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Post by twomoons on Aug 20, 2009 10:22:20 GMT -5
Here is my hunting bullet for the Krag and a real good illustration as to why I think the Krag round is an ideal cast bullet round. The bullet in the photo is a 220 grain rnfp bullet with gas check. A full load will push this bullet at 2000 fps from the 24" barrel of my rifle and dupliicates the original Krag round. The long neck of the case allows the bullet to be seated with all the grease grooves inside the case with nothing projecting in the power space. By the same token i can load bullets from 91 grains at 750 fps for small game to 165 gran bullets at 1500 fps for target work. Accuracy with the hunting bullet is around 2" at 100 yards with some groups going as small as 1 1/2". Since I am shooting a 100 year old gun the fact that the cast loads produce 8-10,000 psi less pressure and almost 0 bore wear lets me shooot my Krags and still be able to pass them on with good consience. Attachments:
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Post by jmarriott on Aug 20, 2009 10:31:04 GMT -5
That does look like the perfect bullet. Who's mold and how hard do you have the lead.
I have a neighbor that is in the tire repair business on semis that break down on the road. He gives me some wheel weights once in a while when he can. Once he brought about a 5 gallon bucket full. If I learn anything about cast bullets and melting lead I am set.
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Post by twomoons on Aug 20, 2009 13:23:22 GMT -5
Go to Cast Boolits and snoop around, you'll learn what you need. The bullet is my own design and was custom cut by Mountain Moulds. It casts 311 and is 301 on the nose section so it just barely touches the lands. It was originally made for an Argentine Mauser but it has worked well in just about all my 30 caliber rifles.
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Post by twomoons on Aug 21, 2009 14:56:24 GMT -5
I checked the drop at 200 yards today and recovered a bullet from a gallon jug and wet sand at that range. The bullet was expanded on the nose 3/4" and retained 85% of it's weight with the loss due to a small fragment flaking off about 2" from the main portion of the slug. At 200 yards the bullet stil went through a gallon of water and 1 foot of wet sand.
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Post by twomoons on Dec 1, 2009 9:25:57 GMT -5
Well we just finished butchering this year and I got to autopsy 3 more deer killed with cast bullets as compared to the ones shot with jacketed slugs. Once again I have no recovered bullets except for 2 fragments weighing about 2 grains apiece. These were lodged in the complletely shattered neck of a small buck. My 30-40 Krag is loaded with a 220 RNFP gas check bulet cast from Wheel Weight and Lino I use IMR 4895 and load to just at 2000 fps. The bullet has always penetrated completely including the enclosed photo where the bullet went in the front shoulder and out the rear quarter. By contrast almost the same shot with a jacketed slug had the bullet lodged in the back ham with almost one whole quarter bloood shot and ruined. So far this load has dropped several deer all with one shot and I can't fault the preformance. My Buddy uses a 38-55 with slugs cast from the same alloy and we actually recovered one of his slugs and it was expanded to 70 caliber after quartering through a bigger buck. I have had about the same results with the Lyman 31141 at 1900 fps. I think I have a full box of 30-40 jacketed bulllets somewhere but they will just sit there as they don't work any better if as well. The last 30-40 deer I took with jacketed was a 150 pound buck that dropped at the shot into the fron chest. The bullet shed 1/4 it's weight and was found under the skin back of the ribs. Cast is better than jacketed!!!! Attachments:
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