Anyone drill HP cavities on loose boolits?

[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.

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/show...niversal-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