Welcome to Jae-Bok Young's Bullet Casting Hunting Trophies Page

Joe and Nick Beiter from Ohio harvested two 1800-pound Bison bulls at the Circle CE Ranch in Dixon, South Dakota in Jan. 2004. These bulls were between 10 and 11 years old and they stood 6 feet tall at the hump. Horn bases were 13 inches around and 17 inches long. Width between the horn tips is 22.5 inches and width at widest part (in the curve of the horn) is 25.5 inches.

To hunt this giant animal, both hunters used Marlin 1895 Guide guns in 450 Marlin. One bull was shot at 70 yds and the other at 100 yds. Two shots were fired at each bull. One bull went 25 yds before collapsing and the other 50 yds. The Beiters spoke very highly of the 550 grain Crater's penetration power. One bullet completely penetrated and existed through the ribs. The other three bullets smashed both shoulder blades and shoulder joints and penetrated 36 to 40 inches. These bullets were recovered on the offside under the skin.

In preparing for this hunting, the Beiters conducted extensive penetration tests of Crater bullets, shooting 400 rounds of 450 Marlin into various test mediums. The loads consisted of 550 grain Crater bullets, xx grains of IMR 3031 powder and CCI primers.

First, they shot 8 to 10 inch thick Elm tree trunks at 25 yds and 10 to 14 inch thick Maple tree trunks. The Crater bullets zip thru these tree trunks. Then they placed a quarter inch thick steel plate backed by 48-inch thickness cardboards at 50 yds. After penetrating the steel plate, the Crater traveled 30 to 35 inch of the 48-inch thick cardboards. When the steel plate was removed, the bullet completely penetrated the 48-inch thick cardboard. After listening to the Circle CE Ranch's owner's story about a Missouri hunter who pumped 5 rounds of 7MM mag at a Bison and the animal still traveled 500 yds., the Beiters were happy about their choice of the 550 grain Crater.

Joe and Nick say, " We are very pleased with the performance of your bullets. Thank you!"

Soon after hearing the Beiters' successful hunting with the 550 grain Crater, I received the following e-mail from a customer in South Dakota who did extensive tests with the 420 grain Crater Lite in his Marlin 1895 45/70 22 inch barrel gun.

" I shot a 2400 pound range bull (livestock) at 47 paces or around 50 yards with a load I worked up with your 420 gainers. The load is xx grs. of Alliant #7 compressed using 210 Fed primer. The load averaged 2097 fps. in 10 shot string, and shot under an inch at 100 yards. The rifle is zeroed at 175 yards shooting 4.2 inches high at 100 yards. The bullet entered the left side of the 2400 pound bull crushing the left and right shoulder joints tearing 3 inch hole though the top of the lungs and exited skipping along its happy way though the S.D prairie. The bull in an instant of impact dropped to the ground, made a slight effort to return to its feet and died. I shot the wet newspaper at 100 yards which was stacked 6 feet thick and got complete penetration."

This customer says the 2400-pound domestic bull is a lot bigger and has more heavy shoulder bone and muscles than that of its wild cousins such as Cape Buffalo and Water Buffalo which has an average weight of 1600 pounds. This customer adds that when the Crater Lite is pushed above 2000 fps, it achieved only 3 feet penetration at 100 yds. However, when he reduces the load velocity to 1600 fps, the Crater Lite punched through the 6 feet thick wet newspaper at 100 yds.

After experiencing this kind of phenomenal penetration power on the 2400-pound range bull and the 6 feet wet newspaper penetration tests, this customer exclaims, " What can you ask for more?"

CRATERS DOWN UNDER By Jae-Bok Young

A year or so ago, I sent a shipment of my 550 Craters to Peter Moran, a retired civil servant who lives in Canberra, the capital of Australia. I didn’t hear anything from Peter until just recently when he sent me a couple of “after action” reports of the performance of the Craters. Here’s his first report.

“We were after Sambar deer in the dead of winter in the Victorian Alps. Sambar can grow to 700 pounds but are tough way beyond their size. In fact, until the national confiscation of self-loading rifles in 1997, a favourite Sambar rifle of the hard-core Sambar hunter was a Browning BAR, re - barreled to a full 458 Win Mag. You only get one shot at these deer – they’re very smart, very quick and very hard to find. Anyway, find one young Simon Ross did. A heavy, full-bodied specimen at about 40 yards. Simon’s an IPSC pistol shooter and, quick as a flash, he gave it 250 gn. Woodleigh soft point from his 350 Remington Magnum – right into the centre of the “seen mass”. The deer took off like it had been goosed – it didn’t seem to notice a thing – and it wasn’t slowing down. That’s where Dave Eichner came into the game. He was carrying an ancient Marlin lever gun in 45/70, loaded with Jae-Bok Young’s 550 gn. Crater bullets. I’d loaded Dave’s ammo with an eye to the condition of his rifle and the loads chronographed at just under 1300 fps. which, conventional wisdom says, might be a bit light. I wasn’t worried and Dave demonstrated why. After a spectacular 50- yard dash over some very rough ground, he delivered what we used to call in Rhodesia, in the 70s, a “Portuguese Heart Shot” a perfect 3 inches below the base of the Sambar’s erect tail. The bullet went end-to-end through the animal, exiting at the brisket and was not recovered. The Sambar dropped like a ton of bricks and didn’t move. Five feet of very tough Aussie deer was scarcely a challenge for the Crater.”