Making 350-460 rd into 300 gr hollow point

[haff202]

Can one drill out a Ranch Dog 350 grain bullet and get a 300 grain RD bullet?
What size drill bit and how deep?

[Buckshot]

Can one drill out a Ranch Dog 350 grain bullet and get a 300 grain RD bullet?
What size drill bit and how deep?

.............What's the width of the meplat? What use are you planning for it?

..............Buckshot

[rob45]

.............What's the width of the meplat? What use are you planning for it?

..............Buckshot

Buckshot,

Meplat is nominal .330".

[haff202]

deer, maybe black bear. WW cast lead

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I'm confused I guess, if the mold is for a 350gr boolit , I don't see how you would "drill it out" and get a 300gr boolit.....???????

[Uncle Grinch]

I'm confused I guess, if the mold is for a 350gr boolit , I don't see how you would "drill it out" and get a 300gr boolit.....???????

I think haff202 means drill out the boolit, not the mold.

[haff202]

yes, yes yes, DRILL THE BULLET. Can this be done and still get some mushroom effect on a white tail deer. The rem 300gr factory ammo did not expand much if any using my guide gun

[rob45]

yes, yes yes, DRILL THE BULLET. Can this be done and still get some mushroom effect on a white tail deer. The rem 300gr factory ammo did not expand much if any using my guide gun

haff202,

What are you trying to accomplish exactly? Light weight? Expansion? Or just something that does better than the factory round?

1. You mention drilling a HP in a Ranch Dog 350.
Several here, including myself, can attest to the fact that you already have a good bullet without hollowpointing it. As is, the bullet will effectively slap down Bambi and Smokey over a wide range of velocities- no expansion needed.

2. In answer to your original question "can it be done?", yes, it can. But the width and depth of the cavity need to be tailored to your velocity level and alloy. Some of us run pussycat loads, while others run lion-roaring loads. If you want to use a cast hollowpoint, you're gonna have to forget the screamer loads if that's what you normally do.

I can only generalize on a suggestion, and it's not my fault if it's the wrong suggestion. But a good starting point may be to use a 1/4" drill and make your cavity about 3/8" deep. I think that should get you down to your 300 grains, but don't quote me on that either.

Regardless of your final cavity size, you'll need a fixture of some sort to keep the drill centered. If you cannot devise such a fixture yourself, there are members here who can. But it is important. Take it from someone who's BTDT. If the HP is too far off center the accuracy can suffer. Then Bambi will laugh at you and Smokey will get mad at you.

Good Luck.

[Buckshot]

..............haff202, get with Jim (a Vendor Sponser) http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=71615 and he can fix you up with a HP fixture.

As rob45 mentioned, a 45 cal 350gr slug with a .330" FN will put a LOT of whumpus on a deer or black bear as it is. Before lightening the slug much what I'd do (and I've been accused of being 'odd' before) is simply experiment with alloy and velocity first, testing expansion. Of course you'll need something to shoot into to check expansion and that is the only par that would be any trouble. The following may be worthless as I don't know if you're shooting a TC Contender, Remington rolling block, M1895 Marlin with Micro-Groove rifling, or a M70 in 458 Win Mag.

If you don't expect to exceed say, 1400 fps with a PB slug I'd first try an alloy of 1WW & 2 pure lead for a bhn of about 8. If that works well (no leading) make your next batch with 1WW and 3 pure lead for a BHN of about 7. The closer you can get to pure lead, the better off you're going to be for expansion. Even with a HP. Pure lead has an exceedingly high level of molecular cohesion, meaning it's gonna hang together and deform rather then break off or shatter.

I've fired pure lead paper patched 405gr slead slugs into sand and the entire front end of the slug pealed backwards evenly around itself. It looked for all the world like a 1" OD hollow lead ball, or one of those Easter eggs with a hole in it to look inside. In this case you'd look in the hole and see the base of the slug

Use as soft an alloy as possible for your desired velocity (the above was only an example). Also a relatively shallow dimple in the nose will initiate expansion better then an actual hole of some depth. Just somehting to think about.

...............Buckshot

[XWrench3]

as is, the bullet will effectively slap down bambi and smokey over a wide range of velocities- no expansion needed

+1! That is one of the nice things about shooting a big bore. The hole your bullet will make on its way through is already big, there is no real need for extra expansion. Plus the nice big flat nose will create a bunch of hydraulic shock on it's way through as well. Expansion is critical on smaller diameter bullets, so they can transfer hydraulic shock to the animal, and a 1/2" hole does more damage, and creates a much more desirable leak, which makes it easier to track with. The smaller bore rifles, have the advantage of speed, which makes them shoot a lot flatter. But a non-expanding bullet in a 7mm or .30 caliber gun, while it will still kill, but they do it much more effectivly with mushrooming bullets. The idea is to get the bullet to roughly 1/2", which is already where you are at. If the bullet is not doing the job, maybe you need to increase the velocity. What gun, and velocity are you shooting??

[haff202]

I was thinking a lighter weight bullet the flatter the shooting would be. but how much drop am I saving? I have not reloaded any RD bullets, just looking for ways to shoot better, harder, longer.