My plan is to cast fairly soft tumble lube them and drive em as hard as accuracy allows.
Those two bullets - "RDO clones" will work just as you stated. I've not hunted with them, but have shot them just like you describe, just up to 1800 fps in the 357 - Rossi 92, H&R, Contender Carbine, 77/357 with an MGM Barrel. No leading and excellent accuracy at 50 yards, meaning five shots in under an inch with relative ease. I'm shooting the 359-190. The 190 uses home-made, aluminum gas checks. I did have to trim brass back (.020", I think) to get the 190s to cycle through the Rossi and the Ruger.
The 44 copy, at 265 grains is one I cast for a friend using it in a Smith 44 Mag and a Marlin 1894. He raves about "how well they shoot," but has not provided stats. He is an incredibly meticulous and picky person, so I take his word.
The 44 bullet was the first RDO design I tried and was so pleased that I ended up with a 22 cal, 30 cal, (2) 35 cals, as well as the 44. All have yielded wonderful accuracy. The 22 is the only one I've "hunted" with and it was a very mild target load in the 222, but it was handy, as was the 722, so that is what I used to dispatch a sickly 'coon one day. The little 50-grainer removed 2/3 of his head and distributed it in an oblique "shadow" of pinkish-gray patch for about three feet behind him.
I cast these from straight wheel weights or 50/50 wheel weights/pure lead and bullets recovered from a dirt bank tend to look like a little forearm with a fist on it, when the dirt is wet.
That's all I've got. Never shot a deer with any of them and hove only shot to 50 and 65 yards.
