358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
Base quenching cast bullets only lasts for a short time, a week or two at best. The partially tempered alloy will finish hardening to the same bhn from base to nose in short order. We tried it. We don't know exactly what you're planning to hunt, nor do we know which caliber/bullet design/velocity you plan to hunt with, so it's difficult for us to speak beyond general guidelines. Cast bullets kill game best when we don't rely on expansion as a critical part of the process, good hunting bullets kill game by design, not features. @Ben has had success with cast hollowpoints on deer, and hopefully he'll join us here.Do you use Lyman #2 or do you cast with an unknown alloy with a desired bhn? Do you pour into a FN bullet mold with a specific alloy or do you you water drop and then remove the tempering from the tip by submerging the base into - say - ice water while heating the temp. I read in an African hunting forum that one caster test loads his cast bullets for accuracy and then adds lead until the printed groups start to spread.
I was trying to get set up for using 330 gr 458 cast hollowpoints for deer earlier this year, but I was approaching the project from the wrong angle entirely. I wanted to shoot a deer with a 458 hollowpoint, but a .458 doesn't really need a hollowpoint to begin with. I bought a different mould for this, 60 grains heavier (390 gr), and with a really good meplat. Then the hunting trip got cancelled. Maybe next year.
Several years ago I shot a doe with a 307 Winchester using a standard 30/30 Lyman design 311291, a 170 gr roundnose. No hollowpoint, the bullet was cast from range scrap. A one shot stop, the doe dropped at the shot and never got back up. Perfect bullet performance? Nope, frontal neck shot, through and through. There was no evidence of expansion.
The year before that, a good sized doe at just under 50 yards, a decent offhand snap shot. She snuck up on me. 45/70, 350 gr cast RCBS. She didn't make it to the fence another 50 yards away. What do these two stories have in common? Just me, everything else was different. We all have lots of stories.