Pre frag slugs

[kimoleto]

I´ve been trying to make frangible swaged slugs by making cuts along the body (of the slug), they work very well and peel like a banana upon impact. Varying the length of the cut they can even fragment (talon slugs style). I've done this by means of an "X" punch I made on the mill. I ve also been reading Corbin´s page about the saber tooth punch and the serrator die but they look to difficult to make (saber tooth) or might not work (serrator) Has anyone else tried to make this type of slug? How do you make the cuts?

[country gent]

Could you score the jacket enough with an exacto knife blade, stone the back and use that surface to cut by dragginng it along. a fixture could be made for 4,6,8 cuts as needed. The back edge would make a easy score line and the veed knife edge would one give good cutting relief for the score line and also make a very narrow line. Sharpening would just be stoning the back edge occasionally

[kimoleto]

They are airgun slugs, pure lead no jacket

[kimoleto]

I´ve been doing some "research", made a top punch, x shaped cutter (cuts are about 3/4 the lenght of the slug), slugs penetrate about 5 inches in plasticine (25% denser than muscle), nice mushroming, banana peel style. Expansion is violent, big entrace hole, cavity about 2.5 inches (want to try with longer cuts on the slug in order to fragment it upon impact). Finally managed to put a little polymer bead inside the slug( sound easy but is not), penetration is about the same, expansion is controlled, small entrace hole expansion starts at about 1.5 inches cavity about 2 inches. "Normal" HP slugs (3.5 mm diameter hollow), huge entrace hole, lots of expansion, cavity about 3 inches, penetration 3 - 3.5 inches. Im using .30 cal 85 - 90 gr slugs in my modified air force condor. I do not have access to commercial slugs (I´m in Mexico) but this is fascinating.

[NoZombies]

I have several of the 'saber tooth' types. I think your x internal punch will provide better expansion, especially in unjacketed lead.

[kimoleto]

Tried to make a saber tooth but failed...my machining abilities are below average

[DDriller]

Have you tried something like BT Sniper's Star Crimp Die? Would have to run them back through your point form die.

[kimoleto]

No, but I will, thanks for the idea

[NoZombies]

The Corbin "saber tooth" and BT's star crimp die are very similar with the exception that the Corbn die fits very closely and is caliber specific.

Blank formng star crimp dies have the same effect without the caliber specificity (similar to BT's). CH4D sells blank crimping die inserts that you can cobble into a holder and do the same thing at a fraction of the cost of either Corbin's dies or BT's.

I've used all 3 versions. I couldn't tell a difference in the finished product, but YMMV.

[kimoleto]

Thank you, thats a great idea. I´ll see how can I get a die or most probably make one

[kimoleto]

No zombies can you help me with some photos of your dies? internet photos are not very good, I need to make a die

[kimoleto]

Some examples of the fired slugs:



Front view top to bottom: sliced, Bead insert, HP



Rear view:
HP, Bead, sliced

[NoZombies]

No zombies can you help me with some photos of your dies? internet photos are not very good, I need to make a die

I can, but I'll need to dig some stuff out and it may be a few days. I have blank forming star crimp inserts and the Corbin 'saber tooth' dies, the BT 'notching' die I used belonged to someone else, so I can't help with that one, but I'll get photos of the other 2 in as timely a manner as I can.

[kimoleto]

Great, thanks for your time

[kimoleto]

Took my chances and started by modifying a phillips bit, it did not work very well, to small to difficult to center. I have some brass hex bar around so I use a slit saw and a triangular file and made the cutter from it...it works!!!! I´m getting the same pattern as blank ammo. In lead bullets its a little harder to make the cuts, I had to make a centering die so the punch goes straight and the bullet is not deformed. Now Im looking on even longer cuts, at least half the lenght of the bullet, the lenght of the cut is dependent on the shape of the bullet, pointed bullets are barely notch. The expansion pattern is similar to the banana peel I got with X sliced projectiles...but as No zombies cleverly told me, expansion its better and bullets are easier to make with the x cutter. However it was challenging and the resulting bullets look really nice.