Mauser12guy
Active Member
Many rifle bullets are soft point, but we don't see soft points with a hollow... is there a good reason for this?
Surely it could aid expansion?
Surely it could aid expansion?
Could rifle soft points be made with a hollow point ?
- Thread starter Mauser12guy
- Start date
Steff
Well-Known Member
Here‘s one. .30 CALIBER/7.62MM 165 GR. HPBT - Sierra Bullets
It‘s a GameKing hunting bullet with a hollow point.
It‘s a GameKing hunting bullet with a hollow point.
Mauser12guy
Active Member
If im not mistaken, thats a hollow boat tail, so not filled with lead from the front... am I right ?
I am thinking about soft point with a hollow in the lead tip.
Steff
Well-Known Member
If it was filled it couldn‘t be hollow
.But yes, it is a lead core jacketed bullet.
enfieldspares
Well-Known Member
Yes. I used to swage bullets commercially in the 1990s. It requires a "spike" in the die that swages the core into the cup (or that swages the core on an all lead bullet). It isn't therefore an additional stage in the manufacture of the things but that "spike" does sometimes give issues with the bullet ejecting from the die. So it's about inconvenience to (at normal rifle velocities) no actual performance gain. And whilst easy to make a neat job on flat nose or round nose bullets of .30" calibre and above it isn't so easy with very pointed bullets. And as appearance sells bullets that don't "look good" don't sell. I did make at one time closed hollow point bullets. You start with a core that looks like a letter "U" at the end where you swage a normal shaped point. As the point closes it retains below it a cavity. The British .303 Mk III, Mk IV and Mk V was a hollow point design for "savage warfare".
Last edited:
Here's a nice pic of a cross section of a Gameking (r) which shows the construction. I know what you are thinking of - a softpoint that has a hollow tip but still has the lead tip exposed above the copper jacket. I'm not sure such a bullet is in production, but never say never...
Mauser12guy
Active Member
Rory, thanks for the images, i see how thay are made now.Here's a nice pic of a cross section of a Gameking (r) which shows the construction. I know what you are thinking of - a softpoint that has a hollow tip but still has the lead tip exposed above the copper jacket. I'm not sure such a bullet is in production, but never say never...
And yes, that's exactly what I was thinking... I thought the lead point could have a hollow in it... but there may be production issues which make it harder to make as mention above in another post by Enfieldspares.
Last edited:
Mauser12guy
Active Member
Intresting... would you happen to have a link to the full story...?This?
175gn Sierra Prohunter (.323) next to an unaltered one
View attachment 253153
View attachment 253160
Ade8mm
Well-Known Member
Here is the link. (You will need to scroll down to the "Handloading Section" and find the paragraph that talks about Sierra Bullets)
We do
Sierra Gameking come in a hollow point form
In practice you don’t need the rapid expansion that a (lead core) hollow point gives when trying to produce the controlled expansion of a hunting bullet versus the rapid and frangible type of terminal effect from a VMax with its tip out.
Plus all the nerds think they need a G7 BC of 0.3 to shoot 100m…
Hasler ( Italian non lead bullet maker) used to sell there bullets as hollow points with a bag of tips to be fitted by the user
Tips for longer range stability and accuracy
No tips for maximum expansion and wound channel.
They bullets tend to open up much faster and have a tendency to lose their petals due to the sudden expansion rather than a more controlled expansion (relative term happening in microseconds)
Mauser12guy
Active Member
Perhaps that's why most soft points are blunt and rounded at the business end.
I would ask why you might want a bullet that expanded quicker than a V-Max ? Hells bells, at 3100fps a 110grain V-Max is like hitting a deer with a ruddy grenade ! Even the entry wound is a big hole .. and the far side is a right old mess. I loaded a load of them up and range tested them, then I shot 2 CWD's with them ... Now they are fox ammo only because I tend not to want to eat the foxes I shoot.
What a bullet looks like externally means bigger all to how it performed on game ! Ballistic tips ? Come in target bullets and hu ting bullets
Hollow points ? Same as above
Soft points ? Well although only seen on hunting bullets they can be fast fragmenting for varmint or deep penetrating for large game
Hollow points ? Same as above
Soft points ? Well although only seen on hunting bullets they can be fast fragmenting for varmint or deep penetrating for large game
hybridfiat
Well-Known Member
It isn't very well known but, when high speed photography was developed the standard soft point round was filmed and the lead point was observed being 'wiped' off by the high velocity air rushing past the point. Velocities >3000fps.
So although they look good, the soft lead point does nothing in a .222+.
So although they look good, the soft lead point does nothing in a .222+.
Similar threads
