A thought about Predators and making a better Hollow Point
Everyone generally praises the Predator poly-mag for its accuracy and stopping power. I agree with that.
But I’m just looking closely at one now, and basically, what I see is a hollow point pellet that has the “hollow” filled in with the polymer tip. Not sure how much that tip aids in penetrating the target, but it’s pretty clear that the tip creates a more aerodynamic profile than a HP’s wind-scooping profile, making it more accurate over greater distances.
Which then led me to think about and wonder if filling a hollow point’s tip with something frangible (i.e. candle wax) would eliminate the wind-scoop… providing the accuracy gain, then basically break away at impact to provide the expansion (stopping power) of the HP. No “point” necessary, just enough wax to fill the concave and improve aerodynamics.
Am I right, or am I wrong? Or am I thinking too much? 😉
No, I’m not going to start eyedropping meltied wax into the noses of all my HPs, 😆 but wondering if pellet manufacturers have considered this for their HP offerings.
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Again, you have to consider the rapid accelleration. If it’s too thin, the air resistance will collapse it.
What about it somehow you could put like a “sheet” of something thing over the top of the HP with the inside cavity still hollow? Maybe paper? This would be so light it wouldn’t affect the balance much if at all and would make more of a wadcutter shape.
Well, your idea aint bad. Corbon only did that because those are pistol bullets that go into semi automatic pistols. It makes feeding SMOOTH AS SILK. But for an airgun, you can have whatever shape you want cause they are all single loading.
I don’t mean to burst anyones bubble. Just that there are a lot of folks who have stuffed HP PELLETS with all kinds of stuff. There was someone at one point that was talking about stuffing them with CYANIDE or something years ago????????????? For hunting purposes but hell, if you have good shot placement you kinda don’t have to worry about stuff like that.
Now, what i have done lately is…..I discovered that a certain bullet that i shoot outta my Dragon Slayer 454 has a LONG POLY TIP inside of it and it is somewhat press fitted into the slug. So you can remove them with your finger nails pretty easily. The slug is HOLLOW all the way down to the bottom of the base of the bullet except for the last 1/8″. I stick 1 large MAGNUM RIFLE PRIMER down there then push the polytip back in. MAN, when those slugs hit something hard….THEY GO BOOM. HE HE HE. Accuracy is still there too.
Fuck’en A. But my dream was for the cap to be shaped like a unset
diamond. (without all the cut’s) Their would be a very minimal space
between the ‘cap’ and HP body. Suppose a round ball would be easier to
produce though.
i understand buzzcat. after all…i did try it b4 too.
cboyce…CORBON AMMO makes exactly what u r thinking. they r called the “POWERBALL”. It is a hollowpoint bullet with a polymer ball in the tip.
This is so weird. I was just thinking about this yesterday. Wishing that crow
mag’s worked better for accuracy in my condor, I was thinking about a two
die mold that would make a HP like a crow mag and also make a ‘cap’ like
a dome (either polymer or the second die would make a lead cap) A small
airspace would be just under the cap. this would allow for the cap to plunge
on impact and help facilitate expansion. It would benefit from the basic
aerodynamics of a domed pellet but would flower open on impact.
Just thought it strange that you brought this up.
Nope, this is all because I had a Sunday with nothing pressing to do and my brain latched on to pellet design instead of doing the Sunday crossword puzzle. Exercise the brain, yes? It’s fun to let it spin off once in a while and see where it goes.
That said, I certainly don’t claim that Elmers glue will make a better hollow point, but the concept of temporarily filling the hollow to aid the pellet in its flight is proven in the Predators… it’d be nice if other manufacturers could spend a little more R&D on the subject, rather than just gold-plating their tried-and-trues and charging double for them. 😉
😀 I’m taking that idea, and running with it! Ive got one little bugger drying right now. I’ll be back in a half hour 😀
Primer in a HP!!!!!
😀 😀 😀
Again, i too have put in a drop of ELMERS WOOD GLUE and let it dry overnight. They were not accurate. To much time to sit there and fill 200 HP’s with glue. EVERYTIME you buy a tin.
You are essentially making a roundnosed pellet. They already exist.
The glue will not come out in the barrel but, when you shoot lets say a squirrel with 1 of the HP’s with glue in it, i would imagine flesh and fur will clam up in front of the glue therefore keeping it inside the HP causing it to overpenetrate. That is not the TRUE DESIGN of a HP. If anything put a PRIMER on top of the HP and the glue and shoot something hard and listen to the POP upon impact.
Have you shoot a group with them yet?
True that, the friction heat might be enough to leave most of the glue in the barrel. As I said, I’m not planning on putting that round through my gun, it was just for illustrative purposes.
Personally I don’t like the idea of a glue coated barrel. Who knows what effect the rapid acceleration of the pellet will have on that glue.
Im willing to bet that Elmers glue will shrink down to Lord knows what kind of unbalanced shape when it totally dries. May even shrink down below the lip of the pellet down inside.
OK, it’s a lazy Sunday and I’m drinkin’ a beer and goofing off… let’s show some pics:
Two Crow Mags, the one on the left is “stock” of course, the one on the right has a drop of your basic Elmers Glue in the hollow, which had been drying for about an hour or so before I took the pic.
Note how the surface tension of the glue creates a dome? That’s gotta have way more aero efficiency than the “stock” hollow point, and I’d bet that the glue, even when set in, dry and solid, wouldn’t inhibit the HP from expanding on impact.
No idea if the glue will even set solid, to tell the truth, let alone if I’ll actually put the thing in my gun and shoot it… I’m not recommending this to anyone, for the record… iit’s just me having fun with experiments…
But end of day, that illustrates my point. JSB accomplishes the task with their pointed piece of plastic in the Pred. Can you imagine an aerodynamic and accurate HP Kodiak that was accomplished due a dab of Elmers glue or whatnot in the nose? 😉 😯
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Just drew a rough sketch for a visual. Then lead cap on the right just sits flush in the base (light adhesive). This allows for a heavy ‘normal’ domed pellet but on impact the cap breaks loose and pushes down. Effectively flowering the base open enough for it to flower.