Turning round nose into plat point?

[boog]

I was goofing off with my little arbor press and made some flat points out of round points. I'm going to test to see how they shoot eventually, but thought I would ask if anyone has tried things like this and how did it fare?

These are NOE HTC358-133-RN-BO5

276151

[tazman]

I own an older NOE 358-135 rf mold that produces boolits much like the one you flattened. They perform great. Good feed and function. Great accuracy.
I can even make them up as a hollow point if I wish albeit in a slightly lighter weight.

[Dusty Bannister]

You might find that as you flatten the nose, you also cause it to expand. More likely on rifle bullets, but could probably happen on handgun bullets as well.

[RickinTN]

well, I could be all wrong but I think you have deformed a bullet.
Rick

[Outpost75]

I have several vintage file-trim dies which cut off .32 S&W Long, .38 S&W or .38 Special old school LRN factory loads to produce flat nosed carry loads. I use heavy duty bandage shears to make the initial cut, then true up with a file. The .38 Special 158 LRN loads end up at 147 grains with a 1/4" meplat and shoot to the same point of impact as wadcutters, but at higher velocity and are speedloader friendly. Not a bad load load.

[la5676]

I flattened some 311410 mould boolits using a belt sander so I wouldn't deform them. Put just enough blunt on them to achieve what needs to be done in a tube gun. Used a finer grit paper.

[ryanmattes]

Put em back through the sizer, to make sure the whole thing didn't expand a bit.

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[megasupermagnum]

well, I could be all wrong but I think you have deformed a bullet.
Rick

Yep. Take it one step farther with a die, and you can call it swaging.

[boog]

Put em back through the sizer, to make sure the whole thing didn't expand a bit.

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I did and they slipped right through the sizer

[ryanmattes]

So maybe only the nose/ogive was deformed, and if you're lucky they'll have deformed fairly consistently (since you used a press and didn't just hit em with a hammer or something). As long as they don't give you feeding problems, I'd shoot em and see how they work.

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[boog]

So maybe only the nose/ogive was deformed, and if you're lucky they'll have deformed fairly consistently (since you used a press and didn't just hit em with a hammer or something). As long as they don't give you feeding problems, I'd shoot em and see how they work.

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And the worst that'll happen is they don't shoot well and I never do it again lol

[Mk42gunner]

Frank Marshall wrote an article years ago where he did this to a 311284 for use in a .30-30 Savage 340. IIRC he also used 4350 powder.

Robert

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have been doing this for years. I retrofitted my old Lyman #45 sizer luber to have a positive stop and every one of what ever boolit I want to make a flat nose on comes out exactly the same length. It is adjustable so I can set it for each bullet length I want to flatten. This process is done at the same time that I size and lube them.

[rbuck351]

I use a Swag-o-matic to reform boolit noses to what ever I want and can make a point form die for.

[44Blam]

I have some 40 cal boolits that I make gas checks for. The checks are too big to just stay on without resizing, so I tend to powder coat these and then pass them base first through the sizer.

It already has a flat nose, but it does make it ever so slightly flatter.

[boog]

I have been doing this for years. I retrofitted my old Lyman #45 sizer luber to have a positive stop and every one of what ever boolit I want to make a flat nose on comes out exactly the same length. It is adjustable so I can set it for each bullet length I want to flatten. This process is done at the same time that I size and lube them.

I have the arbor press set so the handle will stop at the same spot to hopefully be consistent with every nose flatten. I don't think I want all of my rounds to be like that, though I was curious if the larger flat spot would create a meplat of sorts for defensive rounds.

[Mr_Sheesh]

The good news is that all a meplat is, is a flat spot at the nose end of a boolit :)

[boog]

The good news is that all a meplat is, is a flat spot at the nose end of a boolit :)

Haha! Very true. But does it make a difference for 9mm like this? Assuming they fly the same as the as cast round.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

You might notice a very little more drop and wind drift out past 70-100 yards, if you shoot your 9mm beyond 75 yards. Maybe an extra 1" of wind drift at 100 yards(10 mph full value crosswind), another half inch of drop, if your 9mm is accurate enough to notice at 100 yards.

[TyGuy]

If I’m shooting my 9mm pistols at 100yds I don’t think I could put the blame on them or the bullets for any wide groups... haha

[mdi]

I'm curious about the method. Did you just put a cast bullet on an arbor press and squish a flat spot on the nose? Did you use a die to hold the bullet and maintain diameter? I'm a life long machinist/mechanic/tinkerer and I like to check out different processes I run across. Some have come in handy...

[Hickok]

Just make sure they chamber easily. Sometimes the ogive can enlarge, or with the addition of Powder coat, the nose of the boolit may engrave the rifling and make chambering a round difficult.

I sometimes file off the tip on a couple of pointy-type boolits to use for hunting purposes. You only need a couple for hunting, so it is not a big issue. They seem to shoot just fine for me.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have the arbor press set so the handle will stop at the same spot to hopefully be consistent with every nose flatten. I don't think I want all of my rounds to be like that, though I was curious if the larger flat spot would create a meplat of sorts for defensive rounds.

A flat point is usually better for self defence, but it would depend on velocity and alloy.

[boog]

I'm curious about the method. Did you just put a cast bullet on an arbor press and squish a flat spot on the nose? Did you use a die to hold the bullet and maintain diameter? I'm a life long machinist/mechanic/tinkerer and I like to check out different processes I run across. Some have come in handy...

I just put it on the arbor press and squished a flat spot. Then took it to the sizer and ran it through again to see if it felt different, it did not.

[boog]

A flat point is usually better for self defence, but it would depend on velocity and alloy.

I'm using a mix of old wheel weights, a little range scrap and linotype. I can't wait for warmer weather to get out and test some rounds.

[centershot]

I've done this with the Lee .312-185 boolit. I use it for my M-N carbine sized .314" and my 30-30 sized .311". It's too long to cycl thru the Marlin action so I had a friend turn a bushing that slides over the boolit and is the proper length for the Marlin. Tap, tap, tap with a small hammer and a RNFP boolit pops out!

[MT Gianni]

A long time ago I bought a trim die for a 265 diameter cartridge and file trimmed flats on loaded 311413 bullets. I could never get them to an acceptable group but probably should have slowed them down. I have successfully bumped noses flat on the 358430 195 gr rn that shot well. Let your groups complete your ideas not the internet.