[BackWoods Billy]

Hi guys. I was playing around in the shed today and turned my single cavity Lyman 429421 mold into a hollow point. I have looked around the net to see what the hole "should" be and how far it "should" go inside the bullet. I got a few pics. and a little info,but not a lot. I had this afternoon to play around with the drill press so I went for it. I made the hole with a 1/8" drill bit and use it for the rod (or whatever you call it) . I placed it to the 1st.(top) driving band. So my question is ,does this sound right?

 

[William Iorg]

Good job.
You’re not the first person to ask these questions. John W. Zlatich explored these issues with his rather well known article “Expanding Bullets for the .44” in the May 1953 issues of the American Rifleman. In this article Zlatich varied the alloy of his cast hollow points and was able to control expansion very well. He pictures split hollow point bullets to illustrate the HP cavities. The Keith HP’s are a straight pin such as yours. The Thompson HP’s are more of a cone shape. Zlatich also wrote an article titles “.44 Dynamite” for the February 1953 issue of the American Rifleman which discusses cast bullet expansion in the “Super 44” revolvers.

Recently Ed Harris discussed HP cavities in the Fouling Shot. Ed post here on occasion or you might try the Cast Bullet Association Forum.

In general terms I find the straight Pin HP fine when cast 8 to 12 BHN on the Lee tester. I use the Lyman 44 “Devastator” bullet and have found it will open quickly. Cast soft it will remain in a raccoon when the muzzle velocity is less than 800 fps.

Over the years Ideal and then Lyman varied the depth of the cavity of the 457122HP Gould bullet. The HP cavity being shortened as velocity increased with the change from black powder to smokeless and then the inevitable increase in velocity.

 

[HardBall]

I use the Lyman 44 “Devastator” bullet and have found it will open quickly. Cast soft it will remain in a raccoon when the muzzle velocity is less than 800 fps.

Wow! I wouldn't have thought such a heavy bullet would "remain" in a '**** even at only 800fps.

 

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks Slim.I just made my 1st. box of them.Now I have to wait for my SBH to get back from Ruger to see how they work. I made them with WW and a little extra tin. I used 18.5 grains of 2400. I read that these hollow points need to be going around 1,200 FPS to open up well.I'm shooting them out of a 4 and 5/8" barrel.I'm going to use some one gallon water bottles to see if they work.18.5 grains sounds like a good place to start.We will see.. By the way,they came out at 241-242 grains.

 

[scott0116]

Backwoods, forster products makes a couple of inexpensive hollow pointers with which you can adjust the depth of the cavities for use with rifle or pistol rounds after they have been loaded. If you were unaware of these, they might be something of interest to you. http://www.forsterproducts.com/search.asp?catid=19938&fileID=24815 click link and search for hollow pointer

 

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks . That's the way I was going to go.

 

[William Iorg]

The only shots I took on the raccoons with the Devastator were head on chest shots. The soft bullets really open up but they are soft.

Billy, any idea of how much the bullets weighed when cast of these w-w in the solid form?
I am in for supper and back out to pull a water well. If I get a chance I’ll take a picture of a Forster hollow pointer for you. You need a power adapter if you are making very many. The hollow point drill guide and drill are a natural caombination for the drill press case trimmer - if you have a drill press.
The advantage to the Forster hollow pointer is you can vary the depth of the HP.
If you cast them soft the small HP will open up below 800 fps.

If you can shoot at home take light paste board boxes and insert a trash sack and fill them with water using the twist tie to hold them closed. With duct tape you can get three or four shots from each box. Make certain you have at least two boxes in line for handgun hollow points and four with a known backstop for solid bullets. The big Keith bullets will penetrate a lot of water in their solid form.
The advantage is the water is uniform and you can compare alloy and velocity with expansion.

If you have some scrap lumber make an open top trough using a cardboard flap for the front. Line your trash sacks up in the trough and fill them with the garden hose. Sit well back or you and the chronograph will take a shower. The hydraulic action will expand the sides and pull the nails or strip the screws so repair work is pretty well continuous. As the wood wears out use rope at intervals to hold the sides up and the trough will last for a number of years.

A heavy, hard cast 35 caliber bullet once penetrated six feet of water and my light backstop.

 

[BackWoods Billy]

Thanks Slim.Thats a good idea.I well have to try that. The .44s come out at 254-255 grains in the solid form with WW. Trash bags.Never would of thought of that.Thanks..I made the 1/8" pin for the hollow point so I can adjust it to how deep I want it.

 

[REDTAIL]

Question,? I cast some #429421 Bullets, that are not lubed or resized as I want to know if I can Pan lub them with the liquid Lub in a container and load and shoot them in my 44 Mag Pistol, Without Resizing them and just Lubing etc.

 

[trapper9260]

Question,? I cast some #429421 Bullets, that are not lubed or resized as I want to know if I can Pan lub them with the liquid Lub in a container and load and shoot them in my 44 Mag Pistol, Without Resizing them and just Lubing etc.

What size do they drop out of the mold?

 

[William Iorg]

In general terms the answer is yes. I shoot most of my cast bullets un sized and either pan lubed or tumble lubed.
I am assuming you are describing tumble lube in a butter tub. I use a sandwich bag these days. Just put the bullets in a zip lock, squirt in some liquid Alox, zip the bag closed and work the bullets around with my fingers.

I would like to know how many .38 wadcutters I have run through a Lee hand size die - it would be a large number. The Lee hand size dies are a bit quicker than the Lyman 310 tool size dies but not by much. The Lyman 310 tool size die is easier on the hands. We have a S&W that like .357" wadcutters.

Seat one bullet in an empty case and crimp it enough to take out the flare. It will answer your question.

I have put these pictures up before but you may not have seen them. Lot of us old guys started out with the Lyman 310 tool and Lee Hand Loader. My Dad felt it was the safest way to start kids in the reloading game. It is still a good way to load at the range. Dad would have us using an arbor press to push cases into the Lyman full length size die and then turn the die around and push them back out. Kept us out of trouble.

 

[REDTAIL]

Thanks guys the Bullets are ,429 or .430 They were casted in pure Linotype Lead from Mold # 429421 I am going to put them in a container & apply some of Lee's Liquid Lub on them Then reload them unless you guys suggest different etc.

 

[William Iorg]

I dont see any reason not to.
Those are hard bullets. Have any idea what you cylinder throat diameter is?

 

[REDTAIL]

No I do not I have loaded & shot the Hornady 240 Gr SWC Lead bullets in the past with out any problems etc But never the ones that I casted myself as of yet etc.

 

[William Iorg]

Just running a few things through my mind.linotype will run abut 21-22 bhn.
Lyman No. 2 around 19 maybe.
Old wheel weights less than 10.

Some Linotype bullets will have accuracy and leading issues if a touch under size.
Drop a bullet into a cylinder throat and see if it will pass through.

 

[trapper9260]

Thanks guys the Bullets are ,429 or .430 They were casted in pure Linotype Lead from Mold # 429421 I am going to put them in a container & apply some of Lee's Liquid Lub on them Then reload them unless you guys suggest different etc.

The boolits that are .430 would work the best for you. then lube like you want.

 

[William A. Reed]

Hollow Point's and bullet hardness

Over the years Hollowpointman has converted several molds for me. One of the molds was a 429244 that was converted. The step for the gas check was removed. Bullets from this mold were intended primarily for 44 Special. Cast from wheel weights the expansion in dry phone books was explosive in 44 Magnum. In a later conversation half wheel weight and unalloyed lead is the hardest that should be used for hollow points. I would imagine the racoon were wrecked. I had cast some unalloyed lead hollow points with the 452374 mold. Will not share what handguns were used for this experiment. I had not experimented with revolver bullets lately. In the recent purchase of 35 or so molds were a half dozen Lyman HP molds of the old style. This should get these experiments going again. When the original 429244 was converted it came back with two nose pins. What had happened was one nose pin that was ordered and one that would work. Also, check out Glen Fryxell articles on hollow points.

 

[bfrshooter]

HP's are accurate and I have shot a million of them. The bullet must have some ductile qualities and lino will shatter. If you ever head shoot a chuck and see the eyes popped out you will know how destructive they are so I will never use one in the .44 for deer. Now a special should benefit but not the mag. If you just want to blow stuff up, I can't deny that they are fun.

I use a hard WW water dropped WLN for deer and they can destroy too much meat. I also found a larger meplat like the WFN can move tissue out of the path with a temporary wound channel from the pressure wave off the meplat.

Each caliber, velocity and bullet weight needs to be different so one size does not fit all.