Old fashioned brainwork

[Lead melter]

I got the old noodle working again the other day and hope I have achieved success.

A couple of weeks ago I tried the Lee C312-185-R boolit in the old "thutty-thutty" squirrel gun with fabulous results. Load was 10 grains Unique over a WLR primer, with the Lee boolit sized to .311" with Gator gas checks. Seated boolit in the cannelure just for experimentation. Of course the OAL was too long for the action, so I single loaded in the chamber. The boolit engraved rifling upon chambering, but was not too tight to close the action. 12 shots went into one hole at 50 yards with average velocity of 1450 fps. Marlin 336 with Williams peep sight. Problem was the pointed tip on the boolit which scared me out of any future magazine loading.

Once the brain kicked in I had a "Boolit Modifier" made. The machinist at my workplace milled a flat bottomed 3/8" hole in the threaded end of a 3/4" bolt. Milling depth is 5/8". This size hole allows a little too much play for the boolit to move around in. So, I wrapped a paper shim around the nose portion of the boolit, slid it into the hole where it stayed. Installed a regular nut on the threads to use as a depth stop, put the boolit in nose down with the head of the bolt down as well. This puts the shank for the gas check upward. Placed a gas check on the shank, pulled the handle on an arbor press to "mash" the boolit into the hole, and presto...a flat nosed boolit.

The boolit needed mashing only about 1/8" to get the flat tip, the gas check stayed tight, and as a possible extra, the nose of the boolit swelled from .300" to .307" in diameter about 1/4" from the flat nose. This larger diameter may help the nose to ride the bore.

Have not yet had a chance to shoot the modified version, but the weekend is near. Will report ASAP.

Sorry I have no photos to post, but I don't have one of those newfangled cameras.

[Buckshot]

...........Try it in your lube-sizing press. Put in a FN punch or one for a SWC and when the boolit reaches the bottom just lean on the handle a bit. It will put a nice FP on the slug. With the nose at the turn of the ogive swelling to .307" you might find the effort needed to fully chamber a bit more then you'd like.

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

[Misfire99]

If you have access to a machinist I wonder if he could not modify the mold to make it cast a flat point. Might even be able to make it a flat and hollow point mold. Take a look at how some of the molds that make hollow bases and hollow points do it. They have a third part to the mold. It usually has a wood handle on it.