I got my Lyman 54 Great Plains Hunter back before Christmas, and it has shot everything conical wise I've stuffed down the barrel. I took my nephew today to push a chunk of woods. I've never let anyone else sit my favorite spot on that drive before, but I let him sit there. As soon as I began my stalk, I bumped a doe his way. He shot it at 8 yards with his sister beside him, and when she ran off, she ran by so close to them that she sprayed blood on my niece. He was using a 20 gauge.
As I drove him home and pulled into his subdivision, 5 does crossed the road heading toward his house. I went and sat behind their cabin, and 5 minutes later had 5 does at 10 yards. My niece was once again by my side. She was the lucky charm today. The doe was faced 9/10ths quartering toward me when she stopped at 10 yards. I blasted a 420 grain maxi ball bought from track of the wolf right into her front left leg. The bullet was backed by 60 grains of RS powder. When I found her, the bullet had broken her front shoulder, passed through the entire body cavity, broke the back right leg, and was stuck right under the hide of her back leg. Left a great blood trail. Only problem was the bullet could nearly be reloaded and shot again. It had almost zero expansion, but it certainly did the job. My guess is it wasn't moulded from pure lead with that kind of expansion, but I'm also only shooting 60 grains of powder, so maybe that was part of the problem too. I doubt that though at only 10 yards. I'm baffled she didn't drop with 2 broken legs either way. 2 dead deer and a snow storm coming tomorrow made for a great day.
As I drove him home and pulled into his subdivision, 5 does crossed the road heading toward his house. I went and sat behind their cabin, and 5 minutes later had 5 does at 10 yards. My niece was once again by my side. She was the lucky charm today. The doe was faced 9/10ths quartering toward me when she stopped at 10 yards. I blasted a 420 grain maxi ball bought from track of the wolf right into her front left leg. The bullet was backed by 60 grains of RS powder. When I found her, the bullet had broken her front shoulder, passed through the entire body cavity, broke the back right leg, and was stuck right under the hide of her back leg. Left a great blood trail. Only problem was the bullet could nearly be reloaded and shot again. It had almost zero expansion, but it certainly did the job. My guess is it wasn't moulded from pure lead with that kind of expansion, but I'm also only shooting 60 grains of powder, so maybe that was part of the problem too. I doubt that though at only 10 yards. I'm baffled she didn't drop with 2 broken legs either way. 2 dead deer and a snow storm coming tomorrow made for a great day.
