Cheap Hollow Points for my 38Spl.

[Ganderite]

I loaded some Hollow Base Wad Cutters upside down in a 38 Spl case. These are the plated ones from CanPro, purchased from Budget Supply. About $10/100, I think. Much cheaper than jacketed HP bullets.

The bullets are seated with the bullet upside down and protruding as far as possible, without bottoming in the chamber. If I seated them flush, I would have to reduce the powder charge.

I used 6.0 gr of Power Pistol. This generated 940 fps in a 4” barrel and 800 fps in a 2” snubbie.

To test the bullet, I placed 3 milk jugs in a row. I shot with the 2" snubbie, at about 10 feet. The first jug blew apart. The bullet went through the water of the second jug and hit the back wall hard enough to leave a clear indentation on the wall of the third jug. So it penetrated 10” of water.

Expansion is impressive. 0.750” average. Expanded weight 145 gr.

 

[bigi]

Can we see picture of the loaded cartridge? Thx

 

[Spawn-Inc]

I have accidently loaded them upside down before and thought they would work great as a hp, also read it toothy . It's been a while, But I believe I kept the same charge of 2.8gr of Bullseye. If I try it again, I will be working up a new load though.

 

[tiriaq]

Darn near 50 years ago, I was loading hollow based wadcutters backwards in .38 S&W cases for a little 4" Colt Police Positive I had. Worked fine.

 

[Ganderite]

Can we see picture of the loaded cartridge? Thx

Loaded, it looks like this. Note that with the cavity facing up, the case volume is much smaller. I let the bullet stick out of the case to try to compensate for lost air space.

I suspect the 6.0 gr load of Power Pistol is hot. OK for a modern 38, but I am going to make some at 5.5 gr for my airweight snubbies.

 

[357_fan]

?? So what is the point of doing that? Are you shooting something other than paper?

 

[Spawn-Inc]

?? So what is the point of doing that? Are you shooting something other than paper?

because you/we can, why not do it?

i made some up with BDX HBWC's and 2.7gr of accurate No2 in 357 mag cases (i used a 38 load) and seated them flush. although i won't be testing there expansion

 

[bigi]

Loaded, it looks like this. Note that with the cavity facing up, the case volume is much smaller. I let the bullet stick out of the case to try to compensate for lost air space.

I suspect the 6.0 gr load of Power Pistol is hot. OK for a modern 38, but I am going to make some at 5.5 gr for my airweight snubbies.

Thx I was loading BDX LHBWC and after 400 I had enough, very messy with the lead but nice holes. Using Clay 2.4gr good up to 50yards in my M28-2.

 

[Ganderite]

?? So what is the point of doing that? Are you shooting something other than paper?

Yes. Blowing up jugs of water.

 

[nanuk]

makes soup of crows on the hoof!

 

[mbogo3]

It was a Border patrol load for concealed carry published by Skeeter Skeleton. They will leave a welt on a steel 45gal drum after penetrating one side at 100 yards but you can see them in flight.

 

[7Sagebrush7]

I came across an old partial box of Speer LHBWC when I was cleaning out the corners of my closet. They do make a mess of a milk jug when loaded upside down over 5 grains of HS-6.

 

[sunray]

"...Hollow Base Wad Cutters upside down..." Been done for eons. Doesn't make much difference as HBWC's are usually swaged out of soft lead. And a lead bullet will mushroom substantially anyway, if driven fast enough. Of course, that'll give you leading.

 

[Ganderite]

I was not surprised it mushroomed. Water is a very hard substance to shoot into. What surprised me was that the bullet held together quite well.

I have seen Wadcutters shot into ballistic gel. They penetrate very well. But never seen an upside down into gel. Gel is easier on a bullet than water, so I would expect pretty good performance.

As for the jugs, "They blowed up real good!"

 

[44Bore]

They do well on water jugs, etc, but are not the best for defensive loads. I recall an article from many years ago that tested them in a variety of expansion mediums and they found that sometimes the soft lead would deform and not expand or would pack with material (cloth) and act like a solid. They also blow up cantaloupe and water melons quite nicely. They indicated that the actual shape and size of the hollow cavity affected its performance.

 

[mbogo3]

AKA "flying ashtrays" or the .455 Webley manstopper load..............Harold

 

[nanuk]

would moving the CG back to the rear enhance accuracy?

I have a box of HBWC somewhere that I bought 20 years ago... BDX rings a bell (also a box of TC lead bullets.

I think they are HARD,and as I"d be shooting them out of an H&R Handi, and they may not be large enough, so may lead like a pencil