22 Cal HP `

[Johnch]

I have been working on some loads for my Browning 22 Hornet rifle

I have a friends mold to try
It is a HP mold
With the flat point stem it weighs 50 or 51 gr when lubed and GC

I added the HP stem and made some 38 gr HP bullets after lube and GC

So the HP is wide and deep

These cast bullets are cast from a batch of reclaimed range lead
This lead is mostly from store bought "Hard Cast" bullets
So I would guess the alloy is about Lyman #2

I tried a load pushing these HP bullets at 1940 FPS and was happy
As I got a 1.5" group at 100 yards
I figured a great squirrel load as IMO the alloy wouldn't expand on them

But I was wondering what that alloy would do on a ground hog ?
I still would not expect it to expand
But would the HP break up and leave a sort of wad cutter and a bunch of shards of the HP to tear up the ground hog ?
Or would you think it would just stay in 1 piece and pass through with not a lot of damage ?


Thanks
John

[truckjohn]

At nearly 2k fps - I have a feeling the HP which reduces the flat nose bullet's weight by ~1/3 will blow up.

Maybe mix up a block of ballistic gelatin. Barring that, it might be a good excuse to sacrifice a whole chicken carcass "for science."

[MarkP]

Shoot them at 16 oz pop bottles filled with water. You can compare and will get an idea of what will happen. When my kids were younger I would save the small milk bottles from McDonalds happy meals and filled and shot them.

I have the NOE group buy Lyman 225107 HP & FN ( think that is the number) casted from similar alloy as well as straight Linotype and shot out of a 22 Hornet & 221 Fireball the HP's blow up like a jacketed varmint bullet do when shot into water bottles.

[truckjohn]

A 2-liter bottle mostly full of water might give an idea as well. If it blows to smithereens - the HP is giving up. If it pencils through and just leaves two holes, not so much.

[gwpercle]

You will need to test a few on water filled bottles because you don't really know the composition of alloy . If too explosive you could slow them down a bit .
Shooting squirrels for the pot ... make head shots , you don't want to blow up all the good eating parts with a body shot !
Gary

[MarkP]

Too bad you do not live closer. I have 5 contractor size plastic bags filled with bottles. Small 7 oz up to 2 l bottles. 16 oz are similar to a Prarie dog

[Wilderness]

John - my experience with the bigger HP bullets, cast harder than yours, suggests you might be decorating the foliage with bits of those critters.

Hard hollow point bullets at velocity blow the noses and send a cone of shrapnel through the target. Softer bullets moreso and smaller pieces. The solid base thereafter is a very good penetrator. All of this is a good thing from a killing power standpoint. You can control this process with bullet hardness, size of hollow, and velocity, but the basic mechanism of nose fracture remains.

My .30 hollows take about 10 gns out of the bullet (6%), where I see yours taking about 25%. With my hollows, casting with linotype suppresses the breakup to the point where only a double shoulder shot will do for a pig. My usual casting alloy would be a little harder than #2 and it does a good job on pigs down to and including weaners. When I increased the hollow on one bullet from 10 to 20 gns I experienced non-penetration through the on-side shoulder of an adult boar. This is at about 2200 fps MV.

More in line with your scenario, I have also used Lyman #311576HP with the same hard alloy. This is a big hollow and takes out about 20 gns, leaving 110 gns. Load is 12 gns Unique for .30-30 (1950 fps) and .308 (1875 fps). These blow the noses the same way as the faster ones, and the base slugs will also pass right through a pig on a rib shot. They're OK for decapitating rabbits also.

You might be lucky and have the bullets get through the squirrels before the nose lets go, but down the track I imagine you'll be looking for a much smaller hollow point. The best thing to do is to get out there and kill some stuff with a variety of bullets. Maybe a couple of sizes of HP pin, and try some HP bullets with the hollows plugged with shot.

Please let us know what you find.

[Drew P]

Hmm I’d be interested to see these. Might work well in my air rifle.

[Johnch]

Thanks

I did a quick 125 yard test on a groundhog this afternoon
But I used that same cast bullet out of my 218 Bee , so the starting velocity was a little faster than the 22 Hornet
A chest shot resulted in a quick kill
There was a large exit wound and a smaller exit wound
So I would figure the HP did shatter and result in a group pf small chunks for shrapnel

As for squirrels
I try to just take head shots
So no lead fragments will be in any of the meat


Thanks
John

[hoodat]

Hey John. I've got that same mold, but its missing the pin assembly. Would you mind posting a pic or two of the pin, maybe on and off the mold. Or PM it to me. I've been putting off using the thing, and don't even have another HP mold of any kind to show me how to make one. I do have the right diameter pin to use in the project. jd