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Thread: Hollowpoint inserts

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Hollowpoint inserts

    Many bullet makers are inserting a pliable plug into the hollowpoint. On impact, the insert is compressed and expands outward, opening the hollowpoint which then mushrooms.

    Has anyone tried making your own inserts?

    Steve


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  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Lots of people on the Swagging sub forum are tipping there bullets... same would apply to cast ... mostly.

    I have used 177 bb's and wax in the cavity of cast HP's and it seemed to work.

    Maybe hot glue would do what you want.

    Or just cast em soft.
    Doug
    .................................................. ........................................
    Sticks and stones may break my bones but hollow points expand on impact.

    Taxidermists are cheaper than surgeons....keep shooting

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  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy



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    Try "ski plugs" I have been using them in my swaged hollow point rifle rounds and they look like a VMAX when complete.
    Here is a flea bay link that I have bought from before. I put the tip in and then run it through a tipping die.
    http://www.ebay.com/itm/ski-bindings...-/380470449470

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Never used inserts, certainly haven't needed them with my soft alloy.

    What I'm curious about. My rifles have a very small HP and shoot just fine. My pistols have a hybrid cup point by Eric and the HPs are not as accurate as solids. Accurate enough for close range deer hunting but I would like them to be as accurate as the solids.
    I've thought about packing the HP with wax to see if air was effecting it.
    Some people live and learn but I mostly just live

  5. #5
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    Greetings
    Now hot glue is a good idea I had not thought of. Gonna give that a try.
    Mike in Peru
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  6. #6
    Boolit Master facetious's Avatar
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    squirt it full of sylicone gasket sealer and wipe off the tip and let it dry

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    Hot glue will not stick to the HP cavity, I tried. Try filling with Elmers glue.

    I have tapped a copper BB into the HP cavity of my NOE 359-160-HP, with explosive results.

    HV
    Life's biggest tragedy is we get old too soon, and wise too late.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by HiVelocity View Post

    I have tapped a copper BB into the HP cavity of my NOE 359-160-HP, with explosive results.

    HV
    Try filling the cavity with oil than capping with a bb.
    In theory it will create hydraulic pressure on impact and really open up the hp.
    Doug
    .................................................. ........................................
    Sticks and stones may break my bones but hollow points expand on impact.

    Taxidermists are cheaper than surgeons....keep shooting

    ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

    Some people measure success in Minutes of Angle

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy

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    Alan Jones did an article in Shooting Times some time ago where he stated that you need to notch the front of the bullet to get it to start mushrooming.
    I don't do attachments. Too old to know how or want to learn how.
    Send me by PM a snail mail address and I'll send you a copy.
    I once had a Lee 405 grain hollowpoint mold for the 45-70 that I looked at one day and took out a small primer pocket reamer and reamed the hollow. Put in a dab of Bullseye and topped it off with an inverted primer. Made a heck of a mess of a paper target at 100 yard. More explosive than expanding.

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy

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    Alan Jones did an article in Shooting Times some time ago where he stated that you need to notch the front of the bullet to get it to start mushrooming.
    I don't do attachments. Too old to know how or want to learn how.
    Send me by PM a snail mail address and I'll send you a copy.
    I once had a Lee 405 grain hollowpoint mold for the 45-70 that I looked at one day and took out a small primer pocket reamer and reamed the hollow. Put in a dab of Bullseye and topped it off with an inverted primer. Made a heck of a mess of a paper target at 100 yard. More explosive than expanding.

  11. #11
    Boolit Bub
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  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Fenring's Avatar
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    My .44 Devastators need no persuasion to open up @ 1650fps....

  13. #13
    Boolit Master



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    Garlic will work for vampires and also pre-seasons the meat...........Just kidding. I was going to try some different HP plugs this spring and shoot into wet newspaper to compare. Silicone, hot glue, wax, etc. could be interesting and if nothing else, it's a good excuse to shoot.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master pls1911's Avatar
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    You might try foil "splitter" in the ogive base to the tip... a strip across the affected portion of your mold face
    Lead won't stick to the aluminum, so you effectively have "2-part-tip".
    I've only heard about it, never tried it, and personally don't see the benefit.
    Salvaging old Marlins is not a pasttime...it's a passion

  15. #15
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by mkf350 View Post
    Great article, thanks for sharing the link.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master

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    Alan Jones did an article in Shooting Times some time ago where he stated that you need to notch the front of the bullet to get it to start mushrooming.
    John I received a copy from you on this idea and "it works". I have the articles in PDF format to e-mail if anyone would like a copy; send me a PM.

    Thanks,

    HV
    Life's biggest tragedy is we get old too soon, and wise too late.

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    What about leaving pan lube in the hp? It gets hard, sticks to the lead and should liquefy explosively on impact?

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I have put thin paper splitters in the nose of Keiths, both out at the tip and back at the shoulder (which makes them bulge instead of split). Sort of like those three-wing zinc bullets but two wings. The ones with the splitter at the tip usually break into three pieces. In 'ABCs', Dean Grennell showed some custom turned HP plugs that put a primer pocket at the edge of the nose, with a hollow behind it, like John H describes above except it's cast in rather than cut post-casting. Never had any luck with the Lee auto-pin 44-210-SWC-HP, but I've been looking for a Devastator mold or one of the old Lyman separate body & nose two-alloy sets just to use the base as a cup point...

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check