Hollow Pointing Cast SWC's

[Chuck White]

I cast 240 gr SWC's with RCBS 2-cavity mould!
I use straight wheel-weights for casting!

What are your thoughts on hollow pointing some of these for deer hunting?
Anything to gain?
I load them in 44 Mag and 444 Marlin!

I suppose you'd have to make some kind of jig to ensure that all of the hollow points were exactly in the center and the same depth!

[Castaway]

My experience with WW is they are great for most applications at even high velocitiey loads.  For a hollow point though, I think they're too fragile.  They stay together when cast of a semi-wadcutter or RNFP, but when cast in a hollow point, the nose tends to "shatter," not expand and act like a regluar bullet, less the nose.  I cast 50% WW and 50% lead for my hunting loads in my 45 Colt and have never had a complaint.  The extra lead allows some expansion and is in my opinion, the ultimate controlled expansion bullet for hogs.  For deer, I tend to cast mostly pure lead for my carbine, but in my pistol, go back to the 50/50 mix due to the less velocity.  A 45 caliber hole through and through a critter is hard to argue with.

[Ka6otm]

However, if you still want to try hollow pointing SWCs, here's a commercial tool made for the job.  At the least it could give you ideas on how to roll your own.

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

Ka6otm

[Larry Gibson]

Chuck White

"I cast 240 gr SWC's with RCBS 2-cavity mould! I use straight wheel-weights for casting! What are your thoughts on hollow pointing some of these for deer hunting? Anything to gain? I load them in 44 Mag and 444 Marlin! I suppose you'd have to make some kind of jig to ensure that all of the hollow points were exactly in the center and the same depth![/quote]"

I have the Forster HP tool as illustrated in the listed in Ka60tm's post.  I've the 1/8th tool and have used it for since the late '70s on .38s, 41s, 44s and 45s.  As castaway says WWs are too brittle and when HPd the noses shatter.  I have found the best performance is with GC'd bullets (plain based bullets cast of this soft alloy will do up to 1100 fps and pure lead works well upwards of 900 fps) of medium to heavy weight and cast of recovered 22lr lead or from magnum shot with 3-5% antimony.  Neither of these alloys has any tin.  Cast with this lead/antimony alloy they are quite malleable and maintain good accuracy at hunting velocities.  If I push them above  1100  fps I water quench them out of the mould.  This hardens them enough for 1400-1500 fps and yet they reliably expand instead of shatter.  I HP them to a depth not more than 1/3d of the bullet length or to the front driving band and expansion is pretty good.  I've not had leading problems with this soft alloy and the GCd bullets when Javelina lube was used.  

In revolvers I particularly like the following HPd with the Forster tool;

In .38 Special 358156 cast of pure lead over 5.5 gr of Unique duplicated the "FBI" +P load and thumps jackrabbits quite well.  358477 (PB bullet) does okay in some revolvers but leads in others.

In .357 the 358156 of magnum shot (water quenched) over 15.5 gr of H4227 is a very deadly combo at 1275 fps or 8 gr of Unique at 1340 fps.

In .41 Mag 410610 of magnum shot (water quenched) over 9 gr of Unique runs about 1200 fps out of my RBBH and does well but 23 gr of H110 at 1450 fps will give you the full meal deal.  Kills deer quick and dead but I have not recovered a bullet!

For .44 Special I like 429421 cast of pure lead or .22lr lead over 7.5 gr of Unique and 840 fps out of a 6" barrel.

In .44 Magnum 429244 of magnum shot (water quenched) over 23 gr of H4227 pushes a little over 1200 out of my 4" Anaconda and 1300+ out of a 6" barrel.  I have killed a couple deer with this load and recovered one bullet.  Expansion was picture perfect.  

In my M1955 target a 452490 of .22lr lead over 7.5 gr Unique runs 990 fps and is a superb load.  That bullet would do well in .45 Colts at the same velocity but I have not tried it.

The .357 and .44 loads get up towards the 1500 fps range in 10" TC Contenders and will be quite accurate for hunting as the softer bullet is not slam banging from the cylinder throat to the barrel as in a revolver.  The Forster HP tool takes the extra step to HP the bullets (after the rounds are loaded) and an electric screw driver for the Forster Trimmer makes it fairly easy.  I only cast and HP these loads for specific hunting purposes and, quite frankly, have found the quality jacketed HPs to give better performance and do not require the extra loading step s I mostly use them these days. However, if you want to use cast HPs for hunting the above Forster Tool has worked for me quite well.

Larry Gibson