Casting Hollow Points...Best Pic's...Your Success Tips...?

[OS OK]

I would like to start this thread with the idea of getting you fellas to post your pictures and details about your boolits, calibers, molds and load work-ups...rifle or handgun rounds but just hollow points...to share with others what you worked up that actually works. Show targets of how well they shoot and group...anything to help others to either improve their work or those like me that have never tried this before. Even when you tell someone 'what not to do' will help another caster avoid discouraging pitfalls.

I have cast lots of different style boolits but have never, until this past week tried to cast a hollow point and make it work downrange.
For the first attempt, I wanted to try to get a low velocity, low pressure cast that would work in a .45 ACP. I'd like to have a round for self defense that wouldn't go through a perp and then through a couple of sheetrock walls and harm anyone else, just the 'bad guy'. I have loaded the J-types and have had poor success even when speeding them up to near max which can be hard on a semi-auto, they just don't compare to the power of a magnum hollow points expansion.

175341175342

I lucked into an old single cavity Lyman 452423 SWC-HP and found that regular diluted COWW's were too hard, even when mixed down 50%.
The fellas here on the forum were real helpful in 'tipping' me their secrets for the mold and using the right lead. Thank you men, you made this an easy task for me.

For these...I used straight SOWW's (stick on wheel weights) with nothing else added, not even Sn.
The BHN after casting and Powder Coating was 7.4 . The mold is a 230 grain design but with this lead they came out @ 238 & 239 grains. I sized them @ .451" .
I powder coated them with Black gloss by tumbling coating in a tub.
The powder was 700-X @ 4.8 grains and the avg. velocity was 863 FPS ... pretty slow huh?
I filled a 4" PVC pipe with water and shot this one down the 10' length and the pressure caused the duct taped end to blow off but it didn't let the cast get damaged.


175343175344

Next I'll try to buy a used .38/357 SWC-HP mold and try to get a regular .38 Special @ typical velocity and pressure to do the same thing.
We'll see...hopefully someone has it already worked up and will post his work soon.

Thank you...charlie

[kbstenberg]

OS OK So you used straight soft lead. Huh. I saw your velocity. Do you think the PC kept the bullet from leading the barrel? Have you tried the same bullet/load with a wax lube? In your search did you use any sn. or did that make the bullets harder than you wanted?

[rancher1913]

what is the red stuff in the cutaway boolit?

[runfiverun]

Kevin.
the 45 acp can run on pretty much straight lead.
if you want a sure fire alloy recipe for good expansion at the lower velocity's use something like 30 or 40-1 and a gas check will allow you to run the velocity's up if necessary.

Charlie is focusing on normal non +p type loads so the balance needs to be closer to the no/low additives alloys.
30-40-50 to 1 alloys will work very well in the 45 acp 38 special and 44 special at their everyday velocity's.
of course this requires even more focus and care [meaning heat] when casting the hollow point boolits with those alloys.
and there is always the option of not using tin above about .2% and using an antimonial alloy in it's place.
1-2% antimony without the presence of tin is a whole different ballgame and will function quite well under these conditions.

[OS OK]

OS OK So you used straight soft lead. Huh. I saw your velocity. (1) Do you think the PC kept the bullet from leading the barrel? (2) Have you tried the same bullet/load with a wax lube? (3) In your search did you use any sn. or did that make the bullets harder than you wanted?

1) Yes, I believe that the PC is a jacket of sorts. It's tough, notice the first pic., look closely at the lands and groove marks...or lack thereof...the second drive band up from the base has expanded to the point that the slight groove the land made has almost disappeared. It was there when it exited the barrel but, the thing is that the PC is flexible and tough and is not cut into, it survived being etched and re-expanded to where there is hardly a trace of the groove there.

2) No, My lube sizer sits patiently awaiting my calling. Having discovered this PC process I haven't lubed a round for a while...but from what I've read in...From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners A joint effort by Glen E. Fryxell and Robert L. Applegate
I suspect that you can with low pressure. When old timers like Keith spoke of hard lead they were referring to a BHN of 12 and using it in the .357 mag. If I remember correctly.



3) My first attempt at this lead mix was diluted COWW's...(from thread...Lyman 452423 HP...single cavity...new to me..."Any suggestions?" (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?314060-Lyman-452423-HP-single-cavity-new-to-me-quot-Any-suggestions-quot)) The calculator figured if I used 40 grams of pure Sn, added to 6.5 pounds of SOWW (stick on wheel weights) to 5 pounds of COWW (clip on wheel weights) that I would get an estimated BHN of 10.1 with 1.12% tin, 1.31% antimony, .11% arsenic and 97.5% Pb. I thought that would make some nice looking casts but they were too hard @ 10.4 . I think the .25% arsenic in the COWW's is what foiled things for me a bit. Incidentally the weights varied from 231.8 to 233.4 grains of the 20 that I weighted digitally. This is a 230 grain mold.

[OS OK]

what is the red stuff in the cutaway boolit?

That's a mark from a red Marks a Lot...I mark the spot I want to indent with the Lee BHN tester, when I look at it with the 20X measuring scope, the edges of the indent are clearly defined and easy to line up with the calibration marks in the scope. They also reduce the bright mirror reflection in the indent when I use an auxiliary penlight to illuminate for my old eyes.

[rancher1913]

I will have to remember that trick, always had a time seeing the ends of the divot and that would sure solve the problem, thanks.

[6bg6ga]

Many people think the everything needs to be super hard in order to keep from leading. The trick is proper bullet fit and this is done in the 45acp by not over crimping. Over crimping WILL result in leading. I load 185, 200, and 230's with a hardness of 5-6 or so with just enough tensin so the bullet doesn't move in the magazine or when simply pushing a case up against the enge of a table to see if there is any movement. I generally will load a few and then take an OAL and then try to push the seated bullet into the case further and then remeasure and then load a mag shoot a few and empty the mag and re-measure the remaining to see if there is any change. As seen in the posted pictures lead expands and expands well resulting in superior stopping power and the bullet in most cases staying inside instead of going thru your wall into your neighbors home.

[Nose Dive]

OK..7.5brn at 863 fps....good bullet design and casting fill out... black coating...into water.... Mushrooming in water is excellent...

the boolits look GREAT... powder charge is not hot and should allow for recoil management of shooter.... Super clean 'mushroom'...

GOOD JOB! and .238 grn at .451 dia.... hmmmm

Looking at the side view of the shot round...the grooves didn't seem to score the sides of the boolits. I do see a few 'nicks' but
no real 'lands and grooves' scoring of the boolits. My 45 LC Ruger revolver barrel 'slugs' at 451. So,,, I cast at 453..4 or so.

I didn't see any accuracy data of other boolits so (may have missed that).. cannot say the load for you gun is good. And.. to me
7.5 is a bit soft for ME...maybe not you... I shoot revolver rounds at 950 to 1,000 FPS and at 10 or so BRN... I lube Three lube
rings with my home brew lube and don't have any leading issues... barrel in 5.5".. I do cast HPs and Flat Nose boolits. My alloy
is WW's...tin....LB.... I water drop into COLD WATER and like to let my boolits sit for a few months...after sizing and lubing....

Soo...I LOVE YOUR IDEA OF PICTURES FOR ALL...GREAT IDEA!!! your data is strong and accurate!! PICS are WONDERFUL...

I like this thread and its intent... YOU DUN GUD BUDDY!....

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

PSS... Would like to see pick of these pretty things shot into wet newspaper/phone books. ND

[OS OK]

Nose...the thread where I got started on this project is here... Lyman 452423 HP...single cavity...new to me..."Any suggestions?" (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?314060-Lyman-452423-HP-single-cavity-new-to-me-quot-Any-suggestions-quot) ...you can see the process of elimination regarding BHN.

[pmer]

Here are some NOE 45-230 grains fired from a G30. Cast soft and coated, most of them stopped in about 6'' of paper soaked with water, one was hit by another. The one on the right is a slug recovered from a deer I guess it snuck in as a photo bomb.

[OS OK]

What was the nose profile on those nicely mushroomed slugs...pmer..?
Can you give us any details on load work-up, FPS or BHN or mix of lead?

I appreciate your posting here...it's tough to get people to post their work here although everyone has a big story about their HP's and how well they work...well boys lets see the pictures and details.

Heck I don't care if they were j-types...I just want to see a thread all about HP's.

[Leadmelter]

Cast hot and fast. I mainly use NOE or Erik conversions.
Leadmelter
MI

[JWFilips]

This is one of my favorites: A great deal on e-bay but I felt I rather have it HP ....Buckshot was the grand man! I'm very lucky!
It is an old Ideal 358311! Made better by a great machinist!
175523

[pmer]

What was the nose profile on those nicely mushroomed slugs...pmer..?
Can you give us any details on load work-up, FPS or BHN or mix of lead?

I appreciate your posting here...it's tough to get people to post their work here although everyone has a big story about their HP's and how well they work...well boys lets see the pictures and details.

Heck I don't care if they were j-types...I just want to see a thread all about HP's.

It's a hollow point nose profile and the cavity is about .340 deep and .250 across (from his web site) When cast with the flat point pins they weigh close to 250 grains but I only have the HP pins. The alloy, I'm sorry to say I'm not real sure. I started out with 1 part COWW and 3 parts pure lead and then added range lead to top off the pot. Hardness is just over pure lead and shot with 4.8/Titegroup for 846 FPS average velocity.

I haven't done much with wet media and was surprised to see they didn't push farther than they did. They had a ME of 365 foot pounds and stopped inside 6'' of wet paper. Pretty neat results though. I wonder if these are in line with standard 45 ACP SD ammo.

[OS OK]

I wonder if these are in line with standard 45 ACP SD ammo.

I don't know, but I doubt it. I think these slow, low pressure soft HP's are unique unto themselves.
Have watched the gel test on YouTube until I'm confused which brand did what.
Mostly I see rounds that do not perform as advertised and they penetrate many times into the next gel block behind the target, even after penetrating Blue jean material laid over the front block.
If your concern is minimum penetration and maximum expansion, I think we are forced into casting our own every time.

[Dragonheart]

I like to leave my HP cavity bare so I spray my HP bullets nose down on my bed of nails, made by drilling some scrape sheetmetal and inserting 3/4" carpet nails through the holes. I melted the nail heads to the sheetmetal with my TIG, but they could be glued in place. A touch with a grinder knocks the point off the nails and I am good to load the tray and spray. If I want multiple coats since the HP is bare I have no problem with the ground.
175624

[OS OK]

Here is a very interesting sight where you can see different profiles of HP's with FPS and listed lead hardness and mixes...with pictures, love the pictures.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/expansion-results/

Plenty of comments on hole size and shape in the HP profile, just in case you were considering buying an HP mold and wasn't sure about the dimensions or shape of the pins..

[Dragonheart]

Here is a very interesting sight where you can see different profiles of HP's with FPS and listed lead hardness and mixes...with pictures, love the pictures.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/expansion-results/

Plenty of comments on hole size and shape in the HP profile, just in case you were considering buying an HP mold and wasn't sure about the dimensions or shape of the pins..

Here is an example of Eric's work. A customized Saeco #457 mold to drop two standard and two HP bullets at a pour. Absolutely the best HP design I have ever used; works better anyone's as the pins stay hot.
175626

[OS OK]

Rich, is there another set of pins for that Saeco that you can change out to get RNFP's? It'd be a huge meplat.

[Dragonheart]

I will have to look as there were some spare parts and pins in the box. If not I am sure Eric could add them without a problem, but I am not really sure why you would want a flat point? Because this round nose PC bullet in you 45 ACP with 4.4 grains of HP-38, or 5 grains of N-320, or 7 grains of HS-6, or 5.6 Grains of WSF, will give you 1.5" or less groups at 25 yards and it feeds better than a government round ball.

What is so good about this design is the heavy inner block that is holding the beefy pins. All being inside the mold it maintains the heat well. The pin block just slides out on two small round rails when the mold is opened and the bullets just fall off the pins when the mold is turned over. Then the block slides back into place and you are ready for another pour. This is the fastest HP mold I have ever had the pleasure of using. If you want some bullets to try out let me know.

[OS OK]

I get it about the HP pin assy. in the mold...fast, even heat, easy peezy, maintains the heat, no separate mold pin to heat...one of these days I'll have more HP molds...of choice, like yours. But, for now I'll pass on the HP test boolits, thanks any way. Why? I've got too much on the plate...Instead of building the backstop I needed for the 100 yd. range, I'm working on a water project to pump water from an irrigation ditch that crosses our place, it's a long story.
The famed 8MM project is on the back burner till spring, at least. In the interim, I distract myself with little pistol projects...currently, since I got the new/old mold for .45 HP's, I can absorb myself in simple short termed things in the shop while waiting for parts/pumps and controls week to week.

Picked up a 55 gal. bbl. today for a unique design...Water test tank for HP's. Hope I don't blow the bottom out...we'll see...SeeYaL8Tr...charlie

[runfiverun]

I dunno about the bottom but I wouldn't stand over it to test things.

[WFO2]

I cast these today will have more information later as I plan to powder coat them .

[WFO2]

Dragonheart I to used the Oheln style hollow point .This cast was some left over Lyman #2 mixed with ISO core lead 60/40 . The old style single pin mold is more of a challenge . Since I'm new to casting I went the easy way . May try Cramer style and then single pin later .My mentor uses a single pin and one of the things he told me to do was put a bit of graphite on the pins to help with release .Anyway OS OK sorry could not help you out much .

[MT Gianni]

Best tip I have is to preheat the NOE RG molds with the pins to the side and the mold closed. If you need to tent it with foil or aluminum parts so be it.

[rintinglen]

Heat; lots of heat. What you need to make good HP boolits. You have to preheat the molds and you have to run them hot.

I have 10 HP molds, all NOE RG or MP Cramer now. They range from the MP 32 ACP 73 grain up to an NOE 45-230 RG, with stops at 90 grain 380 boolits, 125 grain 9mm/38, 135 grain 9mm, 150 grain 38, 158 grain 38, 434-640 250 HPs, and 45-200 H&G 68 along the ways. Everyone of them requires more heat than comparable plain nose boolits.

[OS OK]

This is what I have parts to build at the moment...that pvc would actually have a water level that equals the barrel, I've sketched it kinda catty-wompus here though.
I want to be able to reach into the bbl. with my grippers and retrieve the boolits....I just don't want to blow the side of the bbl. out....

Any suggestions fellas?


175708

WFO2...I appreciate the pictures...others who are considering buying a HP Mold prolly want to see the cast results rather than a diagram with measurements.
As you get more details, FPS, mix of lead or pics. of test and how you did them...you can come back and 'edit your pictures here' to show more details.

[WFO2]

Will do plan on PC . Have not decided on powder yet Bullseye is on the list . Will share as I get more details .Still got to go by wally world and get my convection oven .

[runfiverun]

I think your gonna get wet. [J.M.O.]

[DerekP Houston]

I should have some free time this weekend and will post up some fresh cast HP as well as the design specs. I...seem to have cast and loaded most of mine already and switched primarily to wadcutters lately.

Mine are the 45 penta HP from MP and the 358 HP keith style.

[Greg S]

Put awire basket at the bottom. If I remember correctly, the bullets should stop in the tube and then fall the rest of the way down the tube by gravity and drop into the basket under the tube in the bottom of the barrel.

[Dragonheart]

This is what I have parts to build at the moment...that pvc would actually have a water level that equals the barrel, I've sketched it kinda catty-wompus here though.
I want to be able to reach into the bbl. with my grippers and retrieve the boolits....I just don't want to blow the side of the bbl. out....

Any suggestions fellas?


175708

WFO2...I appreciate the pictures...others who are considering buying a HP Mold prolly want to see the cast results rather than a diagram with measurements.
As you get more details, FPS, mix of lead or pics. of test and how you did them...you can come back and 'edit your pictures here' to show more details.\

I use a large plastic trash can filled with water to slug my barrels, but I am just using enough powder to get the bullet out of the barrel, which isn't much. With a small shoot through hole cut the center of the can's lid and a rubber floor mat floating on the water held in place by the lid, my slug jug works quite well. No geyser of water coming out due to the hydraulic action of the bullet on the water. I use a Harbor Freight pick up tool to retrieve the bullet. A full power load is going to penetrate deeper and with a lot more force.

Just so you know, recently an associate wanted to test his full power PC load and decided to fire a round straight down into his swimming pool, assuming the 6"+ of water would stop the 7.62 X 39 bullet; it didn't. Now there is a little hole in the plaster on the bottom of his pool that no one can figure how out it happened, must it be a defect in the plaster!

The good news is the PC bullet he wanted to retrieve proved to him that that at full power the polymer jacket remained completely intact, well almost, except for the nose in the plaster. But there was no tearing on the bands by the rifling and the base was intact. This may be another case where the operation was success, but the patient died.

[OS OK]

Wet is OK if I can get out of having to collect enough milk jugs to test with and then God only knows where the round ends up. The first time I shot down the 10' pipe I got a wet belly, might try putting a plastic shopping bag over the mouth and rubber band it there...see if that won't help some with the splash-back.

Wire basket? Yep, thanks...love the ideas you all have. But...the first test, I blew the duct tape end out of the pipe. The pipe end was up against an oak round as a backstop...the boolit bounced back to stop on my left about 8 feet from the end I shot into...that's why I'm thinking of some sort of backstop inside the barrel.

If I had my druthers, I'd not use a barrel at all, just figure a way to stop them in the pipe instead without blowing the back end off...perhaps a 15' long pipe with a heavy inner tube rubber end hose clamped on? Just fill the pipe and lean it up against a saw horse each time I want to test and dump it to recover the boolit.

[DerekP Houston]

I can't wait to see what rube goldberg type design you end up with. I really hope there is a bell at the end to "ding" so you know its done :D.

[OS OK]

"We don't need no stinking bells Der!"

[DerekP Houston]

"We don't need no stinking *balls* Der!"

Must be a cali thing :D :D

[yondering]

OS OK - you had to use nearly pure lead in those bullets in the first post because of the thickness of the bullet nose around the cavity; way too much reinforcement around that cavity, preventing expansion. You'll find that small cavity plugs easily too.

I make a lot of hollow points; my method is to make the cavity as wide as possible, and adjust the depth for the amount of expansion you want. Done that way, ordinary COWW alloy works down to ~700 fps or less, or up to 1500+ fps.

Here are a couple slow movers; these hollow points are intentionally oversized for low velocity performance. I don't remember the velocity of the 38 Spl load exactly but it was less than 750 fps. This .45 is intended for very light loads, just enough to cycle the gun. Both of these gave better accuracy after hollow pointing than the original solid designs.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Bang/molds/IMG_2341a.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Bang/molds/IMG_3198a.jpg

[OS OK]

Great post yondering...
Two extremes in the .45 ACP round. On the high end for the .45 it frags causing multiple extreme wound channels, on the low end it got almost the size of a quarter...stopping the slow train effect.
The .38 is just perfect, looks almost like 100% weight retention too.
I see where that HP's inside dimensions can determine the hardness and speed.

How do they group, looks like the center of gravity is way back?

charlie

[yondering]

Both of those shoot very well, although I don't have pics of groups. Generally speaking, you can expect better accuracy from hollow points than the solid version of the same design, if the hollow point modification is done correctly.

That 190gr .45 hollow point is very comparable to the H&G 68 200gr SWC in my guns, although it won't feed in some semi-autos. I generally use light charges of Bullseye with that one, essentially the same load as the 200gr SWC.

Most of the time I use this one in .45; it's a modification of the Lee 230 TC, and drops at 215gr. Expansion in the pic was at ~900-950 fps IIRC. Again, COWW alloy with a cone shaped hollow point.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Bang/molds/IMG_2350a.jpg

[LakeviewBulldog]

175858

These are some boolits from my second session with my new NOE RG4 453 220gr HP. My first session was 100% rejects. Second session I had about 50% keepers. Third session I was at about 80% keepers. Powder coated them and took 50 to the range today. All worked flawlessly. It's really true that you have cast hot and fast. It was actually very tiring for me with a four banger mold. The 90 degree Alabama weather isn't helping either. I can only cast for about a half hour at a time in this heat. It's for sure a learning curve. For anyone that wants to try their hand at hollow point molds just don't get frustrated and work fast and hot.

[Dragonheart]

The 90 degree Alabama weather isn't helping either. I can only cast for about a half hour at a time in this heat. It's for sure a learning curve. For anyone that wants to try their hand at hollow point molds just don't get frustrated and work fast and hot.[/QUOTE]

It is not any cooler in the Gulf Coast of Texas, so I wait for the winter and cast til I drop. Clean Hot mold and hot mix is the answer I found with the NOE brass HP molds and they do get heavy.

[gray wolf]

175947175949175950

[OS OK]

That's what I'm looking for grey wolf...can you comment on the lead mix, FPS, weight retention of the mushrooms or what you tested into?

charlie

[gray wolf]

The lead mix was close to 50/50 WW and pure, slightly favoring the pure.

Powder was titegroup, 5 grains for about 900 F P S

Shot into 4, 1 gallon water jugs, penetrated 3 and got stuck in the forth.

Longshot powder will do the same with about 7.5 grains, it's a little hotter load but both loads are under Max.

My load for target shooting Is a #68 from an old H&G mold ( 200 grain bullet )
4.5 grains of Titegroup powder. Does everything I need to do.

[OS OK]

Yes, the 200 grain .45 ACP...easy on the lead supply, shoots flat and fast, easy on the 1911, a great all purpose round at the range. I use them in the .45 Colt SAA also. For a long time I used SWC's but now I kinda like the Lee .452-200-RF with medium sized meplat.
Eventually I'll cast some soft ones to test in the water column pipe...just for giggles, I'd like to see if they tend to flatten and grow wide too. So far most all of the range lead I've been using is straight COWW's that get PC'd. Can't find anything to gripe about here.

[Outpost75]

Tests of Accurate 36-125T, 9x18 MAK bullet normally .366" reduced diameter of mold to cast .362" diameter for use in .38 S&W pocket guns. Here test examples were sized down to .358 for test firing in the .380 ACP and .38 Special. Bullets tested are 6.5 BHN tin-lead alloy, about 1-1/2% Sn, at various velocities in water jugs. Catalog version now listed in .357 diameter for .380 ACP and .38 Special is 35-122T

176703176708176704176705176706176707
176709176710

[OS OK]

Thank you Outpost for taking the time and effort to post your work in my thread...I hope that someday we'll have a plethora of facts and pictures to show the Hollow Point enthusiast here under one title.

***I'm looking also for those who might post the 'not quite so exceptional test' too, cast work and especially the J-Types that don't perform as touted by the manufacturers...I know that I learn a lot from what 'not' to do in many instances.

Many thanks to all who endeavor to strive for perfection and especially to those who will share their secrets here.

charlie

[OS OK]

Casting with the Lyman 358-439 HP and LOW Velocity
Objective...to cast a HP round soft enough to mushroom at low velocity. This is about having a .38 Special cartridge that would more likely than not stay within a perp and not pass through into another room in the house and possibly harm an innocent person. A cartridge capable of being fired from a snubby and delivering all its energy by completely mushrooming.

Here I just received a new/used Lee 10# bottom pour from one of our members and thought I'd use it exclusively for soft lead blends. I built a stand for it and the 20# with slide out trays underneath, one for sprue cuts and the other for droppings casts.
The other thing to note here is that I've found that a large hex nut on the hotplate will keep the pin and the mold at 400-450* and they cast perfectly from generally the 2'nd pour.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178592&d=1476209541 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178592&d=1476210522)

Here I'm showing the mold open [too soon I might add, see the smear on the boolit base?] but am emphasizing that I use the pressure pour method. This mold is so small that if I don't pressure pour I get lead all over the place. My objective is to get hot melted lead into the cavity as fast as possible to avoid voids and wrinkles.



http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178594&d=1476209152 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178594&d=1476210522)

The load was 4.0g. of Bullseye under this SWC-HP at 166g. This mix of pewter sweetened SOWW [stick-on wheel weights] measures today [24 hours after casting and PC'ing them on the same day] at 7.4 BHN and I would imagine that they will increase to about 8.2 in 48 hours. That I would imagine is soft enough however after testing them on the chrony at 725 FPS avg., I still get mixed results in the water test pipe I shoot them into.
The middle mushroom is where I'd like to stay but I've got to modify something here to make them consistently open up...2 of them didn't want to comply.

Options...​are to load up to maximum here at 4.2g. of Bullseye and increase the velocity a bit but I hate operating on the ragged edge of a max load. Possibly use another powder? Remember I'm casting these exclusively for a little snubby and that's why I chose the Bullseye, pretty quick powder.

Of course I might not be seeing the forest for the trees here so I'm asking your inputs...what do you fellas think?


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178593&d=1476209444 (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=178593&d=1476210522)

[yondering]

Of course I might not be seeing the forest for the trees here so I'm asking your inputs...what do you fellas think?



Well, a couple things, mainly about your hollow point design.

Respectfully, that's not a very good hollow point for your stated goal of max expansion at low velocity. A SWC bullet is not ideal to start with, a TC or RF or WFN design would be a better start. Second, your hollow point is too narrow and the sides are too straight. You want a very thin rim of lead around the hollow point at the nose, then the cavity should taper down to a blunted point at the center. The idea here is the very tip of the bullet is weak enough to expand easily, but then it becomes progressively more resistant to expansion as the mushroom opens up.

In post #38 I posted a pic of a 38 Special bullet designed to do exactly what you're looking for - maximum expansion at low velocity. That expansion shown was with clip-on wheelweight alloy, not dead soft lead. You don't need to use really soft lead with a good hollow point design.

[OS OK]

Thanks yondering...I like that design and huge open HP. Unfortunately at the moment this old Lyman mold in .38/.357 and .45 are the only two molds I presently have. I'm trying to learn all the nuances of HP's with these. I get as much out of you fellas adding pic's and facts as my own experiments. It's an interesting aspect of casting, especially learning to blend a specific blend and then testing what you think you have made.

[yondering]

You can spend a lot of time "learning the nuances" of that HP mold, but it really won't tell you much about casting with other hollow point molds, or what a correctly set up cast hollow point can do.

About all you can do with that one to improve it's performance is either have someone machine a larger pin for it so you can try different pin shapes, or else experiment with various pointed top punches in a lubersizer press to open up the hollow point cavities in different ways. I did that for a number of years before making my own hollow point molds; it's pretty easy to make top punches in various cone, ball, and other shapes, even sharpened phillips screwdriver bits, etc.

One can end up with some pretty interesting hollow point shapes with a little experimentation in a luber-sizer. Don't be afraid to force the cavities open too far, or even cut them into segments; you can squeeze them back into shape again like a Barnes bullet with the appropriate top punch or sizing die. Lots of possibilities there.

[BNE]

:popcorn: