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Okay, since Hornady 200 GN FN 338's are no longer to be found, I have read that several of you are using the 200 gn hornady spire point that you file the tip off of to get a flat nose. I got a box, chucked one in my lathe collet and wound up taking 0.225" off of the tip. This got the flat area to be 0.200" diameter and the weight only dropped to 191 gns.
Is this enough of a flat nose? Should I take more off to get the flat area wider? Can anybody tell me the diameter of the flat area they have sucessfully used? Obviously I am concerned with a mag tube detonation. Once I get a correct length I am going to set up a collet stop and simply alter all the bullets then do some testing to see what I can use as a plinking bullet. For hunting it looks like I will have to get some Hawk bullets and develop a load for those, but if the altered Hornady bullet shoots good then I will have a supply of good plinking bullets. I have zero desire to cast for this...I have enough of that dreaded chore to do for my 73's w/o adding this to it. Jacketed only. I also have no desire to load only 2 cartridges at a time (ie: one spire point in the chamber, one in the mag) so I really want to explore this altered bullet thing.
"...for there is a cloud on my horizon...and its name is progress." E. Abbey, 1958
Just measure the diameter of the primer and make your flat tip a hair larger. The ones I nicked off the tip shot just as well as the spire points, could not discern any differnce whatsoever. I shot a cow elk in the boiler room with one from about 80 yards, DRT , never took another step.
jnyork, the primer is .210, so i guess i should take more off. The only thing, some factory ammo for lever action guns are round nose, and that does rest on the primer. I thought spreading out the contact area was enough...ie: I didnt have to go bigger than the primer. What do you use to modify yours? A file? Did you recover the bullet? Did it expand at all?? Oh yeah...what does DRT mean?
"...for there is a cloud on my horizon...and its name is progress." E. Abbey, 1958
I once made some flattips out of some Hornady 200 grain spire points. I put a 30-30 trim die in my press and run the bullet up into the die using a dowel between the top of the ram and the bottom of the bullet. Nicked the tip off with a file, worked very slick indeed. I then started using cast and never got around to making any more.
The elk I shot was hit in the lower chest just aft of the leg, I did not recover the bullet but I can tell you it made a heckuva mess, whole lung area was just mush. Dont know how an expensive partition or some such could have done it any better.
Your modified Hornady 3310 is plenty flat, there is no need to widen it further.
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale, and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged"....President Abraham Lincoln
There is a pretty good article about tubular magazine detonation problems in the 2002 Gun Digest, by R.W. Ballou. I think you are plenty safe in your bullet modification and I wouldn't hesitate at all using them for hunting. I wonder if there would be a faster way to do the job with a jig holding about ten bullets and using an end mill?
I would like to trade 139 hor 3315 33 cal pils , 95 33 wcf brass 1/2 unifred, and a set of 33 dies for some 32-40 and 40-65 marked brass, or maybe just sell outright..
El Guapo wrote: I wonder if there would be a faster way to do the job with a jig holding about ten bullets and using an end mill?
Maybe, but a lathe collet holds the bullets around the circumference and wont distort the bullet, within reason. At work today I set up a collet stop in an 11/32 collet, touched off the nose, set a zero, came in 0.250", and with one infeed made a flat pont out of it....stopped the lathe, open the collet, took it out, put in another, fired up the lathe, made another flatpoint. I didnt time anything, but I guess once I was set up i was turning out 1 bullet maybe every 15 seconds, so say 4/min or 25 min/box. I only did about 25 today because I wanted to check how these shot before I did a whole box like this. The hard part was hiding this from my foreman Actually I did it during lunch break but still discretion is the keyword when doing stuff like this at work.
"...for there is a cloud on my horizon...and its name is progress." E. Abbey, 1958
I'm surprised jnyork's altered bullet did a great job on the elk as I was always under the impression that the 200 Horn. SP was made from thicker jacket material than the one designed for the 33 WCF. I guess he cut off the right amount--good job and I learn somethin' new everyday
I've killed a truckload of deer, a half dozen wild dogs, a few foxes, and one elk with the 200 gr. Hornady 3315 FP and ALWAYS had complete penetration, even on the elk. I take it to be a tough bullet, but on the other hand, deer, dogs, and foxes are really nothing in the way of bullet stopping mass. The elk had broadside lung shots, with no bone being hit.
Those altered bullets just might be the ticket for hunting as well as practice----------Sixgun
Actually I did it during lunch break but still discretion is the keyword when doing stuff like this at work.
