158gr Keith style SWC HP source?

[jjohnson]

Hi, guys!

I'm looking at getting into casting soon, mainly because I haven't been able to find a source of good cast Keith-style SWC with hollowpoint. Nobody seems to sell them. Why is that? What's the drawback?

Do any of you know casters who sell this type of bullet? I'd like to give 'em a try before I order molds.

Any info you share will be appreciated.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Casting hollowpoints is a pain. Its done with a single cavity mould (instead of doubles, 4 cavities or 6 cavities) and a hand-held pin. Production is slow and tedious, scrap rate is high due to trying to keep the pin hot. Its something that you do to get a handfull of boolits for a special purpose (killing something). I personally don't cast hollow points but drill them. You really don't want to try casting hollowpoints until you've achieved some proficiency (read a couple of years after you start casting).

I do encourage you to get into casting. Its a great hobby in itself. The next step after learning to reload. A great way of life.

Oh, and welcome aboard.

[HeavyMetal]

Yep, HP's are a labor of love!

I just spent 2 hours casting some 358429 HP's in a single cav mold. Made about 150 scrapped about half because of flaws, mostly in the hp area.

You can see why they aren't sold, no production no profit!

Down in the swap and sell section you'll find a spot where you can do some trading for specific boolits suggest you check it out and see what you have to swap for what you want to try.

[EDK]

There was a previous thread about hollow points within the last month.

Best advice to give you is look at the Forster case trimmer and the hollow point accessory. You drill the nose in a loaded cartridge. Don't remember much on details, but fast and effective to do them this way. There's one buried somewhere in my reloading room. I'm still finding stuff from the move years ago. Casting "odd ball" items like hollow point, hollow base, cup base can be a PITA!Some swaging company is bound to make what you want...and a lot easier than casting. At 60, my time is too limited for this kind of project.

There are differing opinions on hollow points. Personally, I'd cast a soft semi wadcutter with a gas check, just hard enough not to deform while assembling the round. OR even better, a full wadcutter like LYMAN 358432 of the same alloy. The late Jim Cirrillo said something about 160 grain wadcutters and resolving lethal confrontations; probably get him in a lot of trouble now.

Just kick back and let the discussion commence.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[missionary5155]

AAAAAnd one of the problems you will see with BOUGHT Bullets is what are they cast from and what diameter are they sized. Most casters here are diameter consciouse but mass producers see $ signs first...
Cast your own and you can eliminate the leading. Cast a soft boolit and you do not need a hollowpoint. And if it is all that necessary to have that hole you can take a block of metal and drill it to make a JIG and drill hollow points in ant same diameter boolit you want. If you are slow like me it can be production ready in about 30 minutes.

[beagle]

Casting HPs is really no harder than making "solids" after you get the knack of doing it and I can usually turn out about 400 at a sitting before I get bored,. It takes just a couple of extra steps and unless you're loading lots of ammo you can usually make more than you can shoot up with a little casting.

In the .38/.357 arena, I use several 358429HP moulds and a couple of 358439 moulds. I also use a 358477 HP and a 358156 plain base HP. For my .357 Marlin M1894, is use a 38-158-CM RCBS holow point.

Now, only the 358429 series is usually encountered as hollow point factory jobs so you'll need to acquire whatecer mould strikes your fancy and negotiate with buckshot to HP it for you.

For the .44s, my favorite is a 429421HP.

The .45 Colt gets a 454190HP and a 454424HP.

The 9mms get 358242HPs

And, if you have one the .30s and .32s like the .30 Carbine and .32 Mag and .32-20 get 311008HPs.

HPs are all I load and they're well worth making./beagle

[Dale53]

I like to cast in volume. I also like the results of HP cast boolits. The answer is really pretty simple. I buy multi-cavity solid boolit moulds for volume and practice. Then I buy a single cavity HP mould of the same design. If it is not offered by the manufacturer, then buy a good used on (or new) single or double cavity mould and have Buckshot Hollow Point the existing mould. I intend to do just that with a couple of moulds I have. If you have a good friend who is a careful caster (and not hard on equipment) you can go in together and buy the two moulds for each example. That way, you can halve the cost and still get what you both want.

So, you use the multi-cavity mould (or rather bullets FROM the multi-cavity mould) for practice and then cast just enough hollow point boolits for sighting in (and testing, of course) and hunting. You end up with the best of both worlds. Just takes money:mrgreen:.

FWIW
Dale53

[Glen]

Beagle -- you are a man of class and distinction. I like your taste in moulds!

Dale -- you hit it on the head -- gang moulds for practice and plinking, HP moulds for the serious stuff.

[44man]

Years and years ago (Not saying!) when I had a beautiful S&W, 8-3/8" ribbed BBL .357, the 358156 HP was the most accurate boolit I had. Back then it was ONLY 2400 for hot loads but I don't remember how much.
I put one of the first pistol scopes on the gun, might have been a Bushnell???? Little thing. I was shooting those little frozen fruit juice cans at 100 yd's from prone.

[Old Ironsights]

I rarely, if ever cast my 358156s with the plain nose. I always use the HP. My discard rate is maybe 1 in 10 on a bad day.

[jdgabbard]

Zero sells Keith Style HP SWCs. You can get them from www.blue-star-inc.com

Only thing is that their of rather soft alloy. And when I mean soft, I mean probably 99% pure.