Hollow point .30 cal, worth pursuing?

[aric84]

You could try filing a few of those 314299's flat and see how the accuracy is. You can also hollow point them once loaded with a lathe type case trimmer. Forster makes an adapter for thiers but the Lyman ones can use a small drill bit in the hole for the pilot as well. Pretty sure most of them work the same way.

Good point. Being a Machinist by trade and having a shop at home, I can set up a collet block on my mill and hammer out
hollow points by the hundreds in a short time. Maybe I'll give it a shot soon and do some testing in wet newsprint.

 

[hometownhero]

Lead bullets really don't expand much, even with 50/50. That is the reason people generally say use a lead bullets with a large meplat for hunting.

I use a mix in my 9mm the hp and even the tc mould expand to over half an inch at 1100-1200 fps.

 

[jethunter]

I've played with several different hp cast rifle bullets and my conclusion was I wouldn't bother with them for hunting. They simply don't work reliably in rifle bullets at rifle velocities. A wide meplat flat point cast bullet will hit hard and penetration will be far more reliable.

 

[theshootist]

Great discussion in this thread. Any updates to testing hollow points in the 308 Winchester. Really looking forward to the end of winter and getting outside to do some experimenting myself..

 

[slug]

The old timers would often place a bit of foil between the blocks before closing them. About 1/4 inch into the nose.
After casting, smooth off the foil with the thumbnail.
On striking something, the nose will start to open.

 

[hunter64]

Here is something to read for Handloader Magazine https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/PDF/hl260partial1.pdf

 

[migrant hunter]

I shot a few deer with the .308 using the Lee .312 160, sized .311, over 30 gr H4895, for 2050fps.
At 150 yds, they looked just like they'd been shot with jacketed bullets. Just don't use to hard an alloy.

 

[shootsblanks]

i was looking into getting hollow point mold for awhile but my noe 311-199fn preforms perfectly on deer at 1700fps with acww, a wide meplat preforms perfectly and is easier to cast than a hp, squirrel up through deer with nothing but cast bullets for the last 5 years and have never been "under gunned" with anything blunt or flat nosed that i have tried. too be fair i have only used 160+gr bullets going 1650+fps on deer

 

[Al Bear]

I used 338 cal 225 gr HP (noe mould) to take a nice deer at 60 yards. Quartering shot so the bullet shattered the shoulder blade and 4 ribs ... and was recovered in the opposite ham. It lost about 100 grains going through the bones ... and I wasn’t crazy about that. I’ll switch to dimple-point or FP next year to see if I can reduce lead splatter in the meat.