hollow balls

[George Holton]

Some of you oldtimers may remember ,back in the 60's there was a spate of opening the center of the ball inserting a drop of water and pressing a primer ,not cap, in the hole to seal it. The object was to create hydraulic shock on impact. I dont reccomend it and it wasnt very accurate, it was just some way out idea we had to try. And we have tried some really wild ideas over the years. Bob

 

[Slake]

I remember some such craziness...I thought it was a lot of trouble then and over the years have stuck with simplicity and practice...If you shoot often, you'll shoot well..gimicks need not apply

 

[silverfox]

Don't remember hearing about trying to creat hydraulic shock by adding water and primers to a round ball. Sounds crazy to me. I do remember making exploding Minnies in Civil War rifles even Dixie Gun Works gave directions on how to make them. Don't think I would do it again.
Fox :hatsoff:

 

[bob1961]

if ya want an exploding projectile when ya shoot at sumtin why not just get a grande lancher :rotf: :rotf: INCOMING :surrender: :v ..............bob

 

[romeoh]

Some of you oldtimers may remember ,back in the 60's there was a spate of opening the center of the ball ...
The object was to create hydraulic shock on impact. I dont reccomend it and it wasnt very accurate...
Bob

Well really old Bob, let me take you to the 70´s...
... - the 1870´s!

This is from a german book about hunting firearms, first printed in 1869 (!)
The author calls such balls "Platzkugel" which would in english would be Burst-Ball.
They were loaded with the closed end in direction to the target, so they were flying like "normal" roundballs but then opened up in the target.

Seems that those balls did a good job in every aspect - accuracy, wound ballistic, etc. The author recommends them more than any other bullet, conicals, roundballs, whatever. Even for such big game like bears!
I bought the book to learn a bit more about ML from it - from someone who lived in that era. The author knew what he was talking about as far as I can see. And the book got reprinted several times. So I guess he may be right with the Platzkugel too.
I´m more into shooting at the target range but I can imagine ordering such a mold from a mold-builder and testing it on ballistic gel or so could be intresting. :hmm:

Many greetings from bavaria
romeoh

 

[Parzifal]

You could make that if you had access to a welder, and a old ball mould....But you would have to keep the mould extra hot to aid in casting, to avoid problems and all.

New load in my Bess?? :hmm:


Rob

 

[romeoh]

:shocked2: Such a bullet in a bess? :shocked2:
If it works as good as I think then a Platzkugel in Bess-caliber should be enough for stopping elephants...

And I don´t know if it works with a smoothy as good as with a rifle.
I would have suggested such a bullet for a .54 rifle maybe.
However, it´s worth giving it a try. And the first test should of course not be on living "targets" no matter which caliber and rifled gun or not.

romeoh

 

[wildeagle]

Here's a pic of two 145 yr old minnie balls. Gardiner exploding musket ball.US war department tested them in 1862, purchased 110,000 before the battle of g-burg. Quite demoralizing to both the one firing and one fired at.The hollow cavity was filled w/ powder and the channel to it filled w/ fulimate of mercury(to act as a fuse).Bullet was intended to fragment a few seconds after firing. The thought was to fire at caissons causing them to ignite and blow up.There is a good story obout a young private that carried these rounds at the battle of G-burg in a booklet- "ready aim fire" written by Dean S Thomas.Iguess war brings out the gruesome in people. Wild Eagle

 

[Bill Hall]

Back in the 70's, I've heard of guys removing the bullet from a .22 shell and inserting it backwards in a drilled maxiball, keeping the powder in the brass. I've never tried it because I figured it may be illegal. In my opinion it couldn't serve any real purpose other than generating a little fun. Bill

 

[Runner]

We used to fill the nose hollow on the Great Plains Bullets with wax and top it off with a steel BB. The expansion was impressive! That was playing tho, not hunting.

 

[PreglerD]

So we should give Rapine Bullet Mold Mfg a call and ask ifhe would produce such a süecial mold for us.
Because of the caliber I think the bigger the better, so a .75 RB would be not the badest.

 

[George Holton]

:v Oh what fond memories of our younger years Any one make bolt bombs? taking two railroad bolts and three nuts. screw one nut on one bolt and on the other bolt. screw the third nutno one of the bolts leaving a cavity. back nut above down tight, fill the cavity with a few match heads and black powder. screw the second bolt in very very carefully,lock the other nut down on it. The best way to detonate this device is to stand on a bridge and drop or throw it down onto a slab,keeping the head back behind the rail. ever wonder how we grew to old age with most of our fingers.........? :applause:

 

[romeoh]

Well Rapine or maybe one of the germans - Dieter Sturm or Mr. Winter. They could read the description in the book in it´s original language.

I can imagine such a bullet could be intresting for your ML-hunting test-series.

Greetings romeoh

 

[PreglerD]

So let's make it. You contact the german mold smith's and I Mr. Rapine.


By the way: Deerhunter mounted with scope 4x32.

 

[wildeagle]

Here's a pic of two 145 yr old minnie balls. Gardiner exploding musket ball.US war department tested them in 1862, purchased 110,000 before the battle of g-burg. Quite demoralizing to both the one firing and one fired at.The hollow cavity was filled w/ powder and the channel to it filled w/ fulimate of mercury(to act as a fuse).Bullet was intended to fragment a few seconds after firing. The thought was to fire at caissons causing them to ignite and blow up.There is a good story obout a young private that carried these rounds at the battle of G-burg in a booklet- "ready aim fire" written by Dean S Thomas.Iguess war brings out the gruesome in people. Wild Eagle