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For a super-deep penetrating, expanding bullet, my 402 grain, plain base, Hollow Point cast bullets {wheelweights, not heat treated}, have performed excellently for me.

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I’ve never used a hollow point mould, though I’d like to try one someday. Expansion can be controlled by other means also. These 320 gr LBT LFN bullets were fired at 1400 fps from a 454 Casull revolver into tightly bound packages of phone books that had been soaked overnight in a barrel. They soak up so much water that the barrel must be refilled about midnight. The packages were placed at 50 yards.



The bullet on the left is a mixture of wheelweight and linotype, dropped from the mould into water. It did not expand at all. The middle bullet is straight wheelweight, also dropped into water, and is slightly expanded. Both of these bullets penetrated 30 inches. The third bullet is straight wheelweight, but was air-cooled. It penetrated 26 inches, and expanded from 0.452 to 0.560 inches.

Take care, Tom

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When I referred to the Lee 405gr. bullet, I was talking about the solid mould, not the HP. If I want a HP or cup-point, I turn one an a small lathe, as I did with some 9.3mm bullets. I do have the Gould mould, but that bullet is suitable for deer only in my opinion, and smallish deer at that. As a solid, though, that 340gr. bullet will kill bear very nicely, black bear at least and I'm use it would handle griz. just about as well. As long as the heavier bullets will make descent speed, I opt for weight. Both my lyman and RCBS 400gr. moulds drop bullets at 420gr. and either would be OK, preferrably the RCBS with the gas check for higher speeds. The Lyman flat base bullet has shot very well with a card wad to protect it's base.

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Daryl, I agree about the Gould based on what I've read, and also about weight in general with cast bullets.

The thing that got my attention with the Lee HP is that it is a totally different design than the Gould, and gives both expansion/fragmentation of the front HP plus extreme penetration. Most popular cast bullets these days seem to be the big flat points, which have their place and advantages for certain applications, but the HP concept has been totally and unfortunately forgotten in my opinion. The beauty of a HP is that it can be adjusted for the game, and if you are Daryl or others with the tooling you have that ability at home.

The Lee HP typically blows off in game, and the heavy, shaft powers thru to provide very deep penetration and bone breaking. More or less consider it a "Cast Bullet Nosler Partition" of sorts. One bear I shot was hanging on a stout limb of a tree and I shot thru the massive forearm of the bear thru the chest and out the backbone between the shoulder blades.

One thing I like about the Lee HP is that the front HP portion causes severe tissue disruption and bleeding, something solid bullets sometimes fail to do.

The old timers of the 1800's used many HP's in the BP guns of the day, and today the .45-70 and a good Hollow Point are as perfect a match as a bottle of wine and a nod from the Wife.



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What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

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NE450No2 - neither of those ammo's is available here. BEsides, we're all handloaders who distain overpriced factory ammo. No one we're aquainted with, could afford to do the shooting we do, if they used factory ammo.

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Good point.

For the cost of a custom mold, a fellow would be set for a long time and very soon recoup the cost of the investment compared to shooting the expensive factory stuff.

The best thing factory stuff like Garretts has done in my opinion is set a standard of sorts, a performance level that the handloader can then use in developing his own cheaper, shootable loads.

No doubt there are those who shoot expensive factory ammo and shoot it enough to really develop field skill with it, but like many things "Big Bore" and "Double", I suppose such high-priced stuff gets bought little and shot so little that true field skill is not really developed by its use.

On the other hand, if a fellow has a wonderful cast bullet mold and no time to cast bullets, or finds it so disagreeable that he just plain avoids it and doesn't do it, the cheap slugs don't make the fellow a shooter, either...

BTW: Here is a report involving the Lee 402. Its performance can be compared to the premium .375's shot in a previous test.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=1244

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What are the Rosary, the Cross or the Crucifix other than tools to help maintain the fortress of our faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Edited by 9ThreeXFifty7 (10/08/08 03:17 AM)

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