Thread: 22lr Resizing/Hollow Pointing Tool

Originally Posted by No.3

I don't think it needs to be a very deep hollow point, just deep enough to start the upset... I wouldn't as an example be looking to drive the hollow point into the driving band section, just deep enough to let it do it's job.

I suspect the profile with the step between the truncated cone and the driving band section is what will be the difficult bit, it might require something to be firmly grabbing the case and pill and go from there.

I'm going to have to disagree on the depth of the hollow point. I spent a bit of time yesterday playing around with the really long narrow hollowpoint that I was getting inconsistent results with and found that by adding a small 45degree flair to the nose of the HP, I got excellent expansion on all 5 rounds I tested. The projectile expanded up to around 0.460" and the mushroom curled all the way past the base of the projectile, so the whole thing was maybe 4mm thick. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos and am now at work.

The downside to this deep hollow point is that it works the projectile a lot and I'm finding not all brands can handle it, so a smaller hollow point with a little less expansion is probably more practical in the real world.

Originally Posted by SixtyTen

I'm going to have to disagree on the depth of the hollow point. I spent a bit of time yesterday playing around with the really long narrow hollowpoint that I was getting inconsistent results with and found that by adding a small 45degree flair to the nose of the HP, I got excellent expansion on all 5 rounds I tested. The projectile expanded up to around 0.460" and the mushroom curled all the way past the base of the projectile, so the whole thing was maybe 4mm thick. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos and am now at work.

The downside to this deep hollow point is that it works the projectile a lot and I'm finding not all brands can handle it, so a smaller hollow point with a little less expansion is probably more practical in the real world.

The 'ideal' mushroom shape is a flat front not rounded. The flat creates a greater radiating shockwave or 'punch' effect

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

The 'ideal' mushroom shape is a flat front not rounded. The flat creates a greater radiating shockwave or 'punch' effect

Yep, and I am thinking this is why the Powerpoint 'truncated cone' profile was/is so successful - a relatively thin wall at the tip of the pill combined with a very flat tip profile along with a wide hollow point that goes back to the parallel 'driving band' section. It's almost a similar profile to the 'controlled expansion' tapered projectiles which were very thin at the tip tapering internally all the way back to start the upsetting and give a good wide curl that followed the rifling profile...

Originally Posted by No.3

Yep, and I am thinking this is why the Powerpoint 'truncated cone' profile was/is so successful - a relatively thin wall at the tip of the pill combined with a very flat tip profile along with a wide hollow point that goes back to the parallel 'driving band' section. It's almost a similar profile to the 'controlled expansion' tapered projectiles which were very thin at the tip tapering internally all the way back to start the upsetting and give a good wide curl that followed the rifling profile...

You are right, that flat tip profile must make a big difference the same as a non hollowpoint with a big metplat.
For subs, it does seem that those Ausi winny projectiles have the perfect design ratios. What surprises me is that they have not been used as a scale model for larger diameter projectiles / molds. I would love some in 44 and 458

Originally Posted by SixtyTen

I'm going to have to disagree on the depth of the hollow point. I spent a bit of time yesterday playing around with the really long narrow hollowpoint that I was getting inconsistent results with and found that by adding a small 45degree flair to the nose of the HP, I got excellent expansion on all 5 rounds I tested. The projectile expanded up to around 0.460" and the mushroom curled all the way past the base of the projectile, so the whole thing was maybe 4mm thick. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos and am now at work.

The downside to this deep hollow point is that it works the projectile a lot and I'm finding not all brands can handle it, so a smaller hollow point with a little less expansion is probably more practical in the real world.

Yep - I think we are in agreement just the way to get there is the discussion. Once the projectile has started upsetting, it's away and going provided that there is still something in front of the projectile to expend the energy that it takes to cause the lead to flow. Which in the case of a rabbit might not be much! What I'm saying is that you don't need a deep hollow point for expansion, the tip profile is what does it. A narrow hollow point with a 45deg flare at the leading edge does the same job as a fatter shorter hollow point, the target isn't fussy and it's not a fashion statement! I suspect that there will be a 'magic ratio' of tip diameter to hollow point diameter that gets good upset and expansion going, and if we could magically discover the ratio we'd be away. As you discovered, the more you work the lead especially in harder lead alloys the harder it is to work with the deeper hollow points, - so my personal thing from the little bit of pissing around I did before I gave up and just paid for Powerpoint is that the 'minimum you can do which gets the maximum results you can with ease' is the way to go.

Originally Posted by No.3

Yep - I think we are in agreement just the way to get there is the discussion. Once the projectile has started upsetting, it's away and going provided that there is still something in front of the projectile to expend the energy that it takes to cause the lead to flow. Which in the case of a rabbit might not be much! What I'm saying is that you don't need a deep hollow point for expansion, the tip profile is what does it. A narrow hollow point with a 45deg flare at the leading edge does the same job as a fatter shorter hollow point, the target isn't fussy and it's not a fashion statement! I suspect that there will be a 'magic ratio' of tip diameter to hollow point diameter that gets good upset and expansion going, and if we could magically discover the ratio we'd be away. As you discovered, the more you work the lead especially in harder lead alloys the harder it is to work with the deeper hollow points, - so my personal thing from the little bit of pissing around I did before I gave up and just paid for Powerpoint is that the 'minimum you can do which gets the maximum results you can with ease' is the way to go.

I'm going to add to that, what I've observed with the few Superspeed projectiles I've recovered is that the bullet tip was collapsed inwards, closing the tip which then upset back towards the body of the pill. There was 'expansion' but way less than the Powerpoint style pill - and this surprised me considering the bullets were the same brand and probably from the same plant and batch/hardness of lead. What I put it down to, is the tip profile of the Superspeed pills were rounded leaving the edges of the hollow point taking the force of impact inwards when compared to the flat tip or one with a 45deg cone on the hollowpoint. If that makes sense???