6.5 hollow point mold

[Hutzpah]

Hi one and all.
I'm new to the forum and new to the idea of using hardcast bullets in a rifle all though I use them in my revolver.
I have a 6.5x55 Howa that I will be using on feral goats here in oz.
Do you know of any company selling 6.5 mold with a hollow point?
I've always used BT or Hollow points on game.
Shooting cast bullets on game sounds good as projectiles are getting expensive
but not sure about the shooting soilds.


Thanks

Hutzpah

[Glen]

I don't know of anybody who is currently making a 6.5 mm HP mould, but you cna find them on the used mould market (not common, but there are some out there). A cast HP is just what you're looking for here since with the fast twist that the 6.5x55 typically has, cast bullet velocities are generally limited to about 1600 fps. You can get a cast bullet to expand at 1600 fps, but it can be dicey sometimes. However, with a cast HP 1600 fps works very well.

[JeffinNZ]

Contact Jim Allison at http://www.castbulletengineering.bigpondhosting.com

He will have something to recommend and he is domestic.

[Hutzpah]

Thanks for the feed back.
1600 fps sounds a bit slow I read else where of a guy shooting at over 2000fps.
Is there a problem with the 6.5x55?
Off my head I think the Howa has a 1/8 twist but I better try and find out.

Hutzpah

[Hutzpah]

Looked up Howa UK it has the 6.5x55 listed as being 1-8" twist rate
22" barrel.

Hutzpah

[Char-Gar]

The Swede is a wonderful round and one this bunch has worked with extensively. You will find that 1-8 twist to be a major problem in obtaining 2K fps with cast as is your goal.

One of the limitations of cast bullets is they will just take so many RPMs before they lose their integrity. Those fast twist barrels will add the RPMs fairly quickly.

The good news is a good 6.5 cast bullet with a decent meplat going 1.6 to 1.7 K FPS should be plenty of medicine for those goats.

Some years back, we did a group buy on a long 160 grain 6.5 bullet with a good meplat. It was designed by Oldfeller and should be good goat bullet. It is refered to around here as "The Cruse Missle". I think it may be still available as a special order item from Mid-South.

[StrawHat]

I recently reread one of the Matthews books and he wrote about using paper in a mold to promote expansion.

The paper is positioned in the nose of the bullet so as to cause the lead to be formed in two halves. Even at moderate speeds the nose will open.

Now this is all according to Paul Matthews as I have not yet tried this trick. I did, a very long time ago, used to split the nose on 22 LR ammo and it sure expanded! Much more than the unsplit rounds. Now I just use a larger caliber bullet.

If you are not able to find a 6.5 HP mold you might try the paper route.

Good luck.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

a single cavity mould can be converted to hollowpoint, as can one side of a double cavity...if you can find a good machinist and show him/her an example.

Rich
DRSS

[Wayne Smith]

Buckshot will hollowpoint one cavity of any mold, and do a good job of it. He's done one for me. Get the blocks to him and you'll be pleased.

[Hutzpah]

Idaho sharpshooter your fill of good info
"a single cavity mould can be converted to hollowpoint, as can one side of a double cavity...if you can find a good machinist and show him/her an example."

I didn't realize you could do that,sounds like a very great idea.
Is it very hard to do?
Has anyone got a photo as a photo speaks a thousand words.
I think a Good machinist is right as it must be a fine line between pleasure and pain.

I like this forum you learn lots.

Thanks

Hutzpah

[Bret4207]

Don't get hung up on the idea of "hardcast" boolits. Nice soft ones often work just fine. The "hardcast" idea is salesmanship form the cast bullet companies.

[Poygan]

Concur with Wayne Smith - Buckshot is your man. He has hollow-pointed one cavity of a two cavity Lyman .452374 for me and did a great job!

[Buckshot]

..........Hutzpah, check with the gent JeffinNZ recommended first. He's local and a mould making wizard. With all the factory and custom makers here in the states many people here have ordered his moulds and been exceedingly happy.

A 150 to 160gr cast lead slug in the 6.5 will be a penetrating sonuvagun. Don't know if a HP will be much benefit due to the small boolit OD to begin with. Regardless how soft it is it might just shatter, break off (which might not be bad {second projectile?}), or not even work at all. The HP hole will be small in ID anyway.

Several members of this board have shot deer with cast lead in the 6.5x55. Are goats tougher or bigger? A 150-160gr 6.5mm slug at 1650 - 1700 fps isn't anything to sneeze at as they carry very high BC's and retain their velocity well. Myself and a freind used the 152gr Lyman in our club's 200 meter silhuette matches and the boolit launched at 1550 fps would fetch the 200 meter ram handily.

My suggestion would be to get a mould of 150 to 160gr and then work up a good load for it using a common WW type hardness alloy. Be sure to shoot it at your own self imposed maximum distance to see what accuracy it retains. You may or may not have to back off a bit. Depends.

You need to have confidence in the boolit as a hunter, and a simple test would suffice. I don't know what easily and cheaply obtainable and expendable plastic containers you might have available to you. Here we commonly use 1 gallon milk jugs. Get at least 3 of comparable size. Place a 1" width of a phone book pages in front of a water filled jug, with 2 more lined up behind it. Then another stack of phone books behind the last jug, at least several inches thick.

Fire a shot into this from a likely range and see what you get. Regardless what you decide, the purchase of the mould will not be wasted. The 6.5's can be exceedingly accurate, and using these comparatively cheap cast lead slugs will allow you to practice much more without any bore erosion issues, and further savings in powder cost. Even should you decide not to use it for large game, it would make a dandy small game or varmint boolit.

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

[Hutzpah]

I contacted castbullet enginerring here in Oz (cheers JeffinNZ)he has a 268-149gc that looks nice. But I am hoping to get the group buy 6.5 129gr as the large mould sounds really good.
Small moulds are a lot slower to use and its a good price even paying in Australian dollars. I think Iv'e been worrying to much about it as I have head shot goats with a .22 long rifle. So 6.5 should be good on a chest shot.
Yet I will see if I can load them up and then drill a very small hole in the projectiles.

Thanks

Hutzpah

[tommag]

I have seen several posts on this forum dealing with using soft lead for the nose.
Years ago, Ross Seyfreid wrote an article for Handloader where he fashioned a piece of pipe that had the end squeezed shut and put it in his pot with pure lead in it. (secured with wire) He used a small cartridge case of the appropriate size for a dipper (with a wire handle) He would pour a small amount of pb in the cavity, let it set a bit, then fill with his harder alloy. The hot alloy would melt the soft tip slightly, fusing the two parts together. I'm thinking a .25acp case trimmed to the appropriate length would make a good diper for the nose portion of a 6.5 boolit. Usually, the nose portion would expand and the tail would push through, giving good penetration and leaving a doughnut shaped mushroom in the carcass.

[MT Gianni]

Tommag, a 9mm makes a bettter case dipper. You can trim to the length you want and ime it's easier to fill to the same level repeatedly. Gianni

[Wayne Smith]

This is totally off the top of my head and without information, so take it as it's worth. Have you thought about paper patching a pure lead bullet? Part of the problem with the fast twist is the sheer strength of lead and alloys, with the speed moving the bullet past it's component sheer strength. It seems to me that this is solved with a paper patch.

How am I wrong?

[TAWILDCATT]

I just bought the cruise missil AT MIDSOUTH $17.37 + SHIP mine is .268 X 175gr ww It should work as is the hollow point is a lot of work for little gain:roll: :coffee:

[tommag]

This is totally off the top of my head and without information, so take it as it's worth. Have you thought about paper patching a pure lead bullet? Part of the problem with the fast twist is the sheer strength of lead and alloys, with the speed moving the bullet past it's component sheer strength. It seems to me that this is solved with a paper patch.

How am I wrong?

Wayne, I think it would be worth considering. A 6.5 should have a bore diameter of about .257, and a .25 cal mold might fit the bill about right with PP and PB

[mazo kid]

Forster makes a Universal hollow pointer fixture that drills the nose of a loaded round. Can you make use of something like this? Emery