Would anyone be up for trying this idea?

[thehouseproduct]

It'd be fun to try something like this. It might work OK in a whisper. They had trouble with these when they went super sonic.
http://www.thehousebmx.com/arfcom/IMG_0358.jpg

[i8asquirrel]

I remember something close to that in the 80's a grenade type called R.A.G
Ring airfoil Grenade. was alot flatter shooting than M203 but never caught on..

[Hoser]

I would be concerned that the base might come off in a brake or a can.

Other than that, cool idea.

[LouBoyd]

One company that might be willing to make some of them is Lehigh Bullets. They have the machinery and it doesn't require making special bullet moulds, Just programming them into their CNC lathes.

David Fricke (Dave) is the proprietor of Lehigh bullets. I briefly discussed a bullet similar to this with him a few of years ago. Some of the problems are to make the plug strong enough to hold the chamber pressure without blowby and still allow it to drop away freely when the base pressure drops off. I think an aluminum sphere in the base might be suitable. The bullet still needs to engrave in the rifling. Most Lehigh bullets have engraving grooves on the shank, probably desirable for most applications. The copper alloys Dave uses should be suitable. Some of his bullet designs are pretty close to this already, though the central hole doesn't go completely though.

http://www.lehighbullets.com/prodimages/458-230T.jpg

the advantages I can see in this bullet are to provide stability from high(er) rotational inertia to frontal area ratio and provide "base bleed" to reduce drag, The bullet should behave like a hollow point for terminal ballistics. There would still be some experimenting to do to get a design which flies well. If I was going to try it, it would be for a cartridge which uses large bore bullets and has limited magazine space like the 458 Socom or 50 Beowulf.

The downside of a "though hole" bullet is it's throwing away mass by drilling the hole. Energy is 1/2 M* V^2 . Velocity is locked at under 1000 fps for subsonics. The only way to deliver more energy is with more Mass. For supersonics it's all about getting maximum mass at maxiumum velocity with minimum drag. Minimum drag is what separates long range bullets from short range ones, and it also helps wind deflection.

While these designs look promising to squeeze more downrange energy out of an existing cartridge with a fixed diameter, twist rate, and bullet length, I'm of the opinion after studying them some that you'll always be better off as far as energy delivered at long range with a longer, thinner, and heavier projectile. The US military seems to agree. Look at the projectiles used in the Abrams tank. Also the projectiles used in the CheyTac and similar long rage rifles.

[sha-ul]

There was an article about these tubular bullets on the America rifleman, Feb 2011

But you think about it, there is 2X the surface area for air friction, plus you also have more of a surface on the nose for cross winds to get a hold on& push off course.

[HUNTER2]

Tried this a few years back. Acc. will degrade real fast. Terminal preformance is just so-so. But newer materials and cnc might change things. Good luck...