Drill out nose to make HP?

[Adam10mm]

Chatting with a gunshop customer today about casting and HP molds. Said he uses a benchtop drill press with a bit for metal-drilling and drills out a bit of the bullet to make a HP out of it. Says it is cheaper than a HP mold and works just as well.

Any truth to this? Been pondering this all day.

[Joel Chavez]

I've used my Lyman case trimmer in this fashion with decent results. The trimming/cutting wheel has a pilot hole that will accept a 9/64 drill bit. I think I still prefer a HP mould though. Later.

[jhrosier]

If you have a Forster case trimmer, they offer a hollow pointer attachment for $18.60.

See: http://www.forsterproducts.com/Pages/trim_pointer.htm

[Buckshot]

This was made to HP ammo by hand, but a similar setup could be made to utilize a drill press. The shellholder base doesn't show the 2 alignment pins that were added later.

.................Buckshot

[shotstring]

I believe the biggest problem with drilling out a hollowpoint vs casting one is in the accuracy dept. It doesn't take being off by much when drilling a hole to put your bullet slightly out of balance. I had run into that long ago both when drilling out hb wadcutters with a drill press and also with expanding the hollowpoints in 22 long rifle ammunition with a nail as a teenager during my early rabbit hunting days.

[PAT303]

I made up a die that go's in my reloading press that drills a 1/8 hole in the end of a lyman 311291 RN boolit.I cast them in pure lead and load them over 10grn's of shotgun powder in my 303 and use them on rabbits and fox's.At 100mtrs they group into a inch,inch and abit and expand like a grenade. Pat

[jhrosier]

I believe the biggest problem with drilling out a hollowpoint vs casting one is in the accuracy dept. It doesn't take being off by much when drilling a hole to put your bullet slightly out of balance. I had run into that long ago both when drilling out hb wadcutters with a drill press and also with expanding the hollowpoints in 22 long rifle ammunition with a nail as a teenager during my early rabbit hunting days.

You definately need a guide bushing, like Buckshot's or the Forster rig to keep the drill in the center of the slug.

[shotstring]

Yep, I agree there. Some type of bushing is a must. I was using a pretty good drill press vise with a double "V" as a bushing and it worked pretty well. I would have preferred a bushing designed for the job however. The other factor was drill depth. Anything but a drill press or case trimmer won't guarantee that you take out the same amount of metal each time.

I guess that I lost interest in hollowpoint bullet design when my partner and I created a bullet that was so nasty that I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone being shot with it. We were trying to sell to one of the Police Departments, but while they were making a decision on it, a bank robber fired on one of their squad cars using our bullets, and it not only penetrated both doors of the car and everything in between, it cut a metal baton in the squad car clean in half in the process. They declined to use our bullet citing "over-penetration" problems as the reason. We found out later that it would also penetrate a level 3 vest. Case of too good a design yielding some unexpected and bad results.

I don't shoot varmints anymore unless forced to, and for hunting there is nothing like a plain soft point, so I prefer to focus on that.
Still, the mechanics of a good hollowpoint are so intriguing.....nah, I don't even want to go there..

[Leadslinger]

All you need to do is drill a hole in a piece of wood or aluminum after you clamp it to the base of the drill press. The diameter of the hole should barely allow the bullet to set down into it. Once this hole is drilled, take the bit out and insert a bit that you want to use to make the hollowpoint. It will automatically be centered unless you move the piece that you originally drilled and clamped to the bottom of the press.

[35remington]

Uh, shotstring....

Hang out with some bad characters, do you? How is it you know bank robbers and are selling them ammunition? Just curious.

I would also love to see a design that would turn an ordinary cast lead bullet into a super car penetrating death ray with the simple addition of a hollow point. Call me a skeptic, at the very least. If this had any marketability it would have already occurred.

Not flaming. Just wondering about a few statements you've made.

[shotstring]

That's ok 35rem....I might think the same if someone had posted what I posted in hindsight. But the bullet was marketed to the general public and anyone could buy it, same as any other ammunition. The thing that made it such a great penetrator was that it contained a solid stainless steel core inside the hollowpoint. I worked and tested that round for 2 years before getting it just right, with both optimum expansion as well as penetration. Testing wasn't without problems though as at least one barrel on my favorite test revolver was torn up by a core separation. And the reason you don't hear about rounds like that is because they made any loading that would penetrate a ballistic vest illegal in this country. We got around it originally because the law read "manufactured with the express purpose of penetrating" a vest worn by law enforcement or some such wording. This bullet wasn't designed to penetrate vests - just to expand quickly and reliably with the core acting as a plunger to ensure optimum expansion. Penetrating a vest was a side effect so to speak.

The military has much better munitions available, and police or civilian personal have no real use for such a round, so it filled a need that wasn't really there....except possibly for the criminal element. Sai la vie.

[KCSO]

The old Forster hollow pointer did a good job too. The collar centered the bit and they shot as good as I can hold.