I had some custom bullets made by Hawk. The bullets are 250gr .025 jackets and double annealed. Bullets on the left are unmodified. I added a 1/16 hollow point to the bullets on the right. Weight was reduced by 1.8 grains. I added some pics of the bullet tip. I think I'm on the right track. My next order will be a slightly longer jacket and what I consider a compound hollow point. It all depends on the expansion to penetration ratio. Hawk does not hollow point but, they are very accommodating. What is interesting is their comment that they make .510 cal bullets that are designed for expansion at subsonic velocities all the time. So either you guys are holding out or the military has some cool toys.
For your hollow point try using a broader hole funneling into the 1/16" hole. The broader opening will gather more material and try to force it into the smaller opening which will generate a type of hydraulic action and perhaps split the jacket to allow for more expansion. Works for me down to almost subsonic velocities and with your thinner softer jackets they just may split at subsonic.
I made up some compound hollow points today. "Funnel shaped" They were shot into wet news print and a wet PAW catalog. The bullet penetrated one inch and began to open. The cavity was four inches long and about the size of a half dollar. It continued to penetrate 3 feet and in the last few inches came to rest on its side. The bullets in my first post were shot into a backstop that is the consistency of clay. I included a 125 Nosler for comparison. I have found that the bullets I pull from clay more closely resemble the bullets pulled from deer. Nothing's perfect. The 1/16 hollow points create a quarter size hole, but the cavity is about six inches long. I was not able to catch a small hollow point in the print so penetration was more than 3 1/2 feet. The compound hollow point shed the lead tip extremely fast. The next test will be on a deer. This weekend will be muzzleloader season. I plan on testing on deer that have been taken legally(Dead). It's the only way I'll know for sure. I don't want to risk a wounded animal.
I tested the bullets on a deer yesterday. They produced bullet size entry and slightly larger exit. Wound channel was the size of a nickel inside the rib cage. There was too much damage from the muzzleloader to see what happened to the vitals. I spoke to Hawk today for forty-five minutes about this issue. They have made .30 cal. bullets that expand for a police department. They told me that they would be happy to make a few bullets in different weights and designs and ship them to me for testing. Hawk will also test. If we can come up with a good design that expands well and penetrates, it will go into production, if there is enough interest. The bullets they made for the police would expand on coyote size game. I have never dealt with a company that is so willing to work with me. They're good people.
I have a thread on here about corbin bullets, but it's a little over two grand to get started making your own. There is a guy that is working on making some, but I have been waiting for about nine months. He is having all kinds of trouble. I talked to him today and he had sent someone to Corbin to find out what they're doing wrong. The difference with Hawk is that I know they run through my AR and the extra weight will help in penetration. As far as expansion goes I have shot deer with nonexpanding hard cast 45 handgun bullets. They did very well. Deer ran after they were shot, but no farther than when shot in the heart with a more conventional rifle. It would require expansion of about 1.5x to duplicate. I like to get full penetration so 18 to 20 inches would be great. I'm basically tring to duplicate a hot loaded 45 colt. That round has put more than one deer down.
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