Making rnfp's out of cast 45 ball boolits

[littlejack]

I know that I am not the first person to ever do this, but also was wondering how many members practice this method of flat pointing their round nose slugs. Everyone knows that the old ball slug used in the 45 acp, is very inefficient in making a good wound channel as a hunting bullet or self defense projectile. Quite a few years ago, I traded for some "heavier than normal" ball slugs. These particular cast ball slugs weigh in at a consistant 249 grains. They came unsized, with a single lube groove. The tip of the slug is radiused, but more pointed than the standard ball slug. So, wanting to keep the positive feeding ability of the ball slug, but also make the slug have a more desirable hunting or self defense projectile that would produce a better wound channel. I dug through my dies, and for the top flattening die, I used a Lee Universal belling/flairing die. There are a couple different size belling posts that can be rearranged to suit. The base of each is flat, and that's what I placed flat side down in the die to bump the slug into to make the flat point. For the push rod, I used a Lee .410 (that's the biggest I had) that goes with the .410 push through sizer die. After flattening a few of the round noses and getting the meplat that I wanted, the slugs measure as follows. The length of the original slug was .712. After making the flat point, the height is .612. These dimensions are +/- .002.
The meplat is .300. The slugs only bumped up to about .455 in diameter. After sizing to .452 and seating to 1.200 they make the plunk test just fine. When the weather warms up I'll give them a try. One other thing, in their original length of .712, the slugs had to be seated deep enough to fit the magazine. This raised pressures because the slug seated so deep. It'll be interesting to see how they feed in my PT-1911. I may load some up and try them in the Uberti SAA and my Winchester Trapper 45 Colt. Any thoughts on the subject?

[scattershot]

Love to see some pics.

[ReloaderFred]

I've done it with 9mm, .38/.357 and .45 caliber bullets, but I use my CH-4D swaging dies to reform them. I've also made RN bullets into SWC-HP bullets using my old CH Swage-o-Matic dies and press.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Sasquatch-1]

I do this with a cowboy style round nose for my .44's. I use them for a 2x4 shoot. I was using a full wadcutter that was hard to seat in the cylinder with speed loaders. I use a Swage-it style die and flatten the nose until it is almost a wadcutter. Makes it a lot easier to feed into the cylinder and gives me the destructive power of the wadcutter.

[littlejack]

Thanks fellas, great ideas to get the gears to rolling upstairs. It would be much easier to make perfect dies for all shapes and sizes of slugs, if I still had my Atlas lathe. But alas, we have to put our thinking caps on to make what we have work.

[Hick]

I have a Lee 150 grain round nose mold for my Ruger 357 Magnum. I cast with alloy that's about 9 BHN and load them with a seating die that has a flat plug-- instant flat nose.

[littlejack]

Hick
Yes, I have seated round nose slugs with flat seating stems. But theres not enough back pressure, as the bullet is being seated at the same time. There is a very slight flat on the bullet tip.

[littlejack]

Update:
I did get to the range today. The rounds that were loaded with the pressed flat meplat, functioned flawless. No failure to feed. Although it's been a couple months since I've been shooting, accuracy was very acceptable for me. The slugs grouped in 3" at 22 yards with a makeshift rest. I need to drop the powder charge some, as I was using a heavy load of Herco.

[curiousgeorge]

Have reformed many round nosed slugs to a flat point. Frank Marshall talked about doing this back in the 1980's in an issue of The Fouling Shot in a Lyman sizer by changing the nose punch and using a stack of washers to create a positive stop. Also can increase diameter of bore-riding nose section if so desired with same process, but not an exact science on that. As mentioned above, an old CH Swag-O-Matic with proper nose punch can turn a 358311 into a semi-wadcutter with one pull of the handle.

[littlejack]

Thank you for your own expierienced information. Maybe others will experiment with different processes, and add to their own reloading enjoyment. You are correct about the bore riding sections of the bullets. With the particular bullets that I am using, the section just in front the grease groove has increased its surface a minimum of .100 in length. This will be advantageous in getting the bullet started straight in the bore and not tipped.