Those are some 6.8 SPC bullets, with the 130 grain Hornady Interlock bullet.
The bullet is too long, so I cut it off at the lead tip using a knife blade, then filed and sanded it to get a rounded tip.
So it ends up being about 125 grains. Since the original bullet has a BC of about .41, it ends up with a decent BC for a bullet that has to fit into the tight space of a 6.8 SPC.
I used a metal file and sandpaper to get rid of the flat nose and modify it into a round nose. It was noticeably squirrelly with the flat nose when shooting. Wandering sideways at 100 yards.
Iam no expert at reloading….certainly not rifle ammunition anyway.
Have you tried :
Seating the bullet a little deeper in the case.
Trimming the case neck a little to get a shorter overall length.
But as far as forming the tips…it’s difficult because even if they are swaged to the proper size….it won’t necessarily mean that the bullet is balanced correctly…
Iam interested to learn how this all works out for you. Keep us posted
I figure since you already tried cutting the tips off……well you could secure the bullet in a “chuck” of a drill press or a hand drill and use a dremel tool to re-contour the bullet while it’s turning. Problem is……we are still guessing at getting the projectile absolutely centered….again resulting in “out of balance”. You really need a professional to pipe up and give scientific advise. I don’t think the Red-Neck Ballistics here are going to be much help. ……but it sounds fun
Speaking of Redneck Engineering - I had to look it up -
In the Civil War, the South mostly used -
“The second most widely used weapon of the Civil War, and the weapon most widely used by the Confederates, was the British Pattern 1853 Enfield. Like the Springfield, this was a three band, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifle musket.”
|Barrel length|39 in (990 mm)|
|Cartridge|.577 ball|
This would be a good tool for some of us who want to shape our factory bullets.
Except the tool in the picture is for putting a chamfer on metal rods 1/4-20 and Bigger.
0-80, 1-72, 2-56 … the 2-56 is .086 diameter I vaguely recall.
So an External Chamber tool designed to put chamfers on metal rods 4-40 to 1/4-20, might have the cutting surfaces in the right places to clean up the average 6.5 Soft Point bullet.
I probably need to fire another 10,000 bullets to make sure, but I have gotten my best target shooting results with “pointy” bullets. A 100 grain Barnes 6.5, which has a plastic tip, and the Hornady cheapo Full Metal Jacket 150 grain.
There’s a company named RioGrande that sells jewelry tools.
I think they might have a sanding or filing tool similar to an external chamfer. Basically something that sands or files a surface like a chamfer. Not so easy with a steel part, but real easy with lead.
I know if I buy those Soft Point 139 grain PPU 6.5 bullets, the tips will be dinged and irregular and not aerodynamic, and I will spend time filing and sanding them, and creating a small diameter rounded point.
Of course I would rather find a tool that does it in less time.
The App shows “temporarily unavailable”, but for reference look at McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) part#3500N19 - 45-degree angle, part#3500N11 - 30-degree angle.
It’s a bit pricey at $55 and $58 respectively, but there IS stuff out there.
