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Make your own hollow points....... ?????

27K views 65 replies 42 participants last post by  Compa49 
#1 ·
Ok, a friend and I were having a discussion about ammo, mainly the lack thereof. He has been CC'ing for about 6 months and accidentally shot both his mags of carry ammo instead of his plinking ammo..... :twak:. Now he has a crazy idea that he can make his own by drilling out Some FMJ. He has the machinery to do it and do it consistently, but I said it was a bad idea. I explained all the points I could make.... millions spent on R&D.... proper exspansion..... bullet jacket seperation.... problems feeding..... problems in magazine function.... the very bad idea or drilling a live round..... how deep to drill..... how wide of a cavity..... etc. He thinks if he machines a custom step drill that he will be fine. I even found documentation on bullets seperating to show him, to no avail.

MY question is this.... What is the feasability, the dangers I did not think of, the probability of reliability, proper performance etc. Is this something that anyone would try ? I have vehemently opposed this, and he isnt doing anything until we see what is said. I am all for DIY, but some things should be left to the pros, and this I think should be one of them. Any information ya'll can give me would be greatly appreciated. Also, I have a steak dinner riding on this...... but I am confident I will be eating for free.:danceban:
 
#8 ·
As it has been stated before, in regards to not using reloads for self defense, an anti lawyer (should he ever have to use his self-modified bullets in a self defense capacity) could easily twist the story to "prove" intentions to kill because your friend made a "more deadlier bullet".

"Obviously, standard bullets weren't deadly enough for Mr._________ intent to kill, so he designed his own bullet to make it more deadly. It is because of this one simple reason that Mr. Dirtbag is now dead. Had Mr.________ used a regular bullet, Mr. Dirtbag would still be alive. You, the jury should convict Mr._______ of premeditated murder."
 
#10 ·
I told him I would give him a mag of critical duty.... I think it is more of a want to tinker. As far as setback goes, I didnt think of that but it is a good point. With copper being a soft meatal, would it require enough force to drill through to cause setback? Either way I still think it is a terrible idea ......
 
#11 ·
Carry ammo is not as scarce as the plinking stuff, so if he looks around he should be able to find it. Sounds like he's looking for an excuse to try it.

I did it with .22 LR when I was about 16 years old. Hollowed out the soft lead with my pocket knife and got decent results on pop cans full of water at 10 feet out of my Remington 581.

But it was .22 LR. And I was 16. And I didn't need a drill press. And I wouldn't do it again.
 
#12 ·
In response to the lawyer,hollowpoints have less penetration & are less likely to injure an innocent. They are designed to inflict max damage so less shots have to be fired thus less danger to the public.
 
#16 ·
Buku good answers in reference to OP's question. Get yourself a Ribeye with all the trimmings when your pal makes good Taurahe. A few years down the road your pal will no doubt be glad he's still got the 10 fingers he was originally issued.
 
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#19 ·
I suspect that the vast majority of people killed by bullets have been killed by round lead balls or FMJ. Why do we now have the idea that FMJ is somehow ineffective? Tell him to just use FMJ until he can find some JHPs. Sheesh.
 
#20 ·
I forwarded him the link to this thread and I am pretty sure he is looking for the cheapest steak house.....sucks for him that we live near ST Elmos...one of the best steak houses in the country. Im thinking a 32 oz cowboy cut prime rib is in order, since he will be keeping all of his fingers lol
 
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#21 ·
You can make your own hollowpoints and you can do it well if you have the skill to do it.
A 230 grain lead .45 slug will be right at 180-185 grains if done right.

I built a simple hollowpointer years ago that works like a charm. I used a battery operated drill motor with a number 3 "bell center" drill and put a brass stop on the drill itself. Using a Dillon 550b press as a guide to hold the bullet, one uses a bullet guide that makes use of the existing bullet crimp die. Although it sounds complicated, its not. Its simple, quick and effective. For the naysayers out there, a hollowpointed lead bullet shot into sand or water filled milk jugs looks no different than a jacketed hollowpoint. Since the .45 moves at a modest 850 FOS anyway, using soft lead works very well with no leading. I made several sets for friends years ago and they are using them now more than ever due to the scarcity of ammo. Casting your own lead bullets and hollowpointing them gives one the ballistics that yields very little to the modern stuff.

So as not to further complicate the explanation, here are some pics that explain it rather well.

The tool showing the drill and the bushing that sits in top of the crimp die.


The bushing in the crimp die.


How it works.


The final product. Not the best pic, but you get the idea.


Dont be discouraged by people that dont know what they are talking about. Where there is a will, there is a way.
 
#22 ·
Now, im not saying that makeing your own jhp is a safe thing to do, if i were to attempt this i would seperate the bullet from the brass, set the bullet ina jig, drill it out with a drill press not a hand drill, set depth to match a manufactures jhp, smooth any burrs but the bullet back in a press, check depth to make sure its the same as it was before it was driled..take it out to an outdoor range, put the gun in a vice, tie a string to the trigger, back up about 30-40 feet, fire the weapon, check brass for deformations, take gun apart, inspect everything with a fine tooth comb. Send barrel to be xrayed. How do ya think hps were first invented? Alternatly, you could hollow out a fmj, then fill the cavity with new lead, shaped the same as original to prevent feeding issues, called a soft point.
 
#26 ·
So how would one do this with no way to remove the bullet from the case. The idea of drilling a live round sound very very bad
 
#27 ·
Strangely enough, homemade hollowpoints, even if crudely done with inconsistently formed and off-center holes, fly truer than one would think. When I was 16 to 20 years old I played with making hollow points and handloading hollow-based wadcutters backwards. All shot well enough to group decently at 15 yards or so. What didn't work out so well were the hollowpoints. They gave uneven expansion performance for me and I made some wicked gaping hollowpoints.

Of course this was with various non-magnum cartridges like .38 Special and .45 ACP. By the time I gathered in the first magnum revolver I'd gotten over hollowpoints. Besides, the .44 Magnum did provide the expansion if needed.

10thmtn talks sense. Both hollowpoints and jacketed handgun bullets are overrated. It's not what the ammo makers want us to believe but there it is.
 
#28 ·
What movie was that? The guy was basically cutting a "T" across the top of a FMJ. Was it Blue Steel? Maybe the original Red Dawn? I dunno. Somebody was making a batch of "hollow points" and it was totally awesome.

I would still just stick with FMJ until commercially made HP's are found. Especially in the colder months with thick clothing being the norm.
 
#31 ·
So how would one do this with no way to remove the bullet from the case. The idea of drilling a live round sound very very bad
The problem is that lead is soft and to properly hold enough tension on it to keep it from spinning would likely distort it. By using the case, with the bullet already tensioned in place, the case takes the load and keeps it off of the lead. As for detonating a primer to the uninitiated it might seem to be a very,very bad thing, but in reality it is no different than smashing the bullet down in the case and then squeezing the heck out if to crimp it. I've done a gazillion of them with no issues as have countless others.

The other way to hollow-point lead bullets is to cast them with the hollow-point in it. This is fairly easy to do, one just inserts the appropriate sized pin in the lead mold and then casts the bullet. The hollow-point cast bullet works well also, its just a bit more time consuming, to size and lube it.
 
#32 ·
Now if Big Brother banned production of all hollow points tomorrow, you might see a run on DIYers.
:rofl:

We already are. Why do you think the renewed interest?

And, lots of Bubbas are doing it, have been doing it and more are going to learn. Heck, most of them still have all their fingers...:blink:
 
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