PP hunting bullet

[Barvid]

Funny you guys should be discussing hunting bullets.

I am working with a 1.26 long, round nosed bullet to use in my Shiloh. I am getting close to being ready to start load testing. I have had rdnck coaching me along the way. He gives a guy a huge running head start vs starting from scratch. Actually I am gonna copy his load down to the primers!

We will see how it shoots and I will report back. Rdnck can chime in with the load info if he see's this post.

Best, Barvid

[Don McDowell]

Looking forward to hearing how your load work comes out Barvid.

[rdnck]

In my experience, a parallel sided bullet seems to kill better than a tapered bullet. I have had good luck with a round nosed bullet like Don's and also with a flat nosed bullet with a decent, but not overly large meplat. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Kurt]

So far I have found nothing that shoots better in the 1/19 twist .44-90 BN or the .44-77. I used that RN bullet for my Buff hunt and it put that young bull down clean with one shot, but with the the straight shank and the tight patched diameter it has I stuck the second round for a follow up if I needed it. Something a tapered bullet would not do.
Yes I could use a smaller bullet diameter but I dont get the accuracy from the undersized diameter bullet even cast very soft 1/40 or 1/50 .
The tapered bullets especially with a profile like the one in the loaded round that that bullet was copied from was a ODG's tapered but I had Brooks make it parallel sided.
I have used tapered bullets from a Tom Ballard mould and cast from original moulds and they shot good.

In the second photo is a Prolate on the left and a Elliptical, either one of those bullets will hold stability past 500 yards in the 1/19 twist but shoot very good at the 200 yard distance I shoot here at home but fall off terribly at long range especially when the winds kick up something that round nose wont do in the 1/19's.
I would not use either for a hunting.
The Elliptical on the right I worked with cutting the point off making the Meplat 1/4" in diameter and this improved the accuracy shooting over the cornfield to 600 yards and I think with the flat Meplat and a tapered shank it would make a fine hunting bullet as well as the round nosed one.
I guess what it all comes down to for me is; I want a reliable second shot followup bullet that will chamber in my rifle with out having to size the case neck down and make it look like a double bottle necked case to hold the bullet. This bullet dont have to be a 1000 yard match bullet just hold accuracy to maybe 300 yards.

[Mike]

Let's keep this going, I'm enjoying it. Kurt, I also like tapered bullets. At the same time, tapered bullets might not be as consistent at straight walled bullets. I can't prove anything about that one way or the other. My own experience is on the light side but I do favor bullets that are similar to the bullets used in the old factory paper patched loads. Of course, the only things I have to go on are old photos and descriptions. Anyway, tell me more.

[bobw]

My KAL TGBS .440" mold has parallel sides when patched with 9lb onion skin it's .447" and works fine with hunting accuracy to 150 yds easily and more as they gave me excellent accuracy on the 2011 Q venue. The shoot was called off, but not the shooting I did there. I have since been patching with vellum that gives my bullet a .4495" dia. it works fine with wiping or blowing. With this falls cold weather I have no problem shooting up to 10 times with no more than a couple of breaths down the barrel via the chamber. I am also able to use soft 1 in 50 alloy. You guys call it any way you want to, I'll just call it as I see it ,the power and function of the Loomer chamber. bobw

[Mike]

BobW, I've heard about the Loomer throat. In fact, I met Orville in 1975 and kept in touch with him for at least a few years. Back to bullets, I got my start favoring tapered bullets with a Tom Ballard mould, like Kurt did. That was back in 1985 and it is a mold for 500 grain .45 caliber bullets. You might recall my posts here trying to contact Tom Ballard again. Since then I requested a 400 grain .45 caliber tapered bullet which is now .45-400T from Accurate Molds. That bullet tapers from .440" to .450" and it probably has a bit too much taper. It still shoots rather well and I use it for .45/75/400 loads. More recently I asked for a .50 caliber bullet for the .50-90 that would weigh close to the 473 grains of the old original and that bullet is now .50-470T from Accurate Molds. This .50 caliber bullet tapers from .493" to .498" and it is working very well in both the .50-90 and the .50-70. That's where I am now but I still have a lot to learn.