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HP 38 for cast 7x57
runfiverun,
Thank you.
I will try to soften the nose on 2 dozen, or so, of the heat treated 160s and see how they fair.
I'm not sure what medium to test them on for expansion. I have used a 55gal rain water barrel at an angle on it's side with a thin plastic seal about the thickness of a plastic ground cloth covering one end.
It stops the bullet and the angle of the drum catches most of the bullet if the seal doesn’t fail catastrophically.
7x57
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i really think about any test medium is a good test, as long as it's consistent and a control of some sort is used.
some mediums are just closer to flesh.
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HP 38 for cast 7x57
Hello,
Again thank you for all your assistance and suggestions.
Unfortunately I never did arrive at an appropriate load using the HP38 to run the test. I relied on Unique instead.
I have tried the softened bullets and found increased expansion occurred as well as some increased shedding /shearing.
This appears to be directly proportional to the velocity fired.
I decreased the velocity to 1635fts average which opened my group up to 1.25” at 100 yards with the military issued Iron sights of my 1895
However at this velocity the softer, unmodified, 173gr out preformed the softened 160gr, so much so, that I believe that I will retain the 173gr for hunting. And Yes gentlemen the average expansion and penetration of the 173grs during the test was enough to lead me to believe them more than adequate for "boiler maker" shots on game as large as elk or moose as long as the range is reasonable, below 100 yards, which is farther than I am willing to shoot them with cast lead.
7x57
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excellent.
the whole thing about hunting and especially with cast is testing,testing,testing.
you now have an excellent idea of what to expect when your boolit makes contact.
you also have set yourself a limit,which tells me you have done your homework and not just taken what was said for granted.
you have also proven to yourself what i have said many times about hunting alloys.
a softer boolit with some mush to it and two holes is the results i will take everytime.
i'd prefer a larger hole to begin with myself as the mass will help the boolit retain momentum.
happy hunting.