40-70- 1 deer -0

[ken s]

Rdnck, That's a nice deer, and he certainly is a good size animal. And nicely done w/ your .40 cal. on top of that. I recently introduced a shooter to my .40/65, and he really liked what he saw in shooting it with hunting specifically in mind. In fact he liked it so well that he sent me an email indicating he just ordered a Shiloh #3 in .40/65.

Regards
IR

I shoot an original 40 70 SS. 62 1/2 OE .060 card, and a 330 Paper patch as well as a 330 RN grooved. both molds made by Steve Brooks.

fun gun to shoot. Ken    

[bruce moulds]

ken,
if that is the rifle with the altered chamber it is not as you claim "original".
a more correct description would be "original rifle with altered chamber"
yet you continue to refer to it as original.
this is an inaccurate description, and misrepresents the rifle.
keep safe,
bruce.

[Distant Thunder]

Bill,

What alloy and/or hardness was that 385 grain pp bullet?

I'm running a 382 grain round nose paper patched bullet out of my .40-65 at 1355fps and the thought of hunting with this rifle has crossed my mind. The accuracy I'm getting with this combination is the best I've had from any of my BPCRs and .40 caliber is so darn much fun to shoot.

Jim

[rdnck]

Jim, I don't know the hardness, but the alloy was 50/50 clip on wheel weights and lead sheating. I would guess something around 25-1. 1355 fps is plenty of velocity. About 60 fps more than I am getting, in fact. I would take that rifle hunting in a heartbeat, and not worry about the velocity OR the alloy.

I am not an advocate of pure lead bullets for hunting. I don't want my bullets to go completely flat on impact--I want them to drive all the way through and give an exit wound. Anything between 20-1 to 30-1 has always worked, and so has straight wheelweight alloy. I don't really think alloy makes that much difference as long as the bullet is accurate. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Distant Thunder]

Bill,

"I don't want my bullets to go completely flat on impact--I want them to drive all the way through and give an exit wound."

Absolutely agree with that! I just wondering if you got any expansion? I don't think penetration would be a problem with something between 20-1 & 30-1. All my previous hunting has been done with my .50-70 and bullets in the 500 grain range cast at 20-1. I don't believe at 1200 fps I ever got any real amount of expansion, but I don't believe it was necessary either. That combination was deadly for me on deer sized animals out to just shy of 200 yards which my personal limit with iron sights. My .40-65 is scoped and I would have confidence in hitting the mark to that distance even with my old eyes when using the scope. I would like to see the round nose at least blunt up just a bit in a .40 cal. then I believe it would be just as deadly on deer. I will have to do some testing.

My target bullets are 16-1 and that would be too hard for hunting I think. I haven't tested anything softer for accuracy, but I don't see a problem using this round nose design and even 30-1. Over expansion would be bad, but shouldn't be a problem with the alloys we're talking here.

Seeing you got very impressive results I just wanted to know what you were using. Thanks for the reply.

[rdnck]

A friend of mine took three deer last season with his 40-65 using a flatnosed 415 grain bullet at 15 BHN. This is fairly hard. Being new to BPCR he was unaware that he was bucking convention, and frankly, he didn't care. The bullet was the Lyman 410655 which has a meplat of about .250. His velocity was a chronograph 1285 fps, and he absolutely smoked the 3 deer, shooting through a six point buck from chest to out a ham on a lengthwise complete pass through from 105 yards. He also took a doe broadside through both shoulders with a good exit wound from 80 yards, and another doe from 40 yards quartering away. The last one was hit behind the last rib with the bullet exiting infront of the off shoulder. All three of the deer went more or less straight down.

He has had Steve Brooks make a 390 grain paper patched bullet with a good meplat, and has this bullet shooting really well out of his Shiloh at 15-1. His game plan for this season is to park his 45-70 and his 45-110 and use his 40-65 for everything. We are talking about a buffalo, and if we can work out the processing logistics on this, it looks like there is a 40 caliber buffalo somewhere in the near future. I may shoot the 410655 just for comparison purposes, but my 385 roundnose has worked to perfection, so we'll see. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Rowdy Rick]

I am not an advocate of pure lead bullets for hunting. I don't want my bullets to go completely flat on impact--I want them to drive all the way through and give an exit wound. Anything between 20-1 to 30-1 has always worked, and so has straight wheelweight alloy. I don't really think alloy makes that much difference as long as the bullet is accurate. Shoot straight, rdnck.

Bill, keep us informed of the buff hunt with the .40's. If you put the bullet in the right spot they work as well as any caliber on a buff..........same can be said for most calibers also.
I have used hard and soft alloys on buff in a variety of calibers with good results, including a 350 gr PP in the .40. The .40-65 is my favorite Sharps deer gun. Watch for an upcoming story in "The American Sharpshooters" this fall regarding same.

Rick

[rdnck]

Rick, I always enjoy reading about your hunts. Please give us a heads up when it comes out. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Stephen Borud]

All this talk about the 40s makes me more determined to kill a deer or an antelope with my 40/50BN this fall. It must be done.

Stephen