Anyone drill HP cavities on loose boolits?

[Tripplebeards]

Wondering if anyone has a way of drilling HP in boolits that haven't been loaded yet? I have seen the forester way and wondered if I could wedge a gc lee 200g .358 boolit in a shell holder and drill away? I tried and it looked like with the right shell holder the GC will catch to hold the boolit in place. Anyone try this?

[Larry Gibson]

Using a lathe with a collate and using a drill in the headstock or a counter sink works well. I have used my mini lathe to do so. Getting the hole centered and parallel to the bullets axis is essential to accuracy.

[KVO]

You could try a modified version of my technique with the NOE push through sizer. I kind of like the magical distinction of having a post with zero replies though.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340723-Drilling-HP-with-the-NOE-Universal-sizer

[JBinMN]

You could try a modified version of my technique with the NOE push through sizer. I kind of like the magical distinction of having a post with zero replies though.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340723-Drilling-HP-with-the-NOE-Universal-sizer

Hate to say it, but, "LOL"... I had to chuckle, even though it sucks...

Pretty interesting topic/post though. I did not want to ruin your "magical distinction", or I would post there saying so.
;)


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I have often wondered about drilling holes in some of my cast bullets to see what happens, but just haven't got to it yet. I am interested to follow what comes up here, or in KVOs "distinctive" topic.

[JBinMN]

You could try a modified version of my technique with the NOE push through sizer. I kind of like the magical distinction of having a post with zero replies though.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340723-Drilling-HP-with-the-NOE-Universal-sizer

Hate to say it, but, "LOL"... I had to chuckle, even though it sucks...

Pretty interesting topic/post though. I did not want to ruin your "magical distinction", or I would post there saying so.
;)

I even subscribed to it to see what happens...
another LOL ;)


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I have often wondered about drilling holes in some of my cast bullets to see what happens, but just haven't got to it yet. I am interested to follow what comes up here, or in KVOs "distinctive" topic.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Forster makes a hollow pointing kit you setup in a case trimmer. I can't report on it though, haven't tried it yet but it is supposed to be pretty good.

[KrakenFan69]

You could try a modified version of my technique with the NOE push through sizer. I kind of like the magical distinction of having a post with zero replies though.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340723-Drilling-HP-with-the-NOE-Universal-sizer

Man that right there is some low hanging fruit. If I didn't like it here so much I could almost be "that guy" and post just so there is one reply. The most subscribed no activity thread on the forums. lol


Kraken Fan #69

[Shumkles]

It seems like you could make some soft jaws and bore them to fit your boolit. Put the drill in the tail stock. If you can set a stop to get an exact consistent centered depth.

[MT Gianni]

Jim in Pheonix? made a tool several years ago to HP on a drill press. I have not seen him on the board in 5 years or so.

[MT Gianni]

Jim in Pheonix? made a tool several years ago to HP on a drill press. I have not seen him on the board in 5 years or so. Membership shows last visit 11/2013. It was a decent tool and caliber specific.

[Grmps]

get two boards, clamp them together (1x2, 1x3, ??) with a 1/8 spacer between them, create a makeshift hinge on one side.
center the two boards in the drill press and clamp 1 board down to the drill press.
Drill a hole the size of the boolit you want to HP between the boards.
Take the clamps off that hold the boards together.
Put boolit in the drilled hole and pinch boards together.
Put a drill bit in the press the size of hp you want and set the depth.
create HP

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It is hardly possible to overemphasise the need for the hole to be absolutely central. A conventional shellholder won't do, as it is designed to allow slight lateral movement to feed the case into the die. A drill-press case-trimming or neck-reaming case holder, such as the Lyman, is designed or the use of a piloted tool in a hole you don't have in a bullet. I have a female Morse taper spigot I made to fit the socket for a rotating table on my drill-press. But the drill press is much more likely than a lathe to let that get a few thousandths off-centre through expansion and contraction, and we are talking thousandths here.

The only trouble with a lathe and collet is getting the right collet. With a few, such as . 375,nc there is no problem finding a Morse taper collet. For others you can buy a soft emergence collet or Morse blank mandrel, to be drilled and reamed or bored. Collets other than Morse are likely to need a collet chuck, which is expensive if you don't have other uses for it.

For a mandrel, which isn't tightened by drawing into the socket, I would drill a hole to use a dowel or plastic rod to stop the bullet rotating, and fit it in the tailstock.

If you have a lathe, why not make an accurate hollow-pointing device? It could incorporate a drill guide, or a device for pressing the hollow in a powerful vice. My drawing isn't perfect, for it ought to have shoulders on the two punches, to make sure they are driven to the same point every time. You could make collars to suit different bullet weights.

205868

[Shopdog]

Yup,made one for use in a drill press.After drilling a torx driver bit gets pressed in to refine the "hole".It works fine.Several ways to go about the process,largely based on your equipment and attention to holding extremely tight tolerances.I sort of did it on a whim,proof of concept,drilled a few...never tested it enough.The rifle was/is an EDC 7-08,stainless SPS Remington.

[Cap'n Morgan]

I once modified a set of pliers to hollow-point 22LR (hollow points, at that time, being illegal over here) Annealed the jaws of the pliers, clamped the jaws in a vise and drilled a guide hole (about 0.08) followed by a 0.22 drill in the parting line of the jaws.

Something similar cold be made for larger boolits - welding larger jaws on a pair of pliers or modifying an old mold. The trick is that the "pliers" approach keeps the boolit from spinning when drilling the hole.

[sledgehammer001]

I have hollowpointed a few dozen Lee SWC for my 41 Magnum, by chucking the unloaded bullet in my mini lathe and slowly feeding in a center spot drill to a pre marked depth. Slow but effective. Really expand on impact.

[KVO]

HP are a deep rabbit hole, the combinations are endless. I got the idea from OS OK to use scewdriver bits to swage various shapes into the nose cavity. This is a Torx T20 and the NOE copy of the Lyman 358156 (20-1) @ 815 fps fired into bare Clear Ballistics gel. Right is as cast HP, Left is with the Torx bit used to skive the HP cavity.205876 205877

BTW my earlier post really was intended for a laugh, no intent to be snide.

[Bent Ramrod]

IIRC, the Forster setup (and the earlier Goerg hollow-pointer) center boolits in loaded cartridges with a drill guide so they can be drilled slowly and safely with the crank on the Forster trimmer or by hand twisting.

Al Goerg was an early advocate of scoped revolvers for big-game hunting and neither of these setups were meant for any quantity production for plinking or target shooting. Testing at the time (whatever that was) “showed” that a drilled hollow-point was more effective than a cast hollow-point.

If you want a lot of drilled hollow-points, the only “practical” way to go is a lathe with the proper collet in a collet chuck. Any makeshifts will either not center the boolit properly or will mar the shank, reducing accuracy potential. Even the collet setup can sometimes crush the shank or allow it to spin, depending on how close the fit of the collet and the temper of the lead.

I predict that whatever method you settle on, you will quickly tire of drilling holes in lead. Keeping Kroil on the tip of the drill bit and the tip of the boolit during the drilling operation will keep the lead from galling and sticking to everything.

[Tripplebeards]

I think I'll look for a hp mold. It will be cheaper and less labor intensive in the long run. I tried to drill some by hand and no matter how hard I try the bit drifts off center.

[JBinMN]

I think I'll look for a hp mold. It will be cheaper and less labor intensive in the long run. I tried to drill some by hand and no matter how hard I try the bit drifts off center.

It may be that ya want to try with a smaller drill bit than the one you want to end up with. Even a couple bits that step up as ya go. The "pilot" holes will help you stay close to center. As an example think... 1/16th bit, then a 1/8, then a 3/16ths bit for the final hole size, or what ever size ya wish.

G'Luck! no matter what ya decide to do!
:)

[Artful]

Wondering if anyone has a way of drilling HP in boolits that haven't been loaded yet? I have seen the forester way and wondered if I could wedge a gc lee 200g .358 boolit in a shell holder and drill away? I tried and it looked like with the right shell holder the GC will catch to hold the boolit in place. Anyone try this?

Yeah, I tried to hand drill some that's why I own the forester tool jig.

[vzerone]

Long time ago Larry Gibson recommended using a lathe centerdrill (which come in various sizes) for drilling hollowpoints. That's a very good idea as it gives you more of a cone shaped hole and the wide mouth should start expansion faster, especially at low velocities.

There's nothing at all wrong with cast hollowpoints especially from Mihec's molds. They work very well.

[country gent]

A spade drill cuts lead very well. with a lathe any hollow point form can be made then cut and relieved to be a spade drill. Another trick to lessen wandering is to use the shortest bit possible this limits the flex in the bit making a much stiffer tool that dosnt wander as much. Another idea is to swage the hollow point in with a press and form die. A drill fixture made up with a drill bushing will work very good. A hardwood or metal back L shaped and a flat piece of hardwood or metal. bolt together with 2 alighnment pins. Assemble and drill hollow point drill dia thru in both pieces do this on both sides of bolt. Then drill the bullet dia to the short leg of the L. If wood finish with a thin long cure epoxy and re drill when cured. This makes a tougher surface that holds up longer. Relieve the bolt holes on each side for a spring. Glue the bolt in the back half ( L shaped piece) and put a spring in between with a washer and wing nut. In use clamp 2 bullets in with noses against short leg of L set upright and drill thru to desired depth of hollow point, once the stop is set it should repeat well. the short leg of the L is the bullets stop and should hold depth well. The bolt between the 2 holes will provide even tension on both bullets. For a 4 hole fixture use a T shaped center block and flats on each side.

[vzerone]

A spade drill cuts lead very well. with a lathe any hollow point form can be made then cut and relieved to be a spade drill. Another trick to lessen wandering is to use the shortest bit possible this limits the flex in the bit making a much stiffer tool that dosnt wander as much. Another idea is to swage the hollow point in with a press and form die. A drill fixture made up with a drill bushing will work very good. A hardwood or metal back L shaped and a flat piece of hardwood or metal. bolt together with 2 alighnment pins. Assemble and drill hollow point drill dia thru in both pieces do this on both sides of bolt. Then drill the bullet dia to the short leg of the L. If wood finish with a thin long cure epoxy and re drill when cured. This makes a tougher surface that holds up longer. Relieve the bolt holes on each side for a spring. Glue the bolt in the back half ( L shaped piece) and put a spring in between with a washer and wing nut. In use clamp 2 bullets in with noses against short leg of L set upright and drill thru to desired depth of hollow point, once the stop is set it should repeat well. the short leg of the L is the bullets stop and should hold depth well. The bolt between the 2 holes will provide even tension on both bullets. For a 4 hole fixture use a T shaped center block and flats on each side.

You've been watching me! I swage my hollow points. They work and perform wonderfully.

[buckshotshoey]

You all are making this too complicated. Drilling center is easy as pie. In a lathe or drill press, put the bullet in the chuck and lower it to a stationary drill bit. It is impossible to make an off center hole when you spin the bullet.

The only problem is the hole will be bigger if your alignment is off a little. That will lead to lighter boolits. But the hole will be perfectly centered, no matter what size it is.

For instance... if your set up is off center .010", the hole will be ..020 bigger then intended, but will still be centered. A drill bit might not be the correct tool. Maybe a plunge cutter of some kind.

[David2011]

I use my lathe with a 3 jaw chuck and a center drill. It's slow but I don't need that many.

[Bama]

Using a lathe with a collate and using a drill in the headstock or a counter sink works well. I have used my mini lathe to do so. Getting the hole centered and parallel to the bullets axis is essential to accuracy.

Will check for accuracy in a few days, but trying to make low noise loads sutiable for 308W. Bullets were sized and ready to go .310/.300. They were gripped with collet chuck and a center drill was used to make the hollow point. Most were drilled to full center point drill diameter. Brother wants something for deer eating everything in yard. Figured to load with Red dot which is reasonably quiet.

[Duckdog]

The Forester works pretty good. It also makes very repeatable results.

[RED BEAR]

Easy way in drill press replace drill press vice jaws with wood blocks (screw them in place ) bolt down vice so drill will hit where wood blocks come together. Place several pieces of paper in vice and tighten drill hole size ( flat bottom drill ) of bullet to be hollow pointed. Drill only deep enough to hold bullet well but still allows easy removable of bullet. Then open vice remove paper and set stop on drill press and you are ready to go . been doing this for quite a while and seems to work pretty good . and really is not that much trouble. And as long as vice is not moved after drilling hole in blocks you are centered. I say to use wood because most will have no way to cut to size and drill aluminum . plus wood will not deform lead as easy. Good luck and happy loading

[jessdigs]

Well, reading this thread I had to try it.
Used 5c collets and my old $100 hardinge cataract lathe with a center drill. Then used the tailstock to push the bits in.

I needed bigger torx bits for the .40 and .45, but the 308 worked great, and just doing round hollow points without shaped impressions worked on the bigger bullets.
Also, my 1/2 colllet was a bit too big for the
.452 boolets.

All in all, it's worth exploring more. Thanks for the idea. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/2785f15dd4688596673c6cd8af22c1c8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/306c57fd7da7711d1b6534389ef4ccb8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/8d821039a720d80bca1e36c0d61ed22a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/950d65c22505887cdfbd97d3c1664367.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/e593382cd21ccb399f3219296fe70771.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180410/dca68a7d00e93621270a2f84a90eef1a.jpg

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[KVO]

Jessdigs,

Great high def pictures, thank you for sharing! Hope you'll have some expanded boolits to follow up with soon.

[gwpercle]

You could try a modified version of my technique with the NOE push through sizer. I kind of like the magical distinction of having a post with zero replies though.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?340723-Drilling-HP-with-the-NOE-Universal-sizer

What's there to say....?

[redhawk0]

I have a Forster as well. Its REEEEEAAAAAALLLLLL Slow going. In the long run...get a new mold that's already a HP mold. It saves soooo much time. I made a batch of 158gr HP's in a RN design for the 38 spl....it took me about 2 hours just to make 50 of them. Its the only time I've ever used the Forster. Its works great so don't get me wrong...but you gotta get it setup and take your time making sure it is centered.

redhawk