Heat Softening Noses

[1Shirt]

Howdy, Have never messed with softening the noses of hard cast bullets for hunting, but have a boar hunt scheduled for Tex. in Oct. and want to shoot cast. Have never shot cast at anything beyond small animals and paper.

Two questions:
#1, Do you hit the nose of the bullet in water with a torch as cast and befor lube, or after you have sized/Lubed/checked etc. Also, how long do you keep the flame on the nose (yah, I know don't let it melt, but is there a color change, or some magic time etc., and does this depend on the cal that you are nose softening? Lastly, how much of the nose to you leave exposed above the water level? 1/4-1/3-1/2 Length? My logic would say lesser rather than more, but, bow to the wisdom of experiance.

2. Which Rifle to use?
a. 444M with 310 Lee GC, sized .310, shoots tight 2" or less groups at 50 yds.
b. 375 H&H, 280 gr Lyman GC in #1 Ruger. Shoots under 2" at 50 ysd with Open sights from the Bench.
c. 45-70, #1 Ruger, 340, Lee, FN 385 Lyman, RN, 405 RCBS FN., all plain based. All shoot well, with the edge in accruacy going to the 385, which will stay around an inch at 50 yds, and occisionally just over an inch at 100.

Am looking from actual experiance on hogs with these cals. Have no doubt that all three are capable of of clean kills.

I thank in advance all who respond to this thread!

1Shirt

[45 2.1]

Go to about the third page of this forum and use the link in this thread

Nose annealing cast bullets

[1Shirt]

Many Thanks 45 2.1

1Shirt

[drinks]

1 Shirt;
Would depend mostly on the range of shots, the .375 Ouch & Ouch would be the best bet past 125-150 yds, within that range all 3 would be fine.

[David R]

.375 Ouch & Ouch

I absolutly love that one, You cracked me up.

[harley45]

I can't get the link to work anybody else have this problem?
Eric

[JohnH]

I can't get the link to work anybody else have this problem?
Eric

Neither could I.

[Wayne Smith]

Looks like the Yahoo link no longer links. The message says it does not exist. Do they perodically purge?

[45 2.1]

Those three with #198 are not listed now, the list usually has all its messages. Sorry, I should have copied it, it was a good thread.

[BABore]

I will be testing some soft nose 311041's out of my '06 this Sunday. I sized and checked the WW + 1% tin bullets then oven heat treated them at 425 F for 1 hour then quenched. After 1 week they were at 22 Bhn.

I set about 15 bullets in a pie plate and added cold water to just above the scraper band and put a drop of water on each tip like the above mentioned post suggested. I didn't have a microtorch so I used my regular screw on propane torch. I applied the tip of the flame to one side of the exposed nose until about half of the water cooked off then finished up on the other side. After cooling the nose hardness measured at 9 Bhn.

I plan to shoot these into wet newspaer this weekend. I plan to try the same bullets air cooled, oven heat treated, and the annealed. I'll post the results

[1Shirt]

I couldn't find it either, so was in hopes that someone else would pass along some scoop. Will try recommendations. Nose hardness of BH 9, sounds good. Have always considered the fact that we in this country are always concerned with bullet expansion, while much affrican game was always taken by Europeans with round nose full jacket bullets. Think big flat noses even on hard cast would provide a paper punch type wound channel of at least the size of cal, and the shock must be potent. Also think that with the heavy flat nose and shoulder shots where meat saving is not the issue, the importance of anchoring the game to allow a finishing shot when necessary is a key factor. As to the 375 H&H, not a bad ctg. at all, and recoil with cast loads in my #1 Ruger is in the ballpark of a heavy 06 with full power loads at most. Now with full power jacketed loads it is another story. Took my Kodiak with one, as well as two boo, and guess you could say that it would be one of the last rifles to leave my rack in a pinch. Will report on sucess of whatever I choose to shoot Porky! Thanks!
1 Shirt

[Headstamp]

Try this:

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech...h_notes.htm/35

This man recently passed away. He did a heck of a lot of experimentation in this area. Too bad he's gone now.

Regards