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Old October 12, 2008, 12:43 PM   #1
nra_guns_winner
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RedNeck .45 Exploding bullet

Grandpa died not to long ago and in his reloading stuff were a few .45 auto cast lead bullets. I saw a few with maybe a 1/4 in ball bearing in the end. They however were cast cold, this was easy to see because the lead was not evenly formed around the tip where the ball must have sat in the mould. The other interesting bullets that caught my eye had some type of primer installed flush in the end of the lead bullet. So has anyone else ever done this? I would have liked to shot a few of these at a hard surface to see what would happen.
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Old October 12, 2008, 01:18 PM   #2
Mike Irwin
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Winchester used to offer .25 ACP ammo with a ball in the nose. Supposed to promote expansion. As far as I know, didn't do squat.

In the 1800s Hoxie Bullet Company (or something like that) offered bullets with cavities in the nose into which you would insert a .22 Short blank. These were the larger buffalo rifle style bullets.

The idea was that they would promote expansion.

In practice, they reduced expansion and increased the liklihood that the animal would only be wounded.
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Old October 12, 2008, 03:46 PM   #3
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I cleaned a little lady out of reloading equipment about 4 months ago. Her husband had loaded some 44 mag with primers in the HP. He's now on sabatical with the Feds for the next ten years. It's illegal to make explosive ammo which is what this guy went to jail for. I found some of his loads with the primers in the HP. He also had short clips of baling wire in 44 Mag shotshells topped off with mercury. Needless to say it got buried. I would throw away grandpas experiments before you get into trouble.
Actually, it reminds me of a story. About 8 years ago a guy was hunting out around Del Rio. He saw and killed a black bear. He was so proud! So proud he loaded it in his truck and with tailgate down, paraded the truck and bear around town. And then a game warden came up and asked if he had shot the bear. With a broad smile he said YES! He should get out of jail in two years from now. They are highly protected.
Just because you can do it doesn't make it legal and ignorance of the law is no defense.
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Old October 12, 2008, 05:15 PM   #4
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BS ALERT!!! I'm sure if you check with the "little lady" you would find the husband was sent away for something entirely different! When I was working for a hardware/sporting goods store the owner had at least a couple of boxes of bullets with primers in the hollow point. It too was a commercial experiment that didn't pan out!
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Old October 12, 2008, 09:31 PM   #5
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Back in the mid-80's, I bought a 50 round box of 357magnum ammo that had 2 70gr round balls one behind the other in it. At 50ft, they would hit the target about 4 inches apart. Store bought ammo. I have never seen it again.
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Old October 13, 2008, 10:46 PM   #6
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Just about every possible combination of frangible and/or shot has been tried at one time or the other and I'm thoroughly convinced they are all a bunch of hooey. Even the commercial loads on the market today are poor penetrators and anybody who tried to hunt or defend himself with them would be sorely disappointed. (Exempting shotguns, of course) If you are using shot in a handgun cartridge in the PRC you could end up being charged for having a shotgun with a barrel shorter than the legal length. It don't make any sense all the way around from where I sit.
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Old October 14, 2008, 05:36 AM   #7
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I remember many years ago some fellows around home got the idea of sharpening the point of their .32 auto bullets to give better penetration. Everyone knows that a sharp point will penetrate better than a round point so just take out your pocket knife a do a conversion. This went on for a few weeks until one Saturday night at the joint one of these geniuses decided he needed to use his .32 and shot another fellow in the mouth. That 70 grain bullet reduced to a 35 grain hit the fellow in the teeth and knocked a couple of them loose. He spit the bullet out in his hand and looked at it. The shooter started running with that big fellow following close behind.
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Old October 15, 2008, 09:32 AM   #8
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it's gettin' deep in here!
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Old October 15, 2008, 10:14 AM   #9
Mike Irwin
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"Back in the mid-80's, I bought a 50 round box of 357magnum ammo that had 2 70gr round balls one behind the other in it. At 50ft, they would hit the target about 4 inches apart. Store bought ammo. I have never seen it again."

Yep, multiball.

An answer to a question that was never asked, and utterly worthless.
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Old October 15, 2008, 10:41 AM   #10
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Quote:
it's gettin' deep in here!
I'm just telling the true stories. Wait until I start with the exaggerations and outright lies. There were some that I didn't believe until the sheriff confirmed them in court.

That is like the fellow with the .25 auto in his back pocket that went off while driving the tractor. Until I saw the hole in the tractor seat I didn't believe him either.
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Old October 15, 2008, 11:15 AM   #11
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Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity knows no bounds.

I don't doubt every dumb mistake, mishandling, and outright irresponsible thing imaginable has been demonstrated with a gun at one time or another. Where it hasn't produced a Darwin Award candidate or a hapless victim it has been because someone had enough blind dumb luck to live through it. I once read of a fellow shot point blank in the forehead with a .25, only to have it deflect off his skull and skirt around under his skin and come to a rest over his ear. A short, loose bore on a cheap gun and a hard head were all the luck required to achieve this improbable result.

As a friend of mine likes to say, don't try these things at home. If you ever feel the temptation to do something really idiotic, rest assured that some other idiot will try it for you. Just relax and wait to read about it.
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Old October 15, 2008, 11:47 AM   #12
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I've heard of this but never tried it.

Don't take it wrong, but does anyone have any experience? So far all I see is a bunch of silly hand-wringing about how dangerous this could be.
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Old October 15, 2008, 02:41 PM   #13
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I heard some guy talking about inserting a lighter flint into the hollowpoint cavity to create some kind of super ammo once. I blew it off because this same guy had an artificial leg from the knee down because his homemade morter blew up and a chunk of 2 1/2 inch schedule 80 pipe became shrapnel.

People do alot of stupid things.
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Old October 15, 2008, 04:16 PM   #14
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Quote:
Don't take it wrong, but does anyone have any experience? So far all I see is a bunch of silly hand-wringing about how dangerous this could be.
Thank goodness most people sit around hand-wringing about how dangerous it could be rather than trying it. I am sure that if you look hard enough you can find someone that did try it. It's like being the test case for possible repeal of a certain gun law. I want someone to test it out in court but not me. Search youtube, I am sure some idiot has tried it and posted it there.
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Old October 16, 2008, 03:13 PM   #15
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Yep. I remember working at an area gunshop in the late '70s and seeing the 'exploding' 357 ammo. The few folks that tried it stated it didn't do much.

Later, when I began casting, I got the great idea to toss some .45 JHP bullets in the pot and melt the core out of them, leaving just the jacket. As I recall, I used the Speer 200 and 250 gr JHP. A 209 shotshell primer fit perfectly in the front ogive. Insert some #12 shot, a pinch of black powder, , finish with the shotshell primer and a bit of crazy glue, load into .45 Colt brass, stick in S&W Triplelock converted from .455 and voila' - exploding bullets!! (I was 19-20)
They did make a visible pop/poof on impact, but were largely a disappointment. I wanted to see the earth crack open a little
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