Trunucated Cone Boolit Designs

[enfieldphile]

Who else likes the TC design, and if so, why?

I first tried a Trunucated Cone (TC) design over 20 years ago. I quickly realized what a design-forward shape it is!

As time goes on, this is getting to be my Go-To design for all pistol / revolver boolits. They are easy to load in autos or revolvers, the ballistics seem as good as anything else.

My best off-hand revolver shot has been 220 yards @ the steel Silhouette Ram. A Lee 230 TC BB over 9 grains of Herco ( boolit intended for .45 ACP) in a S&W .45 Colt caliber Mountain Gun.

I think I'll have Tom make a light weight TC for use in .45 Colt and .45 Auto Rim.

[theperfessor]

I could be mistaken but I thought the original 9mmP cartridge was loaded with a TC shaped bullet. (I like the TC shape by the way.)

[Bullshop]

I have one in 50 cal and I like it but maybe because its a 750gn behemoth.
Awhile back I was reading a post here about this and I recall someone posting about torpedoes. They were saying that the nose shape of modern torpedoes is a truncated cone. The reason was that this nose shape caused minimum cavitation of the water moving around the torpedo. Water and air act much the same when being displaced by a fast moving projectile.
People get all excited about the turbulence caused by a projectiles transition from super sonic to sub sonic but don't seem to put as much importance on nose shape. Maybe for a projectile that will go transonic in its flight the best possible nose shape to dampen the effects the turbulence may have on the projectile maybe the best nose shape is a TC, maybe.

[Walter Laich]

I think the TC design is clean looking and resists hang ups in a pistol. My revolver really doesn't care about boolit shapes, though

[Beerd]

A Mr. Jones came up with a heavy weight TC design that works pretty good in revolvers. I have the .35 caliber variety that drops at around 210 grains. A bit much for a .357 magnum, its place is in a 357 Maximum.
..

[bosterr]

TC is all I shoot in .357 and .44 in S & W revolvers and TC Contenders, and .50 B&M Alaskan in a Encore pistol. Haven't used SWC since the 70's. TC has proven to me to be superior.

[Enyaw]

I know that the truncated cone bullet seems to kill wood chucks(ground hogs) quicker than some other designs.....especially the round nose bullets. The flat on the truncated cone is what does it(kills quick) I'd imagine.

In my revolvers in 45cal. and the lever action rifle the truncated cones were especially accurate. I used hard cast I bought. Not cast by me.

The truncated cone didn't have a grimp groove so....it would hangle up a lil in the lever action because of the end of the case showin. Didn'tbother me a lot since I wasn't firing real fast much. One shot is all ya need right? (just jokin).

[enfieldphile]

I just ordered a slightly modified version of Tom's 45-230E. I'm having Tom do a bevel base and extend the front band a trifle so as to be able to add a crimp groove.

[Bullshop]

So I guess no one here is launching torpedoes. My 50 cal 750gn TC kinda looks like one.

[bobthenailer]

I have TC boolet moulds for the 9mm , 38/357 cal , 44cal and 45 cal all are accurate and easy to cast with , i like the TC boolets shape

[Bullshop]

Anyone ever see the original 454 ammo from Freedom Arms? The bullet design is a TC. They also had Lyman make them some molds that copied the profile of the factory jacketed bullet. I have one of the molds for a 260gn TC-GC. The mold is made by Lyman but stamped Freedom Arms. Excellent design that penetrate well for a mid weight boolit.

[tazman]

Back in the 80s the 44mag was tops and a 260 grain boolit would NEVER have been considered a mid weight boolit.
Times change.

[yondering]

The truncated cone design is ok, and very simple, but it has a couple drawbacks compared to a tangent or secant ogive bullet. One drawback is case capacity; the TC design occupies more case capacity than a similar tangential ogive bullet with the same size meplat. That doesn't matter much in the big revolver cases, but can make a big difference in the smaller semi-auto cases (particularly 9mm, .40, and 10mm). To make this worse, many TC designs (Lee molds for example) have short noses, requiring deeper seating and even less case capacity.

Also, I've never been terribly impressed with the terminal performance of TC designs, since they tend to tumble on impact rather than penetrate straight.

[Blammer]

I like the Trun Cone design, very accurate in several guns and several calibers.

Unfortunately that design is not very popular.

Instead of the 'rounded' edge leading to the meplat, a good sharp edge would be nice for hunting.

[fecmech]

Has anyone shot the Saeco #398 158 gr. TC for accuracy? I have often wondered about the accuracy of the heavier designs in .35 as the 120-130's are very accurate for me. I'm speaking from a pure accuracy standpoint, I don't hunt and care nothing about effect on game. Better, same or worse than RN's, RNFP's etc. if you have any experience. My main thought is lever gun accuracy in slow twist Rossi's (30") in the 1200-1400 fps range.

[HABCAN]

LEE TL452-230-TC, TL356-124-TC......VERY satisfactory for a lot of us here.

[Echd]

I like the 452-230TC from Lee a lot, but tend to shoot 200s to save lead.

[AggieEE]

Somebody refresh my memory. I seem to recall hearing that Mr. Browning's original .45 ACP was a 200 gr. bullet and I think a TC design. Am I remembering right or do I need to start saving up for a butterfly net?

[Cherokee]

Somebody refresh my memory. I seem to recall hearing that Mr. Browning's original .45 ACP was a 200 gr. bullet and I think a TC design. Am I remembering right or do I need to start saving up for a butterfly net?

The 45 ACP did start with 200 gr but I don't know which shape. The 9mm started with a TC design and was changed to RN. I started using the TC design as soon as Hornady came out with jacketed TC's and obtained the TC for cast from NEI soon thereafter. Used it for many years. Now I use the Lee 230 TC conventional and the Lee 120 TC conventional for 9mm. Short seating is more of a barrel throat problem than bullet design. They work for me. Don't hunt or shoot people with them so no comment there.

[Piedmont]

I've seen a photo of the early truncated cone 9mm load and it is not like most cast TC designs or like the Hornady. It had a small meplat.

[badbob454]

the trunicated cone is great in my makarov didnt think a round nose would do enough damage to tissue so i went with this
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=37-100J-D.png
i played a part in its design ...

[MtGun44]

TC was the original 9mm Para shape.

I have had excellent results with Lee 356 120 TC in all my 9mms, highly recommended - but size
to .357 or .358 not .355 or .356.

Bill

[williamwaco]

I like the TC design because it works really well.


I can find no area of performance in which it is inferior to any other cast bullet I have used.

[Green Frog]

Just as I was rekindling my love affair with the various 32 revolver cartridges, my friend Dale53 turned me on to a swaged TC bullet running about 95-100 gr IIRC. I'm about halfway through my first thousand of them now and just rediscovered a multi-cavity Lee mould for a TL TC 98 grainer. I guess I will have to break it out for a trial run. As somebody said, feeding in a revolver is not a problem as such, but if you are loading a cylinder full at a time with a speed loader, the TC design is certainly chamber friendly! :D

Froggie

[rodwha]

What is the real difference between a truncated cone, a Keith FN, and a RNFP? It seems the Keith styled bullets tend to have a slightly wider meplat somewhat like a WFN, though not quite as wide. A TC seems almost like a SWC without the typical shoulder.

[Cherokee]

Its the shoulder on a SWC that can slow down speed loading a revolver. I would think a WFN might be almost as bad for speed loading. The TC and RNFP styles will load fast in my revolvers.