Assisted Expansion Bullets

[NavyVet1959]

I was recently drilling out a .22LR barrel to use to test .25 nail gun blanks (they are the same diameter as .22 mag). Before I drilled the barrel though, I took a lead ingot and drilled it out with the drill bit that I thought would be the best fit just to see how tight / sloppy the blank would fit in the hole.

This kind of got me to thinking though... I wondered what would happen if you too a large caliber bullet and drilled a hole in it just large enough for the .22 or .25 nail gun blank and then set it in there with a drop of glue to keep it from falling out during handling. I'm sure it would work if you shot a metal target, but other than perhaps providing a flash to see where you hit, I don't think it would serve much purpose since the bullet is going to splatter anyway. But what about on "soft" targets? Would hitting ballistic gel still cause it to fire and if so, I have to wonder what the wound channel would look like. I'm thinking it would be a bit more shallow and perhaps with a few fragments going wherever.

Anyone ever tried this?

[Preacher Jim]

There was a company that seated pistol primers in hollow point bullets and sold as defense loads. The ones we tested did not cause primers to fire but expansion was good as primer was forced in hollow points.

[Little Oak]

I recall reading about this a long time ago. As I remember it the rimfire blanks were fitted in hollow point lead bullets loaded in the old black powder express African cartridges to try and improve performance on the really big stuff.
Apparently the rimfires failed to ignite reliably and the idea was dropped. I can't re call who it was that tried it.

[Larry Gibson]

That's been done for many, many years.....done it myself. Keith and others wrote about it years ago using large bore rifles such as 45-70 and 45-90s. Drill the hole, put some FFFFg powder in it and set a 22 blank on top. Makes for a fun "spotter" round shooting rocks off in the distance. Shotgun primers work too as they have an internal anvil.

Larry Gibson

[Elkins45]

The exploding 22 bullets that Ronald Reagan was shot with were supposed to do the same thing. There was some sort of explosive compound in a nose cavity. Fortunately they didn't work.

[NavyVet1959]

I'm not set up for ballistic gel testing, but I'm thinking a simple test might be warranted just for curiosity's sake. Maybe something like a bullet with one of the nail gun blanks in the head sitting on the concrete with a 3 ft long piece of 1.5" or so diameter steel pipe around it and then another piece of pipe with an end cap that was just the right size to slide into outer pipe, but not too close of a fit so that the gases could still escape around the sides and not end up launching the inner pipe and cap into the ceiling of the garage. Drop the inner pipe, let it hit the nose of the bullet. The outer pipe should protect from any shrapnel that might develop. Then take a look at it to see if it just expanded or if it fragmented.

[waksupi]

Our club cannon has a mold that casts a projectile, that will accept around 1/4# of BP. A .22 goes in the nose of the projectile as a primer. Works good!

[farmerjim]

I have drilled them and put flash powder ( from fireworks) in them with a lead shot on top. They will explode if they hit something hard.

[mdi]

What I can remember from reading about the then "new" discovery many years ago (22 blanks in hollow points) was that they would only work on hard, solid targets. Soft material, like ballistic gel or flesh, failed to provide enough "resistance" to crush the rims enough to fire the blank...

[Thumbcocker]

Lyman did it with the 330 grain Gould HP in the late 1800's. Frank Marshall had a few good articles about shooting them with a .22 blank in the nose in a .45-70.

[gwpercle]

I recall reading about this a long time ago. As I remember it the rimfire blanks were fitted in hollow point lead bullets loaded in the old black powder express African cartridges to try and improve performance on the really big stuff.
Apparently the rimfires failed to ignite reliably and the idea was dropped. I can't re call who it was that tried it.

I read the same thing ...about the only African hunting book I remember reading was written by WDM Bell, The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter ( or Karamojo Safari). He wrote of others trying a 8 gauge shotgun , metal cased shell loaded with a huge HP bullet ( not a slug but a pointed boolit ) with the blank inserted in the hollow point....he said the exploding tip was unreliable , usually failing to explode. Seems he favored the 7 X 57 to the exploding 8 gauge !
Gary

[NavyVet1959]

Stumbled across this testing:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXaaybiRiYY

Interesting...

[.22-10-45]

I have drilled out .22 L.R. nose & used toy cap gun powder topped with a #4 lead shot. Would penetrate one 2X4 block & only base & lead splinters found in blackened cavity in middle of 2nd. block at 50yds. Turner Kirkland spoke of using .22 blank in drilled out nose of .58 minnie ball...reproducing explosive ball of Civil War fame.