Henry Rifle Forums

That light bulb went off in my head last night! Have been looking for some .45 Colt bullets at 200 gr. lead hollow point for revolver use and was examining my 230 gr. loads I had mainly for use in my 1858 Remington revolver. These are loaded with 5.5 gr. of Red Dot and shoot very well at most likely Cowboy Action type speeds 750-850 FPS. haven't run them thru the chrony yet.
Now the idea, being these are of a soft swaged lead, was to setup one up in the lathe and machine the hollow point cavity getting depth for a finished 200 gr. bullet weight. The resulting COL is 1.500 which is .085 shorter than they were loaded at due to trimming back the head for a flat. Finished weight came out at 200.3 gr. !
Made up a couple and will go to the range for a water jug test and see if they show any expansion or just break up.
Either way it will be a fun little project! Will fire them thru my Ruger Blackhawk since it is an easy revolver to setup the Magneto Speed unit on.

If all works well they could be a nice SD load ! I can most likely load them up a bit hotter if needed to the upper standard Colt 45 level depending on speed recorded. No need to run these much over 850 FPS being softer lead. These bullets are Speer and were for .45 ACP that a friend gave me some years ago. They have a special Speer lube mix in the lead.

Will be looking for the report. That is a lot of work to lathe every bullet. Isn’t retirement great!

a lot of work indeed .... seeing how they handle impact should be very interesting .... looking forward to your coming reports

Well wasn't too bad to do a couple for a test. It's easier on the bullet to chuck them up lightly when they are loaded in the brass. All safe since nothing behind primer to hit it and no heat/sparks involved. Just pay attention and watch what you are doing and don't get in a rush!
If it works out I would only need about 24 to keep on hand. They might be a good load for my S&W Model 25-7 !

Forty, those Speer 230gr LRN are some very good bullets. I have a bunch I loaded up a few years ago for my 1911-A1. Very accurate! I like your idea; keep messin' with those bullets! They look good.

Should be interesting, definitely looking forward to the range report.
What's the diameter of the hole?
Looks pretty big.

RP

Vaquero wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:13 pm

Should be interesting, definitely looking forward to the range report.
What's the diameter of the hole?
Looks pretty big.

RP

.250 diameter. I took 1/4 inch dia. 2 flute end mill and radiused off the cutting edges to leave a good radius in the bottom.

Most definitely looking forward to the range report on this creation. That is one wild and crazy idea. Not many folks have easy access to a lathe to duplicate something like this. Keep up the good work.

Paul

Headhog wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:16 pm

Most definitely looking forward to the range report on this creation. That is one wild and crazy idea. Not many folks have easy access to a lathe to duplicate something like this. Keep up the good work.

Paul

Wild ideas that I can try and bring to reality. Much better than sitting in the house watching endless reruns on MeTV !!

Very impressive 40, sure wish you had some ballistic jell to see how it preforms on penetration

TV is overrated Im about to cut the cord on all the pay TV stuff

^^^^^^^
Now ain't this the truth. Over priced and lack of content.

Paul

Forty, regarding 230gr RN, I am going to load some Sierra FMJ in Colt cases[.4515"]. What was your OAL loading 230's in Colt cases some time back?
1.580" sound about right? Want to make sure I get this right. Thanks.

Very Nice work indeed Forty. I tried something similar once with a drill press and NEVER again. unless it's perfectly centered I think stuffing rocks down the barrel would have been more accurate

Oldbrass wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 7:04 pm

I tried something similar once with a drill press and NEVER again. unless it's perfectly centered I think stuffing rocks down the barrel would have been more accurate

I was wondering about that

Going to load up some more of these with 8.0 gr. of Unique and 6.0 of Red Dot. Keep bullet speed at no more than 900 FPS.

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:38 pm

Forty, regarding 230gr RN, I am going to load some Sierra FMJ in Colt cases[.4515"]. What was your OAL loading 230's in Colt cases some time back?
1.580" sound about right? Want to make sure I get this right. Thanks.

I seated those at 1.585 Tom. That lets you put a crimp right over the slight shoulder of the bullet since there is no crimp groove.

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:20 am

Rifletom wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 30, 2020 5:38 pm

Forty, regarding 230gr RN, I am going to load some Sierra FMJ in Colt cases[.4515"]. What was your OAL loading 230's in Colt cases some time back?
1.580" sound about right? Want to make sure I get this right. Thanks.

I seated those at 1.585 Tom. That lets you put a crimp right over the slight shoulder of the bullet since there is no crimp groove.

Thanks forty; that's what I remember seeing. Have to get out to the desert this weekend to empty some .45 Colt cases. They're all loaded up!
Imagine that! Thanks again forty and Happy New Year!