Hello from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I've been casting bullets since about the mid-1980's and really enjoy it. I began doing so to keep the costs down, competing in IHMSA with my handguns and stuck to jacketed for my hunting rifles.
A while back I decided, "Why not use cast for hunting too?" so I began down that route. Sure glad I did. Took to it with my Model 94 and got a couple of deer and a bear using cast.
That sort of opened up my eyes to maybe getting a rifle well-suited for both cast bullets and hunting. Up here, moose are the prime animal to get (we have lots of 'em), so I came across a Ruger No. 1 that had been rechambered for 45-120. "Yikes!" was my first impression, thinking that's a bit much, even for moose.
But it was a beautiful rifle - probably came available due to an estate sale - and I kept coming across it in the used section of the local Cabelas. Eventually I began believing that this rifle ought to be in my possession because, around here, I was one of the few who could make ammunition for it (including casting the bullets). Not into black powder, I felt I could develop an effective smokeless load for it and rack up a few moose with it for the freezer.
Which is exactly what I did. The large caliber, heavy bullets have always seemed to me to be the way to go, when it comes to hunting with a cast bullet. Even if they don't expand much, they start off big anyway. And, being heavy, even if they're not being launched at terribly high speed, they deliver a lot of energy.
After a year of development, I think I've settled on a good load for the 45-120; one that uses the Postel-style 457132 bullet, to which I attach a gas check designed for plain-based bullets. I probably won't stop there because the Postel shape is not ideal for hunting (I began using it because two moulds for it came with the rifle), but it's working well enough to put Bullwinkle down. Using that bullet, I've gotten a moose in each of the two years I've owned this rifle.
I'm exceedingly fortunate, having a wife of 42 years who is equally interested in hunting. We go out to do so often and she prefers a .243.