Just as an aside, the log used as a backstop/target holder was one of the prizes in pre-Revolution shooting matches. The value of the stopped bullets was well worth the labor of splitting them out.

I have fired the 255 and 265 grain .41 bullets from Cast Performance into oak, pine and water and in most cases the bullet looked like it could be put back through the sizer and reloaded.
You might try taking one of the bullets and put it on a metal block and hit the bullet with a small sledge hammer. If it crumbles or shatters then it is a bad batch and you should notify CP...Bob

I had a huge Oak tree fall not to long ago. So I decided to "Split" some wood the fun way and check out the performance of some different alloys and nose shapes. All of the Mountain Mold bullets kept their gas check on except for 3 or 4 (total of 12 fired). The gas check that are not in the pitures were inadvertently knocked off while trying to remove the bullet from the log.

The Cast Performance penetrated the oak the farthest, but the log it was shot into had the straightest grain with no knots. The Cast Performance bullet that shattered its nose concerns me. They are not suppose to shatter. This was the only bullet to shatter in the entire test. Other bullets smeared ans mushroomed, though.

The Linotype mix surprised me. I thought it would be the one to shatter.

The 44 was the second best penatrator, slightly less penatration than the Cast Performance. These bullets had a tendency to tumble though. I found several that were on their sides and I found one that did a 180* turn. BUT the log that I had to use for these bullets was full of Knots and grain twists.

Notice the gas check on the 3rd picture. The lead is smeared over the edge of the Gas Check. I thought that was cool. This is on the WW mountain mold 45, I think.


David

Over the past 40 years I have shot a lot of oak. I burn wood and it happens to be handy. I find that a bullets preformance in wood most of the time has nothing to do with it preformance on game.

But it is still fun. Nice pics enjoyed them.

RJM and others,

The bullets still left in the log in the above picture are Cast Performance. They could be reloaded. They did not deform at all and their penetration was straight.



I am not really worried about Cast Performance bullets and do not mean to give them any bad press. I LOVE CAST PERFORMANCE BULLETS!!! Their bulets perfomed better than my alloys. Even the bullet with the shattered nose out penetrated my other 45's.

I just found it interesting that the Linotype mixture did not shatter its nose and the CP did.

I wish I knew what the bullet hit. I did not see any thing in the oak, but you never know with trees this old.



Thanks for all replies.

I plan on keeping the split oak log with the 2 CP bullets still lodged in it. It will probably be displayed in my reloading room.



By the way, All loads were the same weight and velocity, except for the Linotype mixture 45 which was about 345 grains instead of 360 grains.

360 grain bullets (44 and 45) at 1300 fps fired into Oak at about 7 yards.

Here is another log that I shot with a pure lead 45 Colt - 360 grain Mountain mold bulet. You can see the crater that it left:


Here is the log before we split it:




Here are 4 of the Pure lead bullets. They all gained weight, probably from the saw dust. All kept the gas check, and all penetrated straight:








Here is what is left of the once mighty Oak:






David

Here is my back stop.




As you can see it "stopped" 2 strays that escaped out of the top of the log we were shooting. In both cases the bullet passed through about 5-6" of the log, popped out of the top, hit the backstop, and then landed back with-in a couple of feet of us.

One of the bullets was a 44. The other was a cast performance 45.

The CP was found about 7 yards in front of the back stop and about 5 feet to our right.

The 44 was found 5 feet directly in front of the back stop.


David

Here is another look at the Cast Performance bullet:


Here is a 360 grain 44 bullet cast with Wheel Weights:


Here is a Cast performance that shattered patially on the oak log:

the above picture is of a Cast Performance 360 grain 45 Colt fired into a piece of Oak.
My Mountain mold 360 grain 45 Colt bullet cast with Wheel Weights fired into an Oak log:


Here is the Mountain Mold 360 grain 45 Colt cast with 70% Linotype and 30% Wheel Weights fired into an Oak log: