choosing a hunting cast bullet.

I have been thinking of trying cast bullets in sabots in my Optima V2, but I have never shot cast bullets before. Done so looking on the net about cast bullets (head still spinning.... ....) I kinda got some ideas about it. I would like some thoughts on it from some people who have shot/hunted with cast bullets. How do y'all go about choosing a cast bullet for hunting (deer)? Is heavier better? hollow point or big metplat? BHN? or does it matter since its in a sabot? What BHN if is important? 8, 12, 15, 18? I have been looking around at different bullets casters. Montana Bullet Works, GT Bullets, Missouri Bullets, Matt's Bullets, Hunter's Supply, Stateline Bullets, Rim Rock Bullets. Montana Bullet Works has these, I was looking at.
45 ACP, LBT, 230gr, LFN-PB
45 ACP, Saeco 58, 215gr, SWC-BB
10mm, LBT 200gr, WFN-PB
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!

I have no experience with Sabots so can’t help there. I personally prefer a Decent size Meplat for hunting, Sledge Hammer effect!! As for hardness i prefer 40:1 Alloy (8.5 BHN) It is stil reasonably soft and will expand good, it also casts nice for me with good fillout. Velocity wise, for the most part all of my rifles are running anywhere from 1200 on the slowest end, to near 1500 FPS on the fastest end. At These velocities 40:1 works well for me. Idahoron, and friends of his have taken a lot of Game with that Same bullet hardness.

From my understanding with Sabots you could use Wheel weight lead if you chose to do so? Which is in the 12-14 BHN range depending on new WW, or aged WW, personally i feel that is to Hard for good hunting bullet, if it was Dangerous game and i wanted DEEP penetration then probably ok. It really boils down to a personal preference thing. I like a bullet that is soft enough to reliably expand, yet durable enough to hold together in a big Mushroom ball.

52 bore posted some pictures on sight of moulds. Brooks mould company will make what ever you want and in HP if youwant. If you get a HP made have them make you a plug so you can mould solid also. Lymans Gould would make a hunting bullet for MZL.

45cal said:

52 bore posted some pictures on sight of moulds. Brooks mould company will make what ever you want and in HP if youwant. If you get a HP made have them make you a plug so you can mould solid also. Lymans Gould would make a hunting bullet for MZL.

Click to expand...

I wish Lyman offered a plug option for the Gould bullet, I really like the looks of the bullet as is (Hollow Point) but would also like the option of making them solid as well.

the majority of those bulk pistol bullet casters use hard cast, usually way too hard for hunting purposes. OK for plinking, but questionable for ML hunting. You are better off casting your own. For this, Its pretty hard to beat one of the Accurate mold designs for use in sabot. I cant really say a hollow point is necessary, as in my findings, a pure lead slug is usually too soft, and mushrooms into a pancake about 2-3" around. A good meplat, and a hardness somewhere between WW lead and pure suits my needs.

I have been using straight WW lead for many years in cast shotgun slugs(lyman 525 grn sabot slug, 12 ga) My father started this trend, and supplied almost everyone in his circle for decades. Im sure they accounted for well over a hundred deer, and were and still are a favorite. (After his passing, I took up the slack, and cast and reload them now, But I really just hand them out. I use a muzzy almost exclusively now outside bow, as here you can swap muzzy for any gun season.