Cast Hollow Points for Pistols?

[Ido356]

Newbe looking to buy my first molds, and have a question;

Are casting HP boolits for pistols (.25 acp to 45acp) a waste of time?

I ask this because I have been getting most of my lead out of dirt & gravel berms, and most of the cast boolits look like you could wash them off and load them up,lol.
I also find alot of soft lead core FMJ and quite a few JHP that have little to no damage/expansion.

I figure if I am not going to get any expansion, I should be more concerned with perforating and less with expanding.:Fire:

Thanks,

[mdi]

I'n on thr fence when it comes to hollow point lead bullets. Many reports I've read state the bullet does not mushroom but fragmints, or the cavity gets clogged with hide or clothing and acts like a solid. Some say that at handgun velocities a hollow point is no better than a solid nose bullet. Others say they get great mushrooming (up to 2 calibers) with the right alloy. For me, I choose a bullet with a large meplat. Large flat point leaves a large perminate wound cavity, has a lot of "shock" effect, and provides deep penetration. I haven't hunted a lot with cast lead bullets so I can't tell you how they react in game/flesh, but the Ranch Dog RNFP is my choice and reported to be an excellent killer. I have two sizes for my .44 Magnum and both shoot great.

[runfiverun]

they have some advantages.
but i doubt the paper or dirt cares.
unless you are looking for that last bit of accuracy.
i wouldn't recommend starting out casting with a hollow point mold.

i fugured out the flat nose thing for hunting when a couple of hollow points failed to open.

[1Shirt]

In my opinion, yes! Particularly for the 25 ACP, a lot of work for little if any results!
1Shirt!

[garym1a2]

I think hard cast would be a waste in HPs with a low velocity round. But a softer cast bullet in a fast mover like the 9mm/357mag should expand.

I would be tempted to try a 45acp and cast it with near pure lead.

[fredj338]

Actually, you can get any expansion you want by varying the alloy & HP design.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/452-251.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/9mm-136-1200.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/DSC_0041.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/44-272-1K.jpg

[Bullshop]

I once did a simple test to see if what I had heard was true. I was told to fill the cavity with something that would flow under pressure and have a hydrolic effect.
I filled the cavity on some Miheck 200gn 45sand fired from 45 auto cases into wood blocks. The non filled cavities never expanded and the filled cavities always fully expanded. I used speed green boolit lube to fill the cavities. Maybe speed green is just magic but I dont think so.
So with what I learned from a simple test guess what I do with my cast HPs if I want them to expand.
Of course weather or not the nose stays together would depend on the alloy.

[white eagle]

Actually, you can get any expansion you want by varying the alloy & HP design.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/452-251.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/9mm-136-1200.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/45-215gr.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/DSC_0041.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/44-272-1K.jpg
I was awaitin for someone to mention that feature :cbpour:

[41mag]

I am pretty new to all of this by most folks standards here. That said I read up on a ton of post about HP's and the alloys used to get successful expansion.

My biggest problem was I don't have an overabundance of pure lead or pure tin from which to put together something like a 25-1 or similar alloy. I had started out pouring up flat nosed designs for hunting, and found that the Iso Core alloy was great for these. So I stocked up on them when I had the extra funds to do so, and they have now become my base alloy.

That said I have worked up some alloy from this which I believe is going to work out great when used for my MP version 45 270 SAA clone in the HP or the MP 452 640 with both the med and lg HP pins installed.

Witht eh Lg pin my 452 640's come out at 260grs and the result from one test with my 45 ACP is shown in this post,
Cast against Condoms.... (http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=165472)

Other than that here is a post with the result of the same alloy used in my 45 Colt with the Sm pin in the 640 and the 45 270 SAA,
Latest HP Alloy Blend, might be a winner... (http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=164591)

Even with the testing and such I still haven't managed to put any into field trials just yet on actual critters. It's not been for a lack of trying, but simply a lack of cooperation on the part of the hogs. I did have one chance a couple of weeks back, but I had been trying to take this one big boar with my bow and he came out with the sounder of 40'ish pound ones and I ended up missing hm entirely.

I have also since blended up a slightly harder alloy of 1.75/1.75/ 96.5 to try out with my 41 and 44 magnums. I am hoping it is just hard enough to withstand the magnum velocities and just soft enough to roll back in a similar fashion to what I have had with the 1.5/1.5/97 in my 45 Colt. I have a batch of boolits poured up and ready to load in hopes of trying them out over the week of Thanksgiving.

[MBuechle]

9mm. Works great.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_23247509b15673bde5.jpg ('http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7342')

[jethunter]

Mihec 429640 bullets loaded in 44 special. They are 50% ww and 50% pure with a little tin swetener added. They expand to double diameter shot into a milk jug full of water. These still needed to be crimped when the picture was taken.

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z98/jethunter/44%20bullets/0006.jpg

[rintinglen]

I have Mihec 640 molds in 360 and 432 diameters. At 850 fps or better, out of recovered range lead they expand. I have not tested them with 9 layers of kevlar or a leather clad blue jean jacket, but the double their diameter in water.

[MtGun44]

I don't think that casting HP for pistols is a waste of time.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=3952

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=2905

Bill

[cbrick]

45 ACP fired into 3 feet of water at 800 fps. Alloy here was stick-on WW+ 2% Sn.

Penetration? Dunno, probably not a lot but this is a defensive round and not a hunting round, hopefully I'll never need to find out. A lack of penetration could be a very good thing considering the very real possibility of shooting through walls and hitting an innocent which was a prime consideration working up this load.

Rick

[44man]

Controlled expansion with enough penetration is needed for people BG shooting.
For hunting deer with proper velocities, a FN hard boolit works but vary the velocity and some expansion will again work but do not lose penetration.
Balance expansion and never look for extreme fast expansion or breaking boolits.
A .25 is the worst thing to work with no matter the boolit. No boolit weight and expansion will stop it while none at all does nothing either.
Long, long ago I loved expansion on water jugs, stopped fast with perfect mushrooms. I told myself how they would kill deer but it is nothing but failure once I was allowed to shoot deer with revolvers. I shot clay and all sorts of stuff looking for the perfect mushroom. Failure with a capitol F. I could smoke varmints.
I love to watch the extreme expansion stuff with a .44 mag, just fun. The .44 needs NO expansion, just a good boolit. The .357 needs some but not too much. Anything smaller is a joke to stop anything from a BG to an animal except for a squirrel or rabbit.
Many calibers are put to shame with a .22.
A rifle works the same way. Take a 30-06 with a 110 gr bullet and you will blow the boolit up on a deers side before penetration. Then a 180 gr Silvertip will poke a hole but the proper balance will kill a deer in it's tracks.
Those large hollow points in a .44 with huge mushrooms are poor deer boolits.

[fredj338]

Those large hollow points in a .44 with huge mushrooms are poor deer boolits.

Yes, unless you have enough mass behind it to insure complete penetration. I like my 270gr cup points for deer, they do not stop inside, barely slow down @ 1200fps+.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/44-272.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/fredj338/270grLHP-deer.jpg

[runfiverun]

that nose muuush fred shows is almost perfect for what you want a deer boolit to do.
not too much mush and enough weight to penetrate.
if i have to trade one for the other, i'll take penetration for hunting.
and mush for B/G's.

[Irascible]

Have you read this?
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm