Hollow Points in the raw...

regardless, I love those jacketed bullets man, they are probably the sickest rounds I've ever seen. did you come up with that idea on your own?
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Thanks. I like them, and my family (through their own testing) seems to be sold on them, as well.

I came across a thread on the Castboolits forums a few years ago, where a gentleman was sort of thinking out loud, pondering the feasibility of using a reloading die to draw down .380 Auto cases for use as jackets for .375" bullets. Having just been looking at shoulder dimensions of a bunch of cartridges, for some reason, it just popped into my head that the 7x57mm family generally had shoulder dimensions right around the desired diameter for .44 caliber bullets. And, I already knew that .40 S&W was the preferred case for the job.

I did a little more research, and started scouring the local classifieds for suitable dies. When the 7x57mm Bair Cub dies popped up, they were mine ...and the rest of the tools were already on-hand or fell into place from there. ;)

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Don't get too set on .44 caliber, if you'd rather go for .45 Colt. .40 S&W jackets also work fairly well for .45 caliber bullets. I can't remember what reloading die would give you the correct diameter (if you wanted to try that redneck method), but I do believe there are a few options. Since I started swaging my .44 bullets, I and another member have posted two lists of what dies work for which calibers (and whether the die needs modification), on the Castboolits forums. I, however, can't find either list right now. (It's been a few years... :rolleyes:)

And, don't buy a .40 S&W. All you need is the brass. Everything that I use for my bullets is scrounged - mostly from the desert/mountains, a little bit from ranges, and the odd handful of 'scrap' cases from my father (who owns several .40s).
 
Cool thanks. I alway poke around cat boolits swaging stuff, bit they all seem to use the 3-500$ swaying dies, which would be awesome, and maybe save me in the long run on certain calibers, but if I could just do experimenting with sizing does, that'd be way more reasonable. Thanks
 
The powder coat looks pretty. I would like to know more about the HP mold. I have yet to see one that is reasonably priced. Care to share where you got them? Thanks.
 
I would like to know more about the HP mold. I have yet to see one that is reasonably priced.
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This depends on what you consider to be 'reasonable' because the two sellers of multi cavity hollow point molds charge around $100 for the two cavity versions. There's NOE and MP. NOE is more expensive but you can generally find a mold you want in stock and have it in your hands within a week. MP seems to only do group buys on Cast Boolets, is located overseas, and has been painfully slow about filling orders later.

The good news is that you can buy the mold, cast a bucket full, then sell it for a sizable percentage of the purchase price.

I own 4-5 of the NOE rifle molds and I have justified the initial cost outlay by the realization that the cost of the mold is only equal to about 3-4 boxes of jacketed factory bullets. Every bullet made after that is pure savings.
 
I will vouch for NOE. I have 3 and they are nice molds.
I would like to try an MP but dont want to wait a year or so for a mold.
 
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?184164-Mp-Molds-Mihec-molds-on-hands-Februar-2013
I know the title of the post is for February 2013, but he still had a mold I was looking for in November 2013 off that list in that thread.
Just PM him on Castboolits and ask. He might have one still and you can buy right then.

I personally prefer the hollow point molds I got from MP than the hollow point mold I got from NOE. I will however say that you will get awesome customer support from Al Nelson at NOE. His molds are very nice. Just wish more of them were offered in brass instead of aluminum.
 
NOE is working in brass again. (They had stopped offering brass for a couple± years) The entire catalog isn't available in brass, but as he does new group buys and they move to the regular shelf stock, he is adding 2 and 4-cavs in brass as well as aluminum. I almost always order brass in my Group Buys. :)
 
Just PM him on Castboolits and ask. He might have one still and you can buy right then.
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Not only that, but they he runs a lot of re-runs as well on the more popular ones as well.

I missed out on a group buy for a 180'ish grain .40 cal HP, and in looking through things found they were doing almost the same mold only in a 200'ish grain version. I contacted him and he said it would be no issue to run one of the 180's while he was set up for the new weight.

I'm in no rush to get this one as I don't shoot my 10mm as often as I used to. My bending over and pickin up wayword brass days are slowly being replaced by the opening the cylinder and getting them all in one hand. I must say though when they DO come in, things will certainly change. The only drawback to that one is it throws them 20' in a semi-circle area no matter the load. Well I say that, but who or why would anyone want to shoot a 10mm with .40 loads anyway...:D
 
I have just about an equal number of MiHec and NOE molds. Some, I have one of the same design by both makers (such as the 452423). I had them both out casting at the same time on Wednesday and trying to decide which casts better, and I wasn't able to pick one over the other. :cool:
 
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For those interested in a NOE mold. I got an email with a promo code that is good between 11/30/2014 to 12/7/2014. USE DISCOUNT CODE 29b24182 good for 20% off.
 
Looking to Add a HP mold for my 1911 45acp.

just wondering what the best hardness for the lead is I normally cast with range scrap from a indoor range sense it seems like all the wheel weights are sold before they come off the tires around here. If my lee tester can be trusted I get a range of hardness from 12 to 14 normally. Seems high for range scrap but that's after about 10 different tests.

Looking at the molds from NOE was wondering if the 452 230gr hp with small would be better or the large for feeding in a auto.

Forgot to mention that yes they will be Powder coated also ASBBDt method.
 
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I have a Ruger SR1911 that my hollow point bullets cycle through just fine, But my co-worker has a Sprinfield Armory 1911 that they won't. They get caught up on the feed ramp.
 
I'm running a Taurus pt1911, so far I haven't found anything it wont eat. The nice thing about reloading for yourself is you can always adjust OAL if need to work in your gun.

My buddy hates running some of my plinking loads in his sig 220 cause his recoil spring is so heavy they wont cycle it. After some test runs we came to a happy medium, he buys the powder and ill load for his gun :D or he manually cycles a couple rounds
 
just wondering what the best hardness for the lead is I normally cast with range scrap from a indoor range sense it seems like all the wheel weights are sold before they come off the tires around here. If my lee tester can be trusted I get a range of hardness from 12 to 14 normally. Seems high for range scrap but that's after about 10 different tests.
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The hardness is a factor but so is ductility. You need to determine what your use will be.

Normally my alloy runs between 9 & 12. The velocity determines which to use but the expansion remains about the same.
 
Looks like I know what ill be getting as my next mold. May have to get them for the 40 and 9 also in time
 
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