Some Thoughts About Cast Bullets and Game
While I cannot claim to be an authority on the subject (and there are those who can) I feel I can still speak to the subject having dropped a fair number of game with cast bullets from a revolver. I have nowhere near the experience of many. Yet from what I have seen and done I have formed some conclusions about cast bullets and game animals.
1. The game will probably not react to being shot like you figured it will. (That goes for any bullet you use. There is always the exception.)
2. With sixguns there is no magic bullet. Good bullet placement is what counts. (Again, this applies to all bullets and firearms.)
3. With sixguns, higher velocity only flattens your trajectory a little. It does not increase the "killing power".
4. Not only learn to shoot well enough to put the bullet where it should go, but learn to hunt well enough in order to get close enough so you can do that cleanly and efficiently.
Example #1 - 454 Casull & 260 gr. Keith #4554424
Using a 7 1/2" .454 Casull loaded with the Keith #454424 260 gr. SWC cast hard and loaded over 29 gr. H-110 (velocity = 1530 fps) I shot a young forkhorn Mule Deer at about 75 yards. The shot was broadside into his left side. I aimed for just behind the shoulder. At the shot the deer flinched, looked around, then walked slowly away. I was getting ready to shoot again when I noticed it was wobbling. It walked maybe 60 feet, laid down under a mesquite tree, and in few moments its head fell over.
Upon examination the bullet had gone where I aimed. It got both lungs and the liver, coming in slightly from the rear. The entrance and exit wounds were both clean. Damage internally was about what I had seen from a .243 rifle at 150 yards. This seems to be fairly typical of cast bullets. Not too much reaction unless you hit a major nerve center.
Example #2 - .45 Ruger & 305 gr. #454629GC
A Coues Whitetail buck, shot with the 305 gr. bullet loaded over 23 gr. WW-296. The shot was about 20 feet and the hit was almost perfectly crossways through both shoulders. Later examination proved the heart had the top taken off. At the shot the deer whirled and ran as if I had missed. I found it down the trail about 50 yards completely bled out.
Again this seems typical. If they do not drop at the shot there usually is a short mad run. If the bullet is in the correct place that is. They will often break out running as if the shot missed.
Example #6 - 45 Ruger & #457191
I shot a large Javelina sow at about 30 yards with this gun and bullet. The load was my favorite - 18.5 gr. 2400. I hit the sow broadside through the lung/heart area and she commenced to back up, shaking her head, until she fell. After I cleaned her I was looking around and in the grass discovered a dead Javelina boar. The heavy slug had gone through the sow, then full-length through the boar. The slug had gone in his chest and out the left rear ham. The sow did not drop immediately but the boar did. When using heavy bullets realize- they do penetrate!
The 240 - 250 gr. bullets in the .44 Magnum will cleanly take anything in North America if the hunter does his part. I have an old letter in my files from Elmer Keith. He told me of a man he knew who killed 8 black bears with the .44 Magnum using the Keith #429421 SWC over 22 gr. 2400. All were broadside shots. All were one-shot kills. All exited the far side.