Making hollowpoints

[Yooper003]

I have been thinking about hollow pointing my cast boolits for a while now. I have been shooting cast in 308-357-44mag.-&45/70 shot nice bucks with 357 & 44 mag. this year but did not think I got the expansion I wanted. Looked at tools to do this but quite expensive & only Ned a few for hunting. Made a jig that did not come out too bad but it was a touch off center. This morning I found it was really not that hard to make great hollow points from my round nose boolits with my drillpress. Very easy for the 30 cal. as they stick out of the chuck far enough to handle easily. Little harder with 44 as they are up in the chuck.
After making a few I found it was guide easy to keep weight very close & even adjust weight to keep all boolits within a grain.
Whole trick is boolits in the chuck & drill stationary.

[megasupermagnum]

If you want a jig, the one from Forester works very well.

[Camper64]

Here's a link you might be interested in. Post #1's youtube video shows some homemade hollow point jigs.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?391752-home-made-hollow-point-jig&highlight=hollow+point+jig

[nagantguy]

MP hp molds- that can also be solids with flat pin are great- get in on one of the group buys to save some money and remember these miha molds are works of art that hold their value when you decide to sell or swap

[StuBach]

MP hp molds- that can also be solids with flat pin are great- get in on one of the group buys to save some money and remember these miha molds are works of art that hold their value when you decide to sell or swap

+1 on just casting HP. Highly recommend the MP molds but you can also get good ones from NOE or if you have a mold you really love you can Eric at hollowpointmold.com add pins to the mold.

[Yooper003]

Yes But,
The whole pointing am making is, I made about 50 hollow points this morning. They look good, I only need a few , I am 82 years lad so not making too many long term investments, & they did not cost me a penny!

[megasupermagnum]

Every time I get in on a group buy, I regret it. There's one I'm in now that was started a year ago, and still no indication of running anytime soon. Been in "last call" for 4 months now.

Life is too short for that, I'd rather have a mold converted by Eric Ohlen. If you don't have the money, drilling your own hollow points does work well.

[Land Owner]

Why not use your drill press vice to hold your (now) cold boolit in your mold and drill through a 2nd spru plate that's modified - if required? You have drill press and vice settings to prevent drilling into the mold.

[Yooper003]

I guess you have to explain to me how that works as the spru plate is on the bottom of the boolit. Done about 50 more today and they came out great, machined each one to within 1 grain.

[nagantguy]

Yes But,
The whole pointing am making is, I made about 50 hollow points this morning. They look good, I only need a few , I am 82 years lad so not making too many long term investments, & they did not cost me a penny!

In wasn’t being critical and if it came that way it surly wasn’t intended- I love MP molds I also like that you did the amount you needed with what was at hand, and if they shoot good and give you a little better expansion- energy transfer on that big Iron county buck- Great!

[OS OK]

I went to bed last night thinking about this video I saw posted in the above comments the other day...a fella makes 'jigs' to HP any of his solid casts that he wants. The size of the HP & depth being determined according to the way the jig is drilled for the HP bit size.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg98LXnlVjg&feature=youtu.be > 'Home made hollow point bullet jig'

This had me thinking..."How could the average Joe do this with items he already has in his shop?"

This is what I was thinking...an arangement like this...


https://i.imgur.com/tB39BIF.jpg

Set up like this with an adjustable collar stop on the bit you can have the desired depth of the HP...the idea here on this preliminary set-up was to find the correct size bit to fit the hole in the top of the size die where the primer punch has been removed.
With a small diameter .38 cast, I think the bit is too large but . . . that wouldn't stop us from grinding the size and shape of a point on that drill for the HP we want and leave the major diameter on the bit to fit neetly in the threaded hole of the primer punch as a 'guide' to center the bit.
The top inside of the size die is tapered so the cast will naturally want to center itself on the hole and drill bit on top of the die...do this in your press with a hand drill.


https://i.imgur.com/XRniCxj.jpg

^Above I used another cast to make up the space that the push post of a Lee sizer was short of...I picked a cast that was a RNF to help as a push post extension...it's that or cut the bottom off an old steel die to fit correctly with the push post.

Now you can see that I let this cast spin in the press and jig...I should'a used a little more pressure.
Also I would do this to raw casts so the HP gets a proper coat of PC. I think if someone of you fellas are interested in making HP's without buying a specific mould to cast them...this general idea could be made to work very well. This is only a 'spitwad' of an idea I'm throwing out here for you fellas considerations.


https://i.imgur.com/etaYpC1.jpg

This size HP in this lil .38, I believe would not be the best...I think the thin sides of the HP cavity wall would want to shear off as it developes the mushroom if the bullet metal wasn't right on the spot for speed of application here. But that said, this size bit prolly would work pretty well in a .45 cast RNF or RN as in this case here.

I didn't know it but a friend of mine has already done this sort of thing prolly a year ago, but after viewing his video I think my application of the same principal is different enough to justify my posting the above.

https://youtu.be/8KWCo41D0ZI > 'hollow point making/Thanks to Taco!!'

[Land Owner]

I guess you have to explain to me how that works as the spru plate is on the bottom of the boolit.

I see now that I didn't think that through at all. like walking into a lamp post while looking straight ahead. sheesh...where was my brain when I wrote that?

[ubetcha]

What would be the recommended drill size for hollow pointing a 357 or 44. And to what depth?

[ubetcha]

Ok. I just went on the Forster
web site and found their recommended sizes and depth.

[OS OK]

I loaded that home made HP pictured above and tried it against 5 milk jugs. Penetration was there but the hole in the HP was obviously too big and the 11BHN was too hard...it lost all it's front end. It went in at 175 grains and came to rest in front of the 5'th jug at 156 grains.


https://i.imgur.com/lUwG2GU.jpg

It had 4.1 grains of Unique under it and I suspect it was making about 800FPS.
Last test with this 200 grain .38S Police Special went through all 5 jugs, sideways through the 4'th & 5'th and destroyed itself in the backstop...it was clocked at 772 FPS with a 3.9 grain charge of Unique. It too wasn't much of a spectacular jug bust. Just slow and heavy with good penetration.

Here's the video of the home made HP going up against the 5 jugs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE1Ggtm3Hf0&feature=youtu.be


https://i.imgur.com/51falNt.jpg

A big gaping hole in the front end of a cast may look mean but the size and depth of that HP determines it's performance along with the speed & blend of lead used.
I hope we get that sub-forum going for Hollow Points...it certainly is a study unto itself.

[charlie b]

If it were me....I'd get a tapered drill bit.

When my FIL and I messed with HP cavities it turned out the Winchester Silvertip shape worked best for lead bullets (tapered cavity). The angle of the taper of the cavity vs the outside shape of the bullet was critical if you were at lower velocities. We used it on RN for the 1911's and 158SWC for the .357/.38

He was a machinist so he modified a few Lee molds for the HP pin, which is how we could change HP shapes to test. A tapered drill bit is not that hard to do for lead.

[USSR]

OS OK,

The problem isn't the size of your hollow point; it's the alloy you're using. Look at the size of these hollow points and the results: 253997
The .45 cal bullet on the left came out of my Gold Cup at ~800fps, while the .38 cal bullet on the right was fired at 940fps. Both use the same alloy of 0.5 sb/2.5 sn/97.0 pb. The key to good hollow point expansion is low antimony and high tin alloys. Hope that helps.

Don

[elmacgyver0]

This thread inspired me to try to make a hollow pointing tool incorporating ideas presented here.
This is what I came up with.
254277
254278

[Dinny]

The Forster tool works with the bullets loaded into a case. I believe that prevents spinning and allows it to by anchored by the stronger case head. They may be onto something there.

Thanks, Dinny

[elmacgyver0]

The Forster tool works with the bullets loaded into a case. I believe that prevents spinning and allows it to by anchored by the stronger case head. They may be onto something there.

Thanks, Dinny

Not sure how that would prevent spinning.
I had problem with spinning but by knurling die body and putting a crosshatch on the "T" bolt I overcame that problem.
Haven't done so to date but could easily make dies to do loaded ammunition.
Plus that, I don't need to lay out the money for the Forster tool, which no doubt is a great tool.
I just enjoy making my own tools where I can, even my own guns.
Someday, perhaps I will even post a picture of my home built 50 bmg rifle.

[OS OK]

OS OK,

The problem isn't the size of your hollow point; it's the alloy you're using. Look at the size of these hollow points and the results: 253997
The .45 cal bullet on the left came out of my Gold Cup at ~800fps, while the .38 cal bullet on the right was fired at 940fps. Both use the same alloy of 0.5 sb/2.5 sn/97.0 pb. The key to good hollow point expansion is low antimony and high tin alloys. Hope that helps.

Don

That post was about a 'home made' drilled hollow point made from lead I use for practice ammo prolly around 11bhn, I was trying to see if we as reloaders and casters already had the parts-n-pieces laying around to make a HP jig without a mould. Then later I tried it against the jugs fully knowing what to expect...it was just a lark but interesting to me.

Don I appreciate your information and pictures but I have this pretty much down pat now but just when we say that we discover something new and the experimenting and 'jugbusting' stunts are just to see that 'what if' type thing. See how high I can send those ping pong balls and how big of a splash I cam make.
Boy...how much a 'H P Thread' would be so much appreciated around here! Working with HP's, I think teaches us more about our casting and blending boolitmetal than any other endeavor casting solids for range and hunting.

The other day I was snooping around the casts I have and discovered some made back in April of 2018 and got to looking at the test BHN numbers...off again on a lark and I bust some jugs for the sheer fun of it but at the same time try to get an even better comprehension of what happens when they're used just outside the 'window of speed & boolitmetal applied' ... just goofey things I do in retirement to amuse myself.

This was a pretty good 'JugBust' . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGufA_dsS44

Over at TheReloadersNetwork.com we have a good crowd of relatively new casters that are starving for information and of course are asking plenty of 'goofey questions' ... many of them refugees from here that have been chased off by some of the oleCurmudgeons that have lost their patience with the Newbies and their antics. Well we all have to start somewhere and I like to help them as much as I can with the limited knowledge I have.

I use these short videos to write little articles and talk about what we see happening...it's a new generation of loader/caster/shooters that are into the videos and such...they are about 180º out of phase with us oldFarts but the way I see it, we either find the patience to teach them or this old Arcane hobby of ours is going to go by the wayside and be lost forever.

This is my little write-up regarding the above short video clip...these Newbies like to watch and ask their newbie questions and the dialogue gets started and we keep those boys in our ranks to eventually become one of the oldFarts helping others with the little knowledge they have accumulated...and so it goes on in circles from one generation to the next...

JugBusting 2 * Knockout Punch * Penta – MP 452-200-HP
https://thereloadersnetwork.com/2020/01/04/jugbusting-2-knockout-punch-penta-mp-452-200-hp/#comments

[USSR]

OS OK,

I understand that you are drilling your hollow points rather than casting them, however, I was simply commenting on the fact that the effectiveness of your hollow points would improve by using bullets with an alloy better suited to the velocity/pressure level you are using.

Don

[OS OK]

OS OK,

I understand that you are drilling your hollow points rather than casting them, however, I was simply commenting on the fact that the effectiveness of your hollow points would improve by using bullets with an alloy better suited to the velocity/pressure level you are using.

Don

Don . . . it was just that one, (a hairballed exercize) drilled from a solid that was cast with the appropriate alloy for a low speed solid and an experiment with just that one.
I cast HP's and wouldn't want to approach it from any other direction.

[Ituk]

Yes But,
The whole pointing am making is, I made about 50 hollow points this morning. They look good, I only need a few , I am 82 years lad so not making too many long term investments, & they did not cost me a penny!


Another idea: do you have any buddies that also enjoy handloading and would have molds? I had tried drilling .45 colt and almost drilled through. They did not expand using the straight drillbit. Im not sure they go fast enough done that way but i dont want to spend money on that mold. The .357, 9mm and .40 all got sent to eric. I do not recommend 4 cavity Lyman as its not fun holding all that iron up. Now i know why they are not as common as 2 cavity.