Hello all, my inquiry is more about modifying a bullet. I bought a box of 50 of the Speer (.358) 250 gr. spire point bullet. A factory load has a 220 gr round nose soft for deer or bear. I tried looking of a round nose and the 250 would be too heavy and too pointy for a tube magazine of my lever action. Would it be alright if I use a lathe and trim the tip into round and at the same time cut the weight down to 220 gr. I need some advice on this. Thanks all.
Reloading 35 Remington
- Thread starter m1garand
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
My advise is not to mess up the bullet. If the spire points are not suitable due to your tube magazine you have two options. First is to put them on the shelf and load some round nose or flat nose bullets and the second is to carry your rifle like a 2-shooter; one round in the chamber and one round in the magazine. Once you worked up a load for the 250 gr bullet, I am reasonably sure it would shoot well in your .35.
You're right to conclude that the 250gr is too heavy. The 35 Rem is a small cartridge and that bullet takes up a lot of space - you'd be lucky to hit 1800 fps at sane pressures. You also pointed out that the spire point is a problem in a tube magazine.
Your idea of lathe turning the bullets to a round nose 220gr is ambitious, but not practical. Your time might be free, but you'll never get all bullets excatly the same, and by the time you've developed loads, you'll use up a bunch of the 50 and then need more. Do you really want to get hooked on that process.
Sell them and buy some 220gr or lighter round nose.
Your idea of lathe turning the bullets to a round nose 220gr is ambitious, but not practical. Your time might be free, but you'll never get all bullets excatly the same, and by the time you've developed loads, you'll use up a bunch of the 50 and then need more. Do you really want to get hooked on that process.
Sell them and buy some 220gr or lighter round nose.
Since you apparently already have a lathe, you might consider making a hardened trim die in order to get all bullets uniform. Basically a hardened tube so that you can remove 95% of the material in the lathe then put the slug in the die and file the last 5% off. The problem is not can you turn the points off of the slugs in the lathe, but how can you do it quickly and uniformly.
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
"...use a lathe and..." No. Cutting a bullet will most likely cause the lead core to come out and leave the jacket in the barrel.
You don't need 220's for deer or bear either. Hornady and Sierra make a 200 grain RN. Speer makes a 180 gr FP Hot-Cor.
You don't need 220's for deer or bear either. Hornady and Sierra make a 200 grain RN. Speer makes a 180 gr FP Hot-Cor.
I guess my idea was quite crazy, but Sunray is right, it might expose the lead and peel off some of the copper jacketing before it even leaves the barrel. I'll take Boomer's advice....use just 2 reloaded ammo. Thanks for the tip. Cheers 
)
)
Yes, you could do it. because the bulet has a full jacket on the bottom, there is no danger of leaving the jacet in the barrel.
But, the bullet has a heavier jacket than a bullet designed for a 35 rem. It would not open very well.
My 35 rems work very well with the Speer 220.
if i can't get them, I buy the Siera 225 and clip the pointed soft point and then file the end flat, so the OAL can be short, and then I load 2. That is one more than usually needed....
But, the bullet has a heavier jacket than a bullet designed for a 35 rem. It would not open very well.
My 35 rems work very well with the Speer 220.
if i can't get them, I buy the Siera 225 and clip the pointed soft point and then file the end flat, so the OAL can be short, and then I load 2. That is one more than usually needed....
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
My view is a little different. As long as the barrel will stabilize the bullet, I don't think the bullet is too heavy. Velocity is likely going to be between 1500 and 1800 fps, but the .35 isn't normally a long range round, so the difference in velocity is of little importance, except that as pointed out, expansion of the bullet at this low velocity might not result in the upset we like to see. Every weakness has a flip-side though, and in this case, the lack of expansion can result in very deep penetration. I think the bullets will shoot, and I think the performance of game would be adequate though not exceptional. If nothing else, work up a load and shoot up the bullets just to see what can be done. If they don't shoot, you don't have to buy any more. If they do, load your rifle like a two-shooter and enjoy what others would overlook.
A useful discussion with some good points and some "thinking outside the box", but at the end of the day, for hunting within 200 yds, you can fill your mag with a store-bought 200gr RN and have no concerns about performance on deer-sized game (expansion and energy). I used the 200gr Hornady in my Rem Model 8.
If "Wildcatters" started coming up with different cartridges and we've benefitted from their creative ideas ....well I think I'll give some of them a try. I'll send pics of every step that I'll do up until trying out on a target sheet. Cheers.
