311 247Gr. FN Hollow Point Moulds

[yondering]

Expansion in sand is meaningless, in respect to what the bullet will do on meat. At the very least, use something wet, like water jugs or wet paper. Even mud is better than sand (although still not a very good test medium).

[DiveR]

Hey just throwing it out there but I just test bullet expansion on animals and if I'm more curious than seeing the impact and it's effect I cut the animal open n recover the projectile. Gives a much better idea of what it does than jugs of water or wet paper

[gds]

Hey just throwing it out there but I just test bullet expansion on animals and if I'm more curious than seeing the impact and it's effect I cut the animal open n recover the projectile. Gives a much better idea of what it does than jugs of water or wet paper

sure. unless said bullet goes completely thru and ends up in never never land.

[bangbangping]

Old thread, but thought I'd add another data point for folks interested in this bullet.

I've found I have stability / precision issues with this bullet if it's too soft. I wanted it fairly hard yet malleable, so I took range scrap from an outdoor pistol range and added 8% tin. Not the cheapest alloy around, but it shoots well, doesn't break apart, and it's about 13.5 BHN.

Here's an example of one fired through water jugs at ~1040 f.p.s.

[gds]

good deal

[Dolomite_Supafly]

Old thread, but thought I'd add another data point for folks interested in this bullet.

I've found I have stability / precision issues with this bullet if it's too soft. I wanted it fairly hard yet malleable, so I took range scrap from an outdoor pistol range and added 8% tin. Not the cheapest alloy around, but it shoots well, doesn't break apart, and it's about 13.5 BHN.

Here's an example of one fired through water jugs at ~1040 f.p.s.

Maybe water drop them to toughen the outside while leaving the middle soft and gooey.

When I decide to cast again I will be using pure lead then powder coat them. I have ~500 left from the last casting session that were cast from pure lead. I do not hunt so my choice to go to pure lead is for consistency.

[yondering]

Old thread, but thought I'd add another data point for folks interested in this bullet.

I've found I have stability / precision issues with this bullet if it's too soft. I wanted it fairly hard yet malleable, so I took range scrap from an outdoor pistol range and added 8% tin. Not the cheapest alloy around, but it shoots well, doesn't break apart, and it's about 13.5 BHN.

Here's an example of one fired through water jugs at ~1040 f.p.s.

bangbangping, I know this is a late reply to your post, but thought I could offer some suggestions.

I've also seen reduced precision with really soft alloy. You could probably cut back your tin to at least 2% or less though, and water quench your bullets after coating. If that range scrap contains antimony (and it should), you should be able to harden it without adding so much tin.

Also, based on your picture, your powder coating isn't doing a very good job; I see a lot of bare lead on the driving bands. I've encountered this from either the wrong powder type, or mixing colors. A better powder that stays intact should give you better accuracy and eliminate buildup in your suppressor, and bore if there is any. Your bullet may be a little undersized too; that looks like skidding in the rifling and possibly a tiny bit of gas cutting at the base and lube grooves.

Look at these for an example of what you should see relative to powder coating on recovered bullets. Some of these were fired into water, most into wood. The dark blue coating is not as tough, so I only use it for subsonic loads, but some of the green and white were high velocity loads.

[bangbangping]

I've also seen reduced precision with really soft alloy. You could probably cut back your tin to at least 2% or less though, and water quench your bullets after coating. If that range scrap contains antimony (and it should), you should be able to harden it without adding so much tin.

Also, based on your picture, your powder coating isn't doing a very good job; I see a lot of bare lead on the driving bands. I've encountered this from either the wrong powder type, or mixing colors. A better powder that stays intact should give you better accuracy and eliminate buildup in your suppressor, and bore if there is any. Your bullet may be a little undersized too; that looks like skidding in the rifling and possibly a tiny bit of gas cutting at the base and lube grooves.

Well, I had my alloy content analyzed since that post and it's nowhere near 8% tin. Not sure if I made a stupid math error or bought some "tin" that was mostly lead. The alloy is:
Pb 93.9%
Sn 3.3%
Sb 2.1%
Cu 0.6%

Looking at the content of some of my other alloys, I think the Cu came from some 50/50 (that wasn't) solder I bought off eBay. I'm not having any accuracy issues, and don't want to quench because that adds yet another variable into the equation. As for being undersized, they're sized to .311.

I am concerned about the coating and have another post about that. It is getting scraped off at the transition from neck to throat. Hadn't thought about mixing colors, which is exactly what I did. Thanks. I just got in some new powder from a guy on castboolits that gets good reviews. Going to give that a try and see what happens.

[yondering]

If you want the easy button, try RAL 6018 from Powder Buy the Pound; it just plain works and will eliminate any of your powdercoating woes.

Regarding coating scraped off at the chamber neck, that can happen from too soft an alloy, although yours doesn't look terribly soft. I wouldn't bother water quenching for subsonic loads, but it helps a lot for supers and can prevent the scraping issue. If an alloy is too soft for the pressure, it can swell up in that short area between case neck and chamber, causing the scraping.

It can also happen from just sizing too large, and will give symptoms similar to sizing too small.