which mould would you have HP'd

[adrians]

Hi,
my wife and i both have 38cal handguns for personal protection and i have a couple of moulds ,,,,, sooooo i'm thinking of having one HP'd .
two questions,,
Which one would you HP ?.
And would the HP pin in the d/c mould interfere with the block alignment pins ?.
just curious :veryconfu
have a great day,,:evil::coffee::evil:

[MT Gianni]

The one that shot the best at all distances I shot at. I suspect that is the SWCGC.

[adrians]

Thanks MT Gianni, i was leaning towards the 358156 myself.:grin:

[jmsj]

I would agree w/ MT Gianni.
Either would probably work but The SWC would have a little more weight and the SWC nose would be a little easier for reloading the cylinder under stress. Especially if using a speed loader.
jmsj

[Larry Gibson]

Thanks MT Gianni, i was leaning towards the 358156 myself.:grin:

I wouldn't have the mould altered at all. I HP the 358156 with a Forster 1/8" HP tool with complete satisfaction. That way I can easily adjust the HP depth for best expansion depending on the alloy used and the velocity whether shot out of a .38 SPL, a 357 Magnum or my .35 Remington. Plus I still have the bullets un - HP'd for use when I want the "hard cast" type. A lot more versatility with the Forster tool.

Larry Gibson

[adrians]

Larry excuse my ignorance but how does that forster tool work ?

[6.5 mike]

I've aways wondered how well the forsters worked also. :popcorn:

[beagle]

Go for the HP mod and have the GC shank removed at the same time. The 356156HP PB shoots really well for me.

I've owned several of the Forster HP jigs and never was able to match consistency./beagle

[Larry Gibson]

The Forster is used on a case trimmer after the ammo is loaded. The HPer is a drill that goes through a centering device held over the end of the bullet. Takes a little practice and the correct technique to get it right but it's not rocket science and is not difficult. The tools come in 1/16 and 1/8" sizes I use the 1/8" from 7mm cal up and the 1/16th on .22 and .25 cals. I suppose the 1/8 would do fine on 6.5mm's but haven't tried it yet. Here's the HP tools on the trimmer and 35-200-FN loaded in a 35 Rem HP'd, some 313631s SWCs HP'd loaded in 30 Carbine, a very soft cast 314299 in 7.62x54R and the 25-20s HP'd with the 1/16". Sorry, just don't happen to have any 358156s HP'd at the moment but it does just as well on them.

Larry Gibson

[adrians]

now it's clear to me , i was trying to picture how you did it but those pics say it all .
Thanks Larry.:bigsmyl2:

[runfiverun]

the single.
i'd keep the g/c though, and soften up the alloy to actually open and hang together.
you won't need millions of them.
for the 357's i just swage a hollowpoint in the nose.

[6.5 mike]

Thanks Larry, I always wondered how those worked. Will it work in an rcbs trimmer ?

Humm, a hollow pointed cruise missle.

[StrawHat]

Whichever one you get HP's, ask for an additional spud so you can cast the original also. It gives you the option of soft points or as ahrd as you prefer to cast.

I have found simple binary alloys to provide good expansion in HPs and solids.

[Larry Gibson]

Thanks Larry, I always wondered how those worked. Will it work in an rcbs trimmer ?

Humm, a hollow pointed cruise missle.

Yah know, off the top of my head, I don't know. The shaft of the pilot is .185" on the Forster. What is it on the pilots for the RCBS....Lyman...Redding trimmers?

Larry Gibson

[GLL]

adrians:

Have you already cast and shot a lot of the 358156 bullets from this mold? I would normally agree that it is the one to HP but on close examination the cavity looks kinda rough and there appears to be a depression around the base area. I am not sure I would invest a lot of money to have it converted to HP unless I was very happy with the bullets it already produces!

http://www.fototime.com/FB684EE2ED2A101/orig.jpg

Jerry

[Pepe Ray]

Redding and Forster are compatable.
RCBS and Lyman are each different.
Pepe Ray

[GP100man]

[QUOTE=beagle;1599367]Go for the HP mod and have the GC shank removed at the same time. The 356156HP PB shoots really well for me.[QUOTE]

+1 for beagles comment !!

I had my 358156 HP deshanked & never looked back & Buckshot does a mitey fine job of it to !!

I put lube in the lower crimp groove on mine .



http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0012.jpg

[DLCTEX]

Buckshot can also make a pin to fill the hole and make the solid boolits also, or a different shape to the hollowpoint.

[6.5 mike]

Thanks Larry & Pepe, I'll measure my rcbs when I get to the house. Hopefully it's smaller & I can turn the forrester down to fit, although my luck isn't that good [smilie=l:.

[adrians]

adrians:

Have you already cast and shot a lot of the 358156 bullets from this mold? I would normally agree that it is the one to HP but on close examination the cavity looks kinda rough and there appears to be a depression around the base area. I am not sure I would invest a lot of money to have it converted to HP unless I was very happy with the bullets it already produces!

http://www.fototime.com/FB684EE2ED2A101/orig.jpg

Jerry

jerry i have cast a fair amount with this and they are imho good looking boolits ,the bands are sharp and the surface is again my opinion good BUT you are right in your observation of the base ( the dark spec on the g/c shank is only dirt ) but at some time in it's past the previous owner chamfered the opening a hair, for what reason I'm not clear .
Good eye.
If i get rid of the g/c shank this will prolly disappear ,at least some anyway .
Beagle suggests i do this and i'm tempted to follow his advice. :twisted::coffee::evil:

[Irascible]

If this is a defense round, I would go with the lighter WC. The last thing you want is too much penetration that would carry the bullet through the perp and through a couple of walls to injure or kill some innocent. Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to buy a box of Hollow base wadcutters and load them backwards?
If you go to the hollow point mould sevice websight, you will see lots of DC moulds like that hollowpointed. It clears.

[Ben_51004]

You may wish to consider against using your own handloaded hollowpoint ammo for serious social work. An attorney for the other side will likely clean your clock on that one! I strongly consider that you find the best factory defense ammo you can, such as Cor-Bon or Hydra-Shok and use them. You may want to talk to either an experienced attourney or law enforcemet type about this, before you get sued. And then there's the "absolute reliability" factor, as well. I have absolute confidence in my own handloads, jacketed and cast, but I'm not going to put myself in a position of liability like that, where some ******* may claim I had made myself some highly lethal killing/maiming ammo and was just looking for an opportunity to try it out on someone like their poor, mostly innocent client! I'm no lawyer; I'm just sayin'..

[white eagle]

without doubt I would hp the swc

[adrians]

Ben_51004,
i'm not too bothered about all that lawyer stuff, most folks on this site who own and shoot a revolver/ pistol loaded with boolits dropped from a "slightly adjusted from stock " mould, would (hopefully never) have to cross that bridge when they get to it, i'm more interested in the safety of my wife and family .
If a hollow point does a better job of stopping the ******* who entered my home without an invite then i'm all over it.:D

white eagle , i agree with you and everyone else who commented .
thanks fella's.

[Irascible]

As it has been said before; "I'd rather be judged by 12 of my peers than carried to the grave by 6 of my friends"
Within the past couple of years I read a Masad Ayoob (sp?) article where he stated that the ammo issue has never come up in court.

[bfuller14]

Adrians,
Check out Erics hollow Points, http://www.hollowpointmold.com/
He has several molds for the 38/357 for you too look at or even
buy a mold already as a HP.

Regards,
Barry

[DLCTEX]

If the cavity on the SWC mould is a little rough you can smooth it up by "leementing"it. I am getting great expansion with a 45 cal mould Buckshot hollowpointed for me using 50-50 WW/lead in 45ACP. I have a bullet sitting by my computer I shot this week that is a perfect mushroom to 3/4 in.

[HiVelocity]

I've used this method on occasions; give it a try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InSJuNvai54

When you get tired of this method, send your mold to Buckshot, he does a superb job. Outstanding craftsmanship and priced right.

HV:bigsmyl2:

[KCcactus]

I went through the same thought process last year and went a different direction. I wanted to keep my solid molds, so it would have been the cost of new molds, plus getting the hp modification. That makes it more expensive to buy and modify than it is to get one of the group buy custom hp molds. If you go with a 4 cavity, it's cheaper to buy a new custom hp mold than to get 4 cavities modified even if you ignore the cost of the mold. I've got three 4 cavity hp molds now and love them. All three are works of art. The makers usually do a few extra, so you might find one you like from a recent group buy.

[fredj338]

The SWC is the natural for a good HP. If you wanted a good short range expanding bullet, cup pointing the WC will work well too. Unlike the HBWC turned backwards, the cup point won't over expand & give better penetration. Worrying about over penetration in a defensive situation is the least of your concerns, your misses are far more of a danger. I don't like solids for SD rounds because they always over penetrate but any soft lead bullet w/ a HP of some kind is staying inside most soft targets.

[Elkins45]

As it has been said before; "I'd rather be judged by 12 of my peers than carried to the grave by 6 of my friends"
Within the past couple of years I read a Masad Ayoob (sp?) article where he stated that the ammo issue has never come up in court.

That's surprising to me, since Ayoob was the person who first exposed me to the idea that handloaded ammo would get you in trouble in court. Can you remember where you read it, because I would like to see why he changed his tune?

Sorry for the thread drift. I would HP the SWC myself. I have a Lyman 358 RN I bought for cheap on eBay that I'm going to do the same to.

[StrawHat]

I believe Ayoob still advocates using factory for defense. However, he has been challenged on numerous occasions to produce a court case where the choice of loads made a difference to the outcome of a trial and has admitted he can not find a case.

If it is a justifiable shoot, it doesn't appear to matter at this time. If the shooting is "hinky", it won't matter either, you will have more troubles than you ever thought possible. Either way, you will end up broke and probably bitter.