Hollow pointing boolits

[pmer]

I wondering what's out there for hollowing pointing boolits? Can you hollow point just the boolit or does need to be assembled in a cartridge?

Has anyone seen it hurt or enhance their accuracy?

I'd like to try it for a 375 grain .458 caliber.

[cwlongshot]

Yes Forester makes a kit to use on there case trimmer to hollow point bullets.

Last I knew Midway carried them

CW

[RED BEAR]

I have done it on my drill press. Put a set of soft jaws in vice put small pin in chuck close vice on pin bolt down vice. Open vice remove pin from chuck and put in vice near bottom of vice. Drill hole size or just little larger not more than say .005 bigger than bullet. Place bullet in hole drilled you can check with indicator if you wish but you should be very close to center. Set stop on drill press i use a center drill for hollow pointing mine. See no difference in accuracy.

[ShooterAZ]

I use the Forster 1/8" HP tool with my Forster trimmer. It's a little bit tedious, but it works pretty well. I looked on Midway for the link and couldn't find it. You can order it direct from Forster.

https://www.forsterproducts.com/product/hollow-pointer-kits/

[Rick Hodges]

I have the Forster HP tool, that runs in their case trimming lathe. I could never get consistent results trying to Hollow point 38 specials with Lee 125 FP's. I gave it up on the tool. If I need HP's I will buy them or cast them.

[pmer]

Thanks to all, I don't have a Forster case trimmer. But I think I can give Red Bear's idea a try.

[fredj338]

I find casting then far easier than using any tool to HP & results are more uniform & generally better. Yes accuracy will suffer badly if the HP isn't dead center.

[gwpercle]

The easiest way is to cast them in a mould that cast HP boolits .

[Rainier]

The easiest way is to cast them in mould that cast HP boolits .

What gwpercle said ^^^^

Erik did great work for me - http://www.hollowpointmold.com

[RED BEAR]

You would be surprised how fast and easy it is to do them just take your time setting everything up and they come out very quick.

[Larry Gibson]

The easiest way is to cast them in a mould that cast HP boolits .

Yes it is. However, to me, HP cast bullets are specialty cast bullets used for hunting. Thus not that many are needed so any cast bullet when loaded can be HP'd with the Forster HP tool when wanted. I cast them soft with malleable alloy and prefer GC designs. The HP is not deep and if the tool is used correctly accuracy is the same as w/o a HP.

[44Blam]

NOE makes nice hollow point molds... Much easier.

[pmer]

For trimmers I have Lee, Lyman and a LE Wilson, does the Forster HP kit fit on other trimmers?

Most of my molds are flat points. The 2 HP molds I have are NOE 452-230 and 403-200. Nothing for rifle as far as hollow point goes.

[Butler Ford]

I use the Forster 1/8" HP tool with my Forster trimmer. It's a little bit tedious, but it works pretty well. I looked on Midway for the link and couldn't find it. You can order it direct from Forster.

https://www.forsterproducts.com/product/hollow-pointer-kits/

^^^THIS^^^ The only mold I've ever cast with that dropped keepers on the first pour!

BF

[metricmonkeywrench]

I have the Forster set up and used it once so far to save some long loaded .357 ammo, easy enough to use and set up. The only change I would make for future use is to get the drill adaptor to speed up the process.

The only downfall is that while drilling at times the case would want to turn in the collect if I got too aggressive with the drill.

[KCSO]

I made collets and do the H/P on a lathe with various spotting drills. I have made guides for using drills on loaded cartridges bt any more if I need hollow points I just use the proper mould. In all may trials I have yet to do better than the factory moulds.

[armoredman]

I just tried the Forster Hollow Pointer and with Lyman #2 lead powder coated it was a serious pain just to do ten. I will try other bullets, but hard cast PC did not work well.

[armoredman]

And just to be completely fair, it was most likely the fact that I was an idiot and did not observe there is a flat part on the drill bit shank where the lock screw is supposed to sit, so the bit was likely spinning itself, so once I seated it correctly things worked better. Not 5-10 seconds per bullet by any means, but better.

[armoredman]

Once I figured it out, it went much faster - these 20 took about 20 minutes total.
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[Time Killer]

I have found that hollow points can be of great benefit if the load is tuned correctly for the hunting application. If you are going down this road just remember every boolit has its own characteristics for what will work and what will not here. I have molds that make hollow point bullets and the ability to swage them along with drilling them on a Foster Hollow pointer. This is something I have been playing with for some time. What I try to accomplish is good expansion with minimal lead shedding (Exception hear is varmint bullets, I like them to explode.). Lead composition and boolit speed are the main factors here. I have also found that there is no need for hollow pointing once you reach a certain boolit speed (exception varmint boolits). Try it out and have fun with it that is what being able to make your own boolits is all about.