Brass bullet expansion?

[MightyThor]

I have only shot my own rimfire bullets and my experience has indicated that they do not so much expand as they fragment on impact with the gophers we shoot. I have read here that others have bonded the cores to prevent "blow ups" and I presumed that was addressing the same experience that I have had with my bullets.

Do the bigger cal stuff do the same thing? I note that BTsniper has a fine looking hollow point in 40 cal and someone asked about expansion. I was wondering what the other brass jacket bullets do when the hit stuff other than paper.:lovebooli

[MIBULLETS]

Actually the thicker brass cases, once anealed expand quite well. They perform much like a tapered copper jacket. If they are not anealed they do tend to crack more than mushroom. Here is a poor picture of a 35 caliber bullet made from a .223 case. I was anealed and bonded. Without bonding, performance is similar, but sometimes the core will pop out.

Jacket made from 22 cases are so thin, I don't think you can do much for them. I have bonded them before but it is hard to not damage the jacket with the heat. I am using a torch.

http://www.myhostedpics.com/images/MIBULLETS/358from223case.jpg

[BT Sniper]

That is the one I think of any time some asks what the perfomance of bullet like this can be. It has got to be one of the best mushrooms I have seen on a custom bullet or any of the commerical offerings. That thing is HUGE! Love it!

[sagacious]

My experience is the same as MIBULLETS'. The rimfire jackets are so thin that bonding the core makes no difference. They still fragment.

The bullets swaged from centerfire cases use much heavier brass. They don't fragment explosively, and they're usually going much slower anyway. The nice thing about the pistol-case jackets is that the brass is tapered, and gets thicker toward the base. That really helps to hold the whole bullet together during/after expansion.

The 44cal from 40SW bullets I used to make were hollow-point or flat-point. The 44cal ones that BT Sniper makes have the jacket folded over at the nose, and/or notched, etc-- that may change the expansion properties, and he's the best one to comment on that. The ones I made held together very well when fired from my Ruger m77/44. For testing, I shot them at all kinds of things.

Best of luck! :drinks: