Henry Rifle Forums

until I purchased a Henry 45-70, lead bullets were something I'd heard of but outside of some cheap Thunderbolt 22's and a box of 60's vintage 38 police specials, I had no experience with .... when it came to hunting bullets, I was a firmly in the "speed kills" camp and all of our hunting rifles were 30 calibers in which jacketed bullets were all we used .... for me, the concept of lobbing comparatively low speed, heavy chunks of lead at big game animals has taken some getting used to .... for our 45-70 we have a wide range of bullets to choose from .... in every case, jacketed bullets can be loaded to higher speeds, higher speeds promote flatter trajectories for longer ranges and yield more knock down power .... I can well understand the cheaper cost of lead bullets being a major consideration for range bullets but am fairly confused when it comes to hunting bullets .... with this being the case, what is the attraction / what are the advantages of hunting with lead bullets .. ..

JEBar, I think the main reason to choose lead instead of jacked is cost, lead is cheaper. Other than that, I don’t know another reason.

I certainly agree with and do appreciate the cost angle .... when it comes to hunting ammo, I've gone through stretches where a box of 20 bullets lasted me for longer than I would have liked .... so, for me the cost of hunting bullets is pretty small .... for practice ammo, that's an entirely different matter .... I can understand folks who like to practice with the ammo they hunt with .... but its so easy to change the scope on our rifles that I really haven't seen much of an advantage to it

Thumb cocker wrote:Back in the day we used to cast our own for muzzleloaders it was part of the fun of the sport of hunting . We used to get together and cast before the season started an shoot as well . It's just like reloading and taking game with your own load .Taking pride in your ability to do it all , cast ,load ,hunt and process game taken and it's another good way to extend the enjoyment of hunting in the off season .

Another reason for lead is because of the nostalgia of it , takes you back to the 1800s , like taking game with primitive firearms or recurve bow and arrow .

I'm not in any way against lead bullets .... in my mind, personal preference is a very valid reason that requires no defense .... using a given firearm or firing a given bullet because of personal preference is about as good of a reason as there is .... when I black powder hunt, I use a round ball, not a much more efficient sabot .... they do work for me because I black powder hunt at short ranges where a round ball out of a good rifled barrel is sufficiently accurate to take down big game .... if I was to go to longer ranges, I'd have to go a different route .... for me, getting a shot at a buck, bear, or boar doesn't come along as often as it used to .... when it does, my preference is to sent the best bullet down range

A 250 gr 45 Colt slug after impact through 1" plywood target board. From my 1860 Henry. 50 yds.

RanchRoper wrote:A 250 gr 45 Colt slug after impact through 1" plywood target board. From my 1860 Henry. 50 yds.

Hard cast? What brand RR?

Winchester Super X LFN. "Cowboy" loads. If that's a cowboy load I sure wouldn't want a plus load hitting me.

I cast my own bullet . I use pure lead with 20 % to 25 % of tin for hunting and target work . I even make my own bullet molds . Here is 2 of my bullets I use for target and hunt . These 2 bullets are normally shot at 200 plus yards . I even make the guns I shoot them in . The 40-60 maynard was the 1st cartridge and a sniper round of the Civil War .

Some guns do better with lead than cast as far as accuracy and with lead, you can play with the diameter a bit more to get what the gun likes.

Hard cast lead loads are still the big bore choice for deep penetration on large dangerous game. Most "bear" loads use these.

I'll ride an extra mile or two around that big griz. The pay' s the same...

RanchRoper wrote:I'll ride an extra mile or two around that big griz. The pay' s the same...

when it comes to griz, I'd grab the 45-70 with a Nikon scope and stuff it full of 400 gr Barnes Buster bullets .... that would really be something ..

I'm going with RR. You can shoot the griz.

I've had several close encounters over the years. Rode up on one at a salt station a few years back. He stood up and sniffed at me. Magic and I were about 50 feet from it. Hard to tell horseback but I figured about 8 feet standing up. I talked real calm to it and turned real slow and walked away. Got into an open area real quick so I could see 360 degrees. Then hit a long trot for several miles until I was sure we'd left him behind. Another time a big fella was stalking the cattle as I moved a bunch. He paralleled us on a hillside for about 15 minutes. Then I rode hard a full gallop right at him waving my slicker and he took off. I was on my.mare Magic again. She was fearless.

Sorry didn't mean to highjack the thread.

45 Colt lead looks lethal to me!

Ive got a 338 Win Mag that I would love to poke a Griz with. One about 8ft tall.

BigAl52 wrote:Ive got a 338 Win Mag that I would love to poke a Griz with. One about 8ft tall.

now you're talking ..

Seriously, though, if you look as case studies of grizzly bear attacks, a fairly large number of people who were carrying a gun/bear spray for protection never even had time to use it. That's how sudden and fast these animals can move. Okay, back to the thread.

I've read where a hunter was tracking griz, heard a rustling sound, looked back and one was sneaking up behind him.
The worst kind of game is the game that hunts you. Black bear, maybe, Griz, no thanks.

I have no plans to hunt animals that can eat me!