Cast Bullets in the 411 hawk

by Mike Thomas

Reprinted here by permission of Handloader Magazine & Wolfe Publishing originally appeared in Handloader #227

Let us first look at a bit of history regarding the .411 Hawk. Former custom bullet manufacturer Bob Fulton, custom gunsmith Fred Zeglin and Graydon Snapp combined some ideas. Based on plentiful and inexpensive .30-06 brass, they wound up with what is now known as the largest of the four big-bore Hawk cartridges. Others in the line include the .338, .358 and .375 Hawk. Case dimensions were standardized, except, of course, for neck size. 

The .30-06 hull is both versatile and efficient to an incredible degree, a fact proven countless times by many wildcatters over the course of almost a century. Yet, it has limits. Opening the case neck to accept a .41-caliber bullet leaves little in the way of a shoulder. Many have criticized the similar but much older .400 Whelen as having too little shoulder for maintaining correct headspace. I will not take sides in such an argument, as I have had no experience with the .400 Whelen. I do not know just how much shoulder is necessity as a minimum requirement for safe and effective headspace maintenance for any bottleneck cartridge. However, I can attest to the fact that the .411 Hawks shoulder is sufficient for the purpose. It works, and that is what matters. 

CASE FORMING

I had already prepared cases and fireformed brass before receiving the instructions. While I used once-fired Remington brass, Fred Zeglin cautions that only new brass be used for this work.  It should be of the same manufacture and same lot.  Two expander balls were included in my RCBS die set, purchased for Z-Hat Custom.  After lubricating the inside of case necks (in addition to normal outside case lubrication), the tapered .409-inch expander ball is used to open the brass neck. The .424-inch expander ball is installed, and the neck is again expanded for about. .750 inch from the case mouth. The brass is then fitted to the chamber by running it through the .411 Hawk sizing die with the .409-inch expander in place.  The neck is sized down, and the shoulder height (headspace) is set so that bolt closing requires some effort.  The headspace is necessarily left longer than normal at this state to ensure the case is held firmly against the bolt face to properly form it. 

Maximum allowable neck diameter of a loaded .411 hawk round is .436 inch. My Remington brass was a bit too thick in the neck area. Therefore, I added a couple extra steps in the forming process. The .30-06 brass was first run through a .35 Whelen sizing die.  I neck-turned the cases at this stage, just enough, in a trial-and-error manner, so that loaded rounds would have neck dimensions slightly under .436 inch.  I would have preferred turning the necks after opening to .411 inch, but a neck-turning pilot of this diameter was unavailable for my Forester tool.  Brass was thoroughly tumbled following the completion of all forming and sizing steps. It is important to remove all traces of lube from inside the case neck. The tumbling process may or may not be effective in performing the process. If not, I suggest using a cleaning patch and solvent followed by an effective degreaser. Cleaned brass was primed with CCI 200 standard Large Rifle primers.

THE TEST RIFLE 

I had an FN commercial Mauser (‘98) action that was once the basis for a 1950’s 219 Donaldson Wasp benchrest rifle. Fred Zeglin chambered and fitted a Douglas barrel to the action. Finished length of the barrel is 21 inches and the barrel diameter at the muzzle measures ‘approximately .750 inch for a slightly heavy contour. I fitted a Butler Creek synthetic stock to the barreled action. The recoil lug area and the first several inches of barrel forward of the lug were bedded with Brownell’s ACRAGLAS. The remainder of the barrel was free floated in the stock channel. The action is fitted with the original Mashburn adjustable trigger that was on it when I purchased the rifle about 20 years ago.  A Leupold

2.5-8x scope was used for all load development with the magnification set. at 5x. I have not weighed this rifle but estimate it to be around 8.5 to 9 pounds as described.

BULLET MOULDS 

Not every mould manufacturer makes a .411 or .412 inch rifle bullet mould. In fact, few of them do.  NEI Handtools, Inc. does; they make several. For that reason, I used four NEI bullets in the test work All were cast from two double cavity aluminum moulds. each mould with two different cuts. NEI catalog designations are 225B .411-300GC, 225A .411-350GC, 226 .412-300-GC, and 227 .412325GC.  All bullets are of gas check design and Hornady case checks were used.

Loading data was developed using bullets cast from wheel-weight metal.  At the beginning of this project, I did some limited work with linotype bullet and found them inferior to plain wheel-weight metal and heat-treated (water quenched) wheel weights.

However, in defense of Linotype alloy, the loads used were of low velocity.  I suspect heavier loads, those approaching 2000 fps, would work well with a Linotype bullet.  Linotype accuracy may equal or exceed the results I achieved with wheelweight bullets at the higher speeds.  I did not experiment in this area, preferring wheelweights for several reasons.

Wheelweight metal is cheap and plentiful.  It makes for a comparatively heavy bullet, always advantageous when using cast bullets for hunting purposes.  Such bullets hold together well and may even show signs of expansion depending on terminal velocity and the impacted medium.  I’ll admit this may be hair-splitting and of little consequence.  A heavy rifle bullet of .41 caliber, regardless of composition, will likely perform effectively against any North American game animal.  However, should massive bone be encountered, I would prefer the edge, slight though it may he, afforded by the heavier and more malleable bullet. While bullet expansion is often advantageous, the already large diameter of the unexpanded bullet makes this performance aspect far less critical in a hunting situation than if one were using a cast bullet of only .30 caliber.

Specifications on the bullets used in the project look like this:

At first glance, it would appear these bullet weights are quite heavy for use in an 06-based cartridge.  They are!  However, this again attests to the versatility of the basic case. 

Powders

I used four powders. I suppose if I were preparing a cast bullet loading manual for the .411 Hawk, I would have little trouble finding many more suitable powders. The ones selected , though, are representative. To qualify “representative.’ I refer to a balanced combination of performance factors that include safe and suitable burning rate, reasonable velocity and accuracy. In approximate burning rate order, fastest to slowest, those powders were: Alliant Reloader 7, Hodgdon H-322, H-4895 and IMR-4064. 

In the development of cast bullet loads for a number of rifle cartridges, I have used Reloader 7 and H-4895. Each is more than satisfactory for the purpose. While H-322 and IMR-4064 were in the right burning rate range, I had given little previous consideration to their use with cast bullets. Soon after beginning load development work, however, both powders were found quite suitable for this project.

Extremely little cast bullet data exists for the .411 Hawk. Even less has been published. I did find very few loads listed in an article by Wayne van Zwoll that appeared in Handloader No. 193 (June 1998). According to the text, the loads were recommended by Bob Fulton and used an undescribed 270-grain bullet, considerably lighter than anything I would he employing.  Several jacketed loads were also listed using bullets of 270 to 350 grains. With the exception of Reloader 7, the jacketed loads included the powders I used plus Hodgdon BL-C(2). The limited data provided a rough starting point for load development. This, coupled with experience I had years ago doing similar work with the .375 Whelen Improved, set the stage for the rest of the undertaking.

FIREFORMING

What powder(s) to use and how much? Which bullet(s)?  Fred Zeglin recommends 63 grains of H-4895 behind a 300-grain Hawk roundnose jacketed bullet. This is a stout load and probably maximum, but. if Fred’s case-forming steps are followed, the load should be safe.  Still, one choose to back off about 5 percent on the powder charge for initial use. This may or may not form the brass, but it would be worth a try. I used the 333 grain roundnose NEI design seated so overall cartridge length was 3.18 inches, just at the point of bullet. engraving by the lands in the rifle. The powders used for load development are also fine for fireforming.  From a safety standpoint, and as far as total case capacity goes, any of the loads listed in the data table, except those denoted as being maximum, less 5 percent, are recommended for fire-forming. This, of course, is based solely on my experience with my rifle. Variables including brass and other components, different chambers, etc., may require variation of the a 5 percent figure, up or down, but it should nevertheless he a safe place to start. 

With these suggestions in mind, it should be noted that two firings will often be necessary for a case to be fully fireformed. While the fully formed shoulder is indeed slight, the difference between an incomplete forming and a finished product is obvious. Bullet seating is important in the process. While some may recommend seating a bullet out to where the bolt closes with a. good deal of difficulty, I prefer a milder approach. With a bullet slightly touching the lands, there is resistance when closing the bolt. Z-Hat’s recommended  fireforming load likely works better than mine as far as forming the case completely on the first firing. However, in keeping with the cast bullet theme of this article, I preferred to use cast bullets for this step. A Mauser style action may be preferable to a slam- feed type bolt for fireforming work since the case is gripped before chambering with the Mauser design. The other may work just as well, but my experience with the slain-feed type is limited. It should be pointed out that the .411 Hawk and all other Hawk cartridges are true wildcats. No factory rounds should be fired in a Hawk chamber.  It would be very dangerous. 

After fireforming, brass should be trimmed to 2.420 inches. Maximum allowable case length is 2.430 inches for the 411 hawk.

None of the loads had bullets that were crimped in place. A major concern in the load development was accuracy.  Since I almost never use a rifle’s magazine during load development and accuracy testing, I prefer not to crimp bullets. Crimping will possibly affect. accuracy, depending on several factors. With properly loaded rounds, “debulleting” when opening the action on a loaded round should he no problem. Additionally, if I begin using the rifle magazine and find that bullets move in the cases under recoil, I’ll certainly start crimping bullets.

Had I used jacketed bullets in the rifle, whether for fireforming or load development, I would seat them just as I did for the cast. bullets mentioned, at. least for the initial work. While on that subject, I will mention handloading equipment. Cases were formed using a. Redding Ultra.-Mag press. Loads were prepared on a Forster Co-Ax press. Bullets were sized using a Redding/Saeco Lubricating sizer with a  .411 inch die installed. LBT Blue bullet lubricant was used.

I’ll now do my utmost to disappoint high-velocity enthusiasts. I envision the .411 Hawk as an effective hunting round and nothing more. With the heavy cast bullets that are used in this wildcat, high velocities are not necessary. Nor are they attainable, for that matter. While muzzle velocities approaching 2,000 fps were attained with the 285-grain bullet, recoil became the limiting factor. The 333-grain roundnose at around 1,800 fps generates about all the recoil I care to experience. I find no enjoyment in shooting any rifle that has more than moderate kick. It’s a subjective thing, granted, but when someone tells me their .338 Winchester Magnum or .375 H&H Magnum doesn’t have much backward shove, I’ll likely not believe any-thing else that person says either.

ACCURACY

I fired many, many groups to obtain the data in the loading table.  The 333-grain flatnose bullet was the most consistently accurate. The margin of difference was comparatively small but. measurable. With heat-treated bullets and the best loads, this bullet would group inside 1.25 inches. Again, that is on a consistent basis, not just an occasional good group. Using non-heat-treated bullets adds an average somewhere around 1/4 to 1/2 inch to 100-yard group sizes. Generally speaking, this was true with all the bullets. The 333-grain round-nose bullet was next in accuracy potential, followed by the 359-grain flatnose. The 385-grain bullet was the least accurate overall, but I would hardly refer to it as inaccurate. It’s no great trick to obtain 2-inch groups with this bullet even without resorting to heat treatment.

Using plain wheelweight bullets or the heat-treated variety, the heavier loads would slightly lead the bore but seldom enough to hurt accuracy unless the barrel became very hot.  A few passes through the bore with a dry brush would take care of the situation. In no way can the leading be compared to that obtained by using a too-soft bullet in a full-honse.357 Magnum revolver load.

With many of the loads in the data table, the .411 Hawk is an honest 200-yard cast bullet cartridge for game the size of deer and elk.  Zeroed a few inches high at 100 yards should put a bullet right on or an inch or two low at 200.

With the exception of one deer, all the game I’ve taken in the last 40 years has been at ranges under 100 yards.  I would not feel disadvantaged using the .411 Hawk with cast bullets for about 98 percent of my deer or elk hunting needs.