Using a Sinclair meplat trimmer on a cast bullet to make a flat point?

[aussie rich]

Hi guys, long term lurker, and I don't cast a lot, but I have searched for an answer to this and not found much, so I thought I would ask the brains trust.

Mold in question is a Lee 200 grain RN, and rifle in question is a 30-06.

The thought behind this question is to try to add a meplat to the round nose bullet to make it a better hunting projectile.

Would it work? and if so is this the best way to do it?

I have read a lot on the use of softer alloys and higher velocities, but I'm thinking that a little meplat can't hurt, and I would like to throw the heaviest bullet I can.


thanks in advance

Rich

ps my casting experience is limited to a couple of original Ranch Dog molds for my 45/70 :bigsmyl2:, but this 30 cal stuff is new to me.

[Tatume]

Hi Rich,

What you are contemplating is not what the tool was designed to do. It was designed to trim just a tiny bit from the gilding metal jacket of hollow point match bullets, because some people think that the ragged appearance may affect accuracy. If you will examine the tips of some Sierra (or other) 30 caliber match bullets, you'll see what I mean. In my opinion, trimming the tips of match bullets does not make enough difference to be measured (which means it probably makes no difference at all).

If you purchase the tool and attempt to use it for this purpose, you may find that it gums up. I would not spend $50 for this experiment. On the other hand, if you already own the tool, then give it a whirl and let us know how it works.

If you don't already own the tool, you will probably be better off to put the $50 towards a new mold. Since you're only concerned with your hunting bullets, and appear to be satisfied with the round nosed bullets for practice, you might consider a single cavity mold from Tom at Accurate Molds. You can get any bullet style you like for $78 plus shipping.

http://www.accuratemolds.com/

Take care, Tom

[dilly]

I was just wondering about something very similar to this the other day when I saw someone using a Giraud trimmer to trim his bullets on YouTube.

Tatume's advice seems solid, but I would like to reiterate the request that you report back if you already have the thing and do give it a try.

[BrentD]

You can just saw the nose off on a table saw using a jig. I know of one person that did this for a Africa trip. I'd get the new mould myself.