Hollow pointer

[armoredman]

Anyone ever used the Forster Hollow Pointer accessory? Will it work on other trimmers beside the Forster?

[hornady]

I had thought about a hollow pointer for cast rifle bullets, but went out to Mid-ways site and read the reviews, not very glowing. The pistol one did get better reviews.

[armoredman]

That's what I would use it on, if possible, for 9mm. I'd like to use a HP mould, but a good one is VERY expensive. This is cheaper, and hopefully effective.

[TXGunNut]

Sounds pretty tedious. You know you want a fancy HP mould, go for it!

[snuffy]

Here's something to drool over. But you probably already know about Miha's stuff. Anyway he's sold out so you can at least dream, that don't cost nuthin.

http://www.mp-molds.com/shopping/pgm...tion.php?id=16

As for the hollow pointer, I'd think it would be labor intensive to say the least. Also, just drilling a straight hole in the nose of a boolit does NOT mean it will expand. Look at most HP bullets, most have a tapered cavity. It's hard but not impossible to make a tapered hole. Drilling lead requires some lubrication, the lead will stick to the drill and gobb up.

[GP100man]

armoredman

I have a 356402 SC you can get at a good price & you can have Buckshot over on CB forum HP it for ya for $28 + shippin .

It be slow but it would work for ya , & once ya get the rythem going ya can crank out a decent amout in a sitting .

The 356402 drops close to 360 though , but the nose is too long for revolvers .

& it takes small Lyman handles , I`ve never tried Lee 6banger handles on it , but will ifin ya think ya mite .


Rattle that around for a few days & give a holler.

GP

[reloader28]

A friend of mine bought the rifle and pistol hollow pointers from Forster and then never used them cause they wouldnt fit his trimmer. It was to short. He gave them to me. I'm not about to turn down something for free, so I took them.

I have an RCBS trimmer and the pilots have a smaller shaft diameter. I put the actual bit in the drill and spun it while holding a file on the shaft to mill it down and fit in my trimmer. It sounds complicated, but its very easy, and cheaper than buying a new Forster trimmer.
As for the actual HP process, its really not bad. Especially if you dont have a HP mold but want some HP bullets. Plus you can make ANY bullet a HP. Just a drop of oil on the drill bit will make it drill WW alloy like butter.


Anyway. I've played around some with it and am very happy. My 95gr RCBS SP in 243 shoot 3/4" at 100yds and with the 1/16" hollow point, it makes a very wicked varmint bullet with WW alloy. Very noticeable difference over the solid nose.

I recently used the 1/8" on my Lyman 9mm cone nose bullets. I thought that with the pointyness of the nose it would collapse on itself and make a flatter bullet. When I tested them from my 380 at 20' in water jugs I was surprised. It didnt collapse at all. It wouldve been an almost perfect mushroom with a touch more speed. According to the book they should be going around 750fps. I sized the bullet .356 and after stopping halfway into the 5th jug, the nose measured .390 from a .165 meplat. Tho I didnt chrono them yet, I am going to try some faster loads and see what happens.

I had actually thought the bullet lost a couple grains of lead when I first shot it, but found out it retained 100% weight. These bullets were 50/50/2% alloy with a plain base gas check.

I can see where a tapered hollow would expand faster or more violently, but I'm VERY happy with the results I've been getting. I'm going to use the 1/16" HP on my 180gr RCBS SP from my 30-06 this year for deer. I drilled them 1/4" deep in 50/50/2% alloy and I think theyre going to work good. I've also been told that a bit of soft wax in the hole makes it work even better.

Below is a picture that I put on another post a couple weeks ago on castboolits.
The first one is untouched, then a loaded and HP bullet, then the results from a 380 at around 700-750fps.

[armoredman]

GP100man, I'll think that one over.
reloader28, that's what i was thinking of. I use wheelweight lead, so I don't know what expansion I would get. It's a thought. Nice picture, love to see what they do with a little more juice behind them!

[Rangefinder]

FYI, you'll have to cut your WW with at least half dead-soft. Otherwise it will just blow the nose apart with the back portion continuing on in "soup can" fashion.

One other way you can HP by drill-method is to chuck a bit into your case trimmer. Don't expect top-notch results on anything of this sort though.

[reloader28]

Rangefinder is right. The WW will come apart much more than 50/50/2%.
Thats why it works so good for varmint bullets with a HP about 1/2" deep. It works like a slower V-Max.

The Forster shank is bigger, thats why I had to mill mine down with a file to make it fit my trimmer. You can use a 5/32" drill bit in the RCBS. But like Rangefinder said, its hard to center it without a cone like the Forster. I bought an extra 1/8" Forster HP'er and drilled that cone to match my 5/32 bit and it dont work to bad now. Now I have 3 sizes.

[armoredman]

snuffy, that's just wrong, beautiful mold...out of stock...

I would have to see what it did in water jugs, but I could alloy the melt easily enough.

[TXGunNut]

Just like the G-men, armoredman, we're here to help.

[DocHoliday]

We are actually trying to get a group buy together for the 9mm mould right now. Over on castboolits forum. But it will bs a four cavity so the price will be higher.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=126682

[10 Spot Terminator]

I have the Forster HP accessory.

Not sure if it would fit other lathes as the neck pilots dont interchange between them and this is where the pointer bits chuck up. Yes it is slow going but does a good job for me at least. Knew what I was getting into when I bought this tool as only hollow point rounds I hunt with. For higher volume DEFINITELY go to a mould that drops HP's right from the start.

10 Spot

[armoredman]

Thanks, 10-spot, working on getting a mold hollow pointed.