This is related to my 308 cast post. My buddy called me today where I skined and quartered my buck he said he found one of my bullets on the garage floor under the hide. Said I could reload it again ( Joking) Said it did not expand at all. I suppose this explains some what why the buck got back up. I will have to go with a flatter tip bullet as suggested and a softer alloy. Since I bought these I do not know what they alloyed at but I could scratch them but then the gun shop I go to said you can scratch lino if you try hard enough. Jim Note any one have any favorite alloys for hunting bullets? Is straight wheel weights to hard? I do have some soft lead and 50/50 solder on hand and the wheel weights. Jim

What's wrong with pure lead? I use 40:1 when I have to, but pure lead is my normal hunting alloy.

Brent

Most store bought cast bullets are too hard for hunting I think. Most of the time my bullets have been cast from straight wheel weights(WW)and I've never had any problem with expansion. If you make the bullets too soft, then they'll lead like hell. The WW I have are running around 12 BHN according to my LBT hardness tester. My usual alloy is 10# WW, 1# linotype, one-third cup of magnum bird shot and an 18" piece of 50/50 lead free solder. BHN level is 14. That alloy can be heat treated to a hardness of 30 BHN which is fine for higher velocity, but not worth a damn for hunting.
Paul B.

Brent,

The reason you are escaping leading with BP loads is due to the obturation BP gives the bullet's base upon ignition. BP won't bump the harder alloy enough to do the job. Consequently, you'll get gas cutting which makes for leading.

I am a sold believer on pure lead for hunting, but ONLY in big bores like the 45-70. The larger diameter bore allows you to get by with softer alloys when shooting smokeless charges and the velos kept to moderate ranges. Pure lead will not work in smaller than 35 bores with anything beyond very low speed loads. Velocity in the smaller bores is what kills a pure lead bullet. In .35 caliber and smaller, I find that straight wheelweight alloy works perfectly. In fact, I fond no reason to 'alloy' any mixture as long as I have pure lead and wheelweights on hand. Linotype is great for target work and surely makes a beautiful bullet, but they are worthless on game.

Great answers from the guys! The small bores need expansion to work whereas the big bore revolver boolits with large meplats do not and can be very hard. Slow guns like the 45-70 are great with soft boolits but a large flat nose will work even when hard.
I would try air cooled Wheel weight metal. Just remember that the smaller the bore the more expansion you need. Hard small bore boolits poke pencil holes in game. You have to disrupt tissues and not just spread them apart. A two part boolit with a soft nose section and a hard base can be deadly.
The same holds true for small bore condom bullets that are too tough for the game hunted. The new crop of jacketed game bullets that mushroom fast but hold together has cured the problems. ( the 30 is a small bore as far as cast boolits go.)

Air cooled wheelweight bullets work quite well in small and medium bores, so long as you don't try to exceed 2000 fps, though fast twist rate barrels can limit that to 1800 fps, or maybe less.

I agree that most commercial cast bullets are too hard, and that can also cause leading.