Thread: Cast bullet Varminting / Medium game Project

Originally Posted by rossi.45

that is a very interesting question @Moa Hunter . . i have been going over the question the last couple of days, which invariabley gets me side tracked onto different aspects of bullet/mold/performance/feeding, all the parts that make a bullet work . . and the why do i like one bullet over another.
if a man was to get 2 molds of the same bullet shape, weight etc but one was paperpatched with smooth sides and the other had aggressive driving bands, both were filmed with high speed cameras going thru something like gelatin and 100s of animals shot you would have a better idea . . i would say Yes it will make a difference but a very small one, much more important factors at play . . ask me again in the future i might have changed my mind . . whats your thoughts ?

my favourite boolit of all time is the 405grn RCBS i have for the .45/70
saw the mold on TradeMe years before i even had a .45/70 or thought i might get one, it just looked like the perfect design to me, still does, so i grabbed it . . which means of course at some stage i am going to get a .45/70 just to use it.

Attachment 186517

my favourite mold for .30 calibers is the 197grn. RCBS . . accuracy, terminal performance between it and the 170grn. Lyman is hard to tell them apart . . but i just like the 197 more . . go figure.

I have read in the past that driving bands versus smooth sides make a considerable difference in monolithic solids at high velocity and I wondered if the same was true of subsonic projectiles.
The difference in the 220 swift was that with a turned brass projectile at very high velocity 3800 + there was almost no effect on a rabbit ( rabbit was seen to be hit but just flattened its ears) with a smooth projectile but with the next projectile which was turned to exactly the same weight and profile but had driving bands, converted the rabbit into confetti