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
