futile. Bullet profile is important the Jet bullet has a very large meplat greatly increasing the impact and effect of the bullet.
Darryl
Darryl
I use the same 405 gr from bullet barn. For plinking and soon hunting. Plan on hunting elk, moose and deer. I was slightly worried they might be too hard and shatter. I still a had an elk front leg/ shoulder from last years kill so I used it in a few tests. I lined up 6 milk jugs filled with water and put the leg bone in front and shot through both the leg and shoulder.. no bullets recovered.....they penetrated all six milk jugs with single holes( no evidence of shattering or fracturing) and punched right through close to 5' of water.
I have no issue hunting with them.
Those bullet barn bullets test out to about 22BHN not 25 as the web site states. ( I live close to the shop and have talked with the owner personally) both his and my tester but it at 21-22 bhn. Great accurate bullet for both CB action, plinking, and hunting IMO.
I'm running two loads in my marlin dark
13gr of red dot @ 1080fps, and
51.4 gr imr 3031 @ 1650fps.
The huge meplate on the barns bullet will cut a huge hole and run at velocities below 1600fps will measure penetration in feet rather than inches. These bullets won't kill by hydrostatic shock like faster jacketed bullets but rather by cutting huge holes causing blood loss. Kills might not be as dramatic but the critter will end up just as dead. Good luck this season, hope you get a booner
I have no issue hunting with them.
Those bullet barn bullets test out to about 22BHN not 25 as the web site states. ( I live close to the shop and have talked with the owner personally) both his and my tester but it at 21-22 bhn. Great accurate bullet for both CB action, plinking, and hunting IMO.
I'm running two loads in my marlin dark
13gr of red dot @ 1080fps, and
51.4 gr imr 3031 @ 1650fps.
The huge meplate on the barns bullet will cut a huge hole and run at velocities below 1600fps will measure penetration in feet rather than inches. These bullets won't kill by hydrostatic shock like faster jacketed bullets but rather by cutting huge holes causing blood loss. Kills might not be as dramatic but the critter will end up just as dead. Good luck this season, hope you get a booner
I have a bunch of campro 405gr they are lead but copper plated and I have been wondering about how those would work in a hunting situation as well ? I assume they would just work like any other cast bullet but really cannot find any google information on people using copper plated bullets just straight cast and factory. Their website says they are 98% lead 2% antimony and 0.008" copper plating, I like them because you don't have to mess with straight lead and lubes when loading
buck knife
CGN Regular
- Location
- Golden forest
Good round for deer and black bear would be the old school remington 405 grain flat nose ,they are great medium game /light skinned big game loads.
Good luck finding them though
My 2018 fall black bear was taken at 40 yards with a 350gr HC gas checked from bullet barn @ 1400fps. Broadside double lung shot, complete pass through, no bullet recovery. Recovered the bear about 30 yards from where I shot it.
The 400 grain or heavier hard cast are fine game bullets, no need to push them past 1600 fps you will gain nothing except marginally flatter trajectory, and they are hard to stop. expansion may be limited but they are already larger than most expanding bullets end up at. Meat loss is also minimal. The 525 Postel from bullet barn will completely penetrate the length of a deer in a straight line and keep going when launched at 1300. One of the best thing about hard cast is they are relatively cheap, and finding heavy .458 jacketed bullets these days is near impossible.
campro has .458 heavy plated bullets they are very reasonably priced only a few bucks more then cast, I have the 405 for my 45-70 lever action but they have 450, 500, 550 gr bullets that are more pointed and not flat faced so not really used for tube fed mags but if your shooting other .458 you might want to check those out
I have 6 45/70 ‘s and 3 .458’s I shoot a lot of the campro bullets, I really like the 350 one I think it is made for the .458 socom it’s a bit pointy so it feeds beautifully in my Zastava Mauser. Iam lucky I stock up a few years ago, Iam sitting on about 800 bulk Remington 405’s several hundred Hornady 350’s and even a few boxes of the old Hornady 500 SP’s and even some old 500 Hornady FMJ’s
Ive wondered how theyd hold up with a mild load in my 458wm
huntingfish
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Quebec City
Not sure if they were hard cast or not, but a friend had a 45-70 and man-O-man, did it drop a moose we were tracking like a ton of bricks. Wow! What a caliber. Milliseconds after a shot from a 300 winmag failed to drop him in place.
Daylight was fading fast and we had been tracking this moose for a few hours after a sub-optimal shot...we finally reached him. He got up but didn't start running away immediately. It was agreed upon that someone in our party would shoot him with his 300 winmag, but if he didn't drop right away, my friend would fire as well.
The 300 probably did the trick, but we couldn't risk him running off!
David
Daylight was fading fast and we had been tracking this moose for a few hours after a sub-optimal shot...we finally reached him. He got up but didn't start running away immediately. It was agreed upon that someone in our party would shoot him with his 300 winmag, but if he didn't drop right away, my friend would fire as well.
The 300 probably did the trick, but we couldn't risk him running off!
David
All kinds of good advice I’m gleaning from you experts. I’ve found a couple of bags (nice and heavy , too) of Campro 300 Grain FN copper plated booolits. They are currently exiting the barrel at 1225 fps average. Looking forward to hunting with these boooolits this coming November deer / rifle season.
Picture of my Marlin 1895 GSBL. It’s a fabulous shooter….
Cheers, Barney
Peace Be The Journey!
Picture of my Marlin 1895 GSBL. It’s a fabulous shooter….
Cheers, Barney
Peace Be The Journey!
