A bit of cast testing

R

Rushcreek

Well-Known Member
Yesterday I was testing some of the new? Hornady 6.8/.277" 1100 bthp bullets for expansion in wet magazine stack. They did very well.
I got to wondering about the Lee C278135 bullets that I'm enjoying in my new 6.8 AR. So, I shot a couple into the medium at 100yds. Penetration was about 16" for both. At the end of the wound cavity I found a small chunk of lead still hanging on to the gas check. At about 8-10" in, the cavity was quarter sized in both instances. Apparently lead was being shed along the path in small pieces. I didnt recover any pieces- but i didnt sift through the pulp much. I'm using my own range scrap for these bullets. It's not as hard as wheelweights according to my hammer test
I'm still waiting on a new phone so sorry no pics.
I'll try them on a pig if I get a chance to see how they do on meat.
Since they didn't stay together in the medium, I don't think that they are too hard for hunting.
Your thoughts are welcome.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
From all I have read the 6.8 is a bacon maker with decent bullets. I didn't know Lee finally came out with a .270 bullet, it's about time. Their 7mm round nose shot well for me in the 7mm-08 at some pretty brisk speeds from relatively soft alloy but I never ended up hunting with it.

13 bhn wheelweights plus 1% tin air cooled and aged blows the hell out of porky even in spire point form and keeps going, I think your alloy will be just fine.
 
R

Rushcreek

Well-Known Member
Not a hog but a cull buck.
I hope that I didn't mess up posting the sorry pic- my poor phone is hurt.
Anyway, it took this spike cull buck @ 60 yardswith the cast load. A high lung shot, he simply walked out of sight after the shot- but I found him just on the other side of a big tree- ten feet from the road (damn the luck)
The 135 Lee kept sailing on through after pulping the lungs with a two finger exit hole. It sure is a rush to use homemade bullets- I killed another spike yesterday with cast from my 38-55.
This afternoon I'm holding out for a very close range doe to try my .45auto out to pull a CAST Hat Trick( for you hockey fans)....
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R

Rushcreek

Well-Known Member
I'm getting good results on paper with 22 grs of AA2015, old Remington 6-1/2 primers, and the Lee bullet. Today in a brisk North crosswind, I managed 3 shots in 1/2" @40yds, then 8 shots in just under 2" @100yds.
Less brisk than my 3031 load, but I don't mind.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
speed isn't everything... unless your trying to get a bullet to perform a certain way.

i make a lot of my own jacketed bullets and compare them to store bought stuff as often as i can.
one suspect got specified a muzzle velocity of about 2675 after a couple of tests, and some slight modifications.
put it anywhere near the shoulder and you got a dead deer within about 10 steps from where it was.

after modifying an rcbs 180gr. spire point mold to take a .474" long ring of copper, i found it's speed was best in the 2350-2400 fps range.
30 cal hole in and just under 50 cent piece hole out, shoulders or diaphragm.

the 30-30 gets a 150 FN at 1800- 2000, more speed does not help, it makes things worse, unless your into blood shot meat.
speeding it up to about 2350 or so for varmint shooting... LOL the 223 with varmint bullets ain't got nuthin.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
put a wwish alloy 30 cal [or larger] flat point bullet down range anywhere near 1900 fps. hit the deer in the front half of it's body, or drive the bullet into the front half, and i'll actually put a guarantee on the results.
it will penetrate and have enough internal damage down to low mid range hand gun velocity impact speeds.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Yeah, I should have added the caveat of at least 7mm. Thats as small as I've gone really. I do have some lovely 25's that should work, but there needs to be some frontal cross section. Same for the 6.5. It'll kill, just becomes a matter of how long. Again, the "bust the shoulders" idea can work there. Didn't Carpetman do a lot of work with a 6mm cast deer bullet? He was in Texas IIRC.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
he did some a while back.... quite a while back.
he's moved on to the 223 for his deer hunting.... not with cast though.

i still talk to Ray.

funny story.
you remember his Dallas cowgirl avatar and him being a big cowboys fan?
his wife picked out the colors for their house and he ended up painting it green with yellow trim.
it didn't dawn on him those are the packers colors until i pointed it out to him.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i will let him know.
i think he asked me about you about 6 months back, now that i think about it.
he's aware of this site but ?? [shrug]
 
Maven

Maven

Well-Known Member
By any chance are you two (Bret & fiver) referring to Carpetman? I miss him and if it is C-man, give him my regards as well.
 
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