Is No 2 hard enough for a bear load?

COREY

COREY

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I have a concoction of lead that is about 20 lbs of wheel weights (probably 15 lbs after smelting) with 1 lb of 50/50 solder. Buddy hardness tested it for me at 16 bhn.

Been using it for 38 and 45 Colt cowbot loads and it works wonderfully. I just got a Chiappa Mare's Leg and a crabine stock. Wanted to make a magnum bear load for it. Been reading all the place about bullet hardness and thought I would ask here if a 250gr bullet with that mix would be sufficient to make a good bear bullet.
 
16bhn would be plenty hard enough for a hunting bullet the shape has a lot to do with effectiveness swc are the preferred shape.
 
Semiwad cutters tend to punch a larger wound channel than round nose bullets. If the load is for the eventuality of encountering a predatory bear whatever you have is way better than nothing. If you are actually going hunting them I would recommend a swc style bullet.
 
The bullet mold is a cowboy mold the flat point is really flat. If was looking at the flat point on tje SWC Lee mold and the cowboy mold I have has a wider flat point.
 
My boolit testing medium is mewspapers. I collect a winter's worth and stack them in a cardboard box (free from work)
I shoot my hunting prospects into the paper to get an idea of how they will work. I use jacketed as a comparison.
Most of my lead boolits mushroom as nice or nicer than the jacketed. And I don't push them as fast, saving on powder.
Not too sure what my lead tests at for hardness, but I shoot a pretty soft boolit: 50:50 PB to Wheelweight.
I also paperpatch, but that's to get some of my 308 boolits up to 314 or so for my 303 British...
 
Lionel said:
My boolit testing medium is mewspapers. I collect a winter's worth and stack them in a cardboard box (free from work)
I shoot my hunting prospects into the paper to get an idea of how they will work. I use jacketed as a comparison.
Most of my lead boolits mushroom as nice or nicer than the jacketed. And I don't push them as fast, saving on powder.
Not too sure what my lead tests at for hardness, but I shoot a pretty soft boolit: 50:50 PB to Wheelweight.
I also paperpatch, but that's to get some of my 308 boolits up to 314 or so for my 303 British...
Click to expand...

did you loose any part of the bullet?
 
That bullet will do the job just fine.

Cast lead reacts differently than jacketed bullets with SOFT lead cores.

It doesn't tend to deform as much or break up into bits and pieces.

Your bullet will be for a short range rig, so velocities won't be spectacular. Hopefully, your mold has a groove at the bottom for a gas check.

For the velocities you want to achieve, a gas check is a must.

If you're only going to pistol velocities or even cowboy action velocities, you might get away without a gas check.
 
bearhunter said:
Your bullet will be for a short range rig, so velocities won't be spectacular. Hopefully, your mold has a groove at the bottom for a gas check.

For the velocities you want to achieve, a gas check is a must.

If you're only going to pistol velocities or even cowboy action velocities, you might get away without a gas check.
Click to expand...

He could also powder coat them and push them as fast as he likes with no worries...

DANS40X said:
OP,
Throw a couple ounces of hardened shot in your mix.
Flux it & stir well
Cast away @ 20Bhn.
Click to expand...

A couple ounces of hardened shot in a 21lb pot of lead isn't going to make a difference. There isn't anything wrong with his alloy so he really should just get casting.
 
I killed a bear with a semi-wadcutter / gas checked .357 which had hard cast lead. I did not test it except by
dragging thumb nail across it. It was hard to mark & killed.
 
B said:
He could also powder coat them and push them as fast as he likes with no worries...



A couple ounces of hardened shot in a 21lb pot of lead isn't going to make a difference. There isn't anything wrong with his alloy so he really should just get casting.[/QUOTE]

I was wondering about that comment as well. Does anybody have a formula for adding hard shot to a WW alloy with a hardness of around 12 to bring it up to 20 or so.
My kid brother is dismantling his son's junior dragster and was just going to throw the 30 lbs of lead shot counter balance containers away until I got wind of it. I have 300 lbs of WW igots & 200 lbs of pure lead that could use a spice-up.
Click to expand...
 
Unfortunately I’ve not yet taken a bear with cast but I hope to do that this year. From about a dozen or so deer I’ve found that 35 &45 cal FLAT NOSE CAST bullets perform wonderfully out to about 130+ yards. The 35’s were 250gr, the 45’s were 300 & 405gr. I usually try for ABOUT 16BHN but one year I made an error & loaded 22BHN(?), both worked. I recommend trying your load in SOAKING WET NEWSPAPER to verify performance. Place a garbage bag in a box about 12-16” cubed and fill it with FLAT LAYERED newspaper to fill the box. A milk box is perfect. Fill the STUFFED BAG with as much water as it can absorb over a day or 2. It will have the consistency of meat when fully wet and weigh a LOT. To me, this test medium is the BEST/CHEAPEST I’ve found to replicating bullet performance on animal tissue WITHOUT HITTING BONE.
Using a box this size will allow you to test 4-6 bullets. You can peel back the LAYERED newspaper and get a good visual of the expansion & depth of the wound, HOWEVER the depth of penetration in the box is only ABOUT 1/2 of what really occurs.
 
45 colt 1100fps 280 grain SWC less than 10bhn
No 2 alloy is plenty hard.
Stomp

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Medveq, it depends on the bullets I suppose. I never think to weigh them after i recover them.
I might lose 10% bullet weight if it's a soft flat nose.
I shot a pure linotype boolit out of a 303 and it did not deform other than rifling and a lost gascheck.
I could have reloaded the linotype with no problem.
Some boolits do tumble, while others mushroom beautifully.
 
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