bullet upside down
- Thread starter pats
- Start date
I have been loading 405gr .458" cast bullets backwards into 45-70 cases for years.
I started when I first got into experimenting/making silent loads in my 22" barreled T/C Contender carbine in 45-70.
A few grains of a fast handgun powder held in place with a filler, bullet seated backwards deeply into the case looks like a semi-wadcutter.
When fired the hammer hitting was louder than the shot, could get less than 2" groups @ 25 yards using iron sights and the bullet doing just under 300fps would go thru a 2X4.
The idea of seating the bullet backwards comes from looking at a water drop the fat heavy end is always down supposedly cuts thru air resistance better.
Sure smacks when the bullets hit...
I started when I first got into experimenting/making silent loads in my 22" barreled T/C Contender carbine in 45-70.
A few grains of a fast handgun powder held in place with a filler, bullet seated backwards deeply into the case looks like a semi-wadcutter.
When fired the hammer hitting was louder than the shot, could get less than 2" groups @ 25 yards using iron sights and the bullet doing just under 300fps would go thru a 2X4.
The idea of seating the bullet backwards comes from looking at a water drop the fat heavy end is always down supposedly cuts thru air resistance better.
Sure smacks when the bullets hit...
DON'T FIRE THAT ROUND. Had a friend load hollow-base wadcutters upside down, looking for an effective "Hollowpoint." The problem was that with a standard powder charge, and the "base" of the wadcutter sitting right on the powder, the case volume was reduced dramatically. Firing exhibited extreme pressures and he had difficulty opening the cylinder.
I always used upside down 148gr HBWC'ers loaded on top of 3 gr of Unique in a .38 Special.They doubled in diameter at 800-900 fps even at 100 yards through one side of a 45 gallon drum leaving a welt on the other side.Out of a 4" model 10 revolver.Like the old British .455 Webley manstopper they used for relaxing Zulu's.Also popular with US Border Patrol in their 2" snubbies.All expansion and energy tranfered in the target not wasted.Ivory hunters used to pull and reverse SP ammo when they ran short of FMJ's and they worked fine.Turkey loads .222 Rem @1500fps + 50 gr bullet loaded backwards didn't wreck meat..........Harold
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- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Not much more to add to Shelldrake's post; except to sound like a $m@rt@$$ and mention the Misznay–Schardin effect...
In my opinion the penetration effectiveness from a relatively low velocity projectile being enhanced due to a change in shape does not reflect shaped charge, explosively formed penetrator, or self forming fragment technology that requires velocities in excess of 20,000 fps to achieve optimum results. Shaped charge theory was credited to Charles E. Munroe who did work in this area in the late 1880s, but basically discovered that when an explosive charge was fired over a coin placed on a steel surface, the image of the coin appeared in mirror image relief in the steel. This resulted in experiments making explosives in all sorts of shapes then later with all sorts of liners of various shapes and materials over the following century. Formulas were established and special alloys were developed to create the optimal shaped charge liner. Flutes were added so that conical shaped charges fired from rifled barrels could counter the rotational forces of which would cause the jet to break up. My own experiments have been less ambitious, but have resulted in the complete penetration of an old crusher jaw 4" thick, but I am limited due to the relatively low velocity of the commercial explosives (18,000 fps) I have access to. Natural Resources Canada refused my request for a permit to purchase military grade explosives but it was interesting to try. They developed linear charges at DRE Suffield that will easily cut steel in excess of 10" thick. These charges looks like jerry cans with a V shaped base which is the steel liner. There is commercial applications to this technology in the explosive welding of unlike metals, explosive hardening of steel, shaped charge tamping of steel furnaces in steel mills, oil well work, and demolition work with linear charges.
Why a reversed bullet might penetrate steel better than a point on bullet I believe has to do with the lead core which might act as a lubricant making the passage of the bullet more efficient, similar in concept to a teflon coated bullet. The bullet jacket would keep the lead core focused on the point of impact, where as when fired point on the lead core would extrude through the base of the bullet and the mass of the bullet, and effective penetration would be lost.
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Two more benefits of loading a bullet backwards is that:
(1) Subsonic rifle loads may be more stable with the bullet loaded backwards
(2) The blunt end produces a larger wound channel, even if there is no expansion.
http://members.shaw.ca/cronhelm/762ProjectRifle.html
(1) Subsonic rifle loads may be more stable with the bullet loaded backwards
(2) The blunt end produces a larger wound channel, even if there is no expansion.
http://members.shaw.ca/cronhelm/762ProjectRifle.html
I have been loading 405gr .458" cast bullets backwards into 45-70 cases for years.
I started when I first got into experimenting/making silent loads in my 22" barreled T/C Contender carbine in 45-70.
A few grains of a fast handgun powder held in place with a filler, bullet seated backwards deeply into the case looks like a semi-wadcutter.
When fired the hammer hitting was louder than the shot, could get less than 2" groups @ 25 yards using iron sights and the bullet doing just under 300fps would go thru a 2X4.
The idea of seating the bullet backwards comes from looking at a water drop the fat heavy end is always down supposedly cuts thru air resistance better.
Sure smacks when the bullets hit...
Do you have a recipe that you can share?
Thanks!
