Altering bullets?

[borrowedtime69]

I need your advice please. I would like to have more self defense ammo, mostly for my 9mms. The hollowpoints are pretty expensive and only 20 rounds per box. I need a way to get more defense rounds cheaper.

I remember the Paco Tool that was advertised in backwoodsman magazine, where you put your ammo into a block of metal with the hole/s drilled in it then use a file to flatten out the tip to make what they called a small game bullet.

Would it work to make a Paco Tool for my 9mm fmj ammo to make flat nosed bullets with the lead exposed? I know I would have to have it hold the shell & bullet tightly so it wouldn't be lopsided & thereby inaccurate. I remember from somewhere that people used to use a Phillips screwdriver to make "dumb-dumb" rounds so people have been customizing ammo for a long time now. It might be advantageous to take a 147grn truncated fmj and use that for this purpose.

has Anyone ever tried this? Will it work? It would be great to be able to buy cheaper fmj ammo & make them into defensive rounds! Thank you!

 

[SixteenGauge]

Filing the top of the bullet jacket off is a good way to get a jacket stuck in the barrel so I wouldn't recommend that, although I have been told it does work. When I was around 14 years old I tested the Phillips screwdriver "dum dum" method and "split point" bullets with .22 lr, and I can say definitively that they made zero difference with expansion in various mediums (phone books, wood, squirrels)

 

[bdickens]

Even if it would work, I can't imagine that the time required wouldn't be better spent doing something else - like working a couple hours of overtime to earn the whopping $25 or $30....

 

[Jim Watson]

Do you get in so many gunfights that the price of hollow points matters?

Filing the top of the bullet jacket off is a good way to get a jacket stuck in the barrel

Right, cutting the nose off a drawn jacket has the risk of blowing the core out and leaving a copper tube stuck in the gun. Not as likely with a drilled hole from the Forster tool, but the jacket is thicker at the nose and not likely to expand no matter what you do to it.

If you wanted to mess around, a plated bullet could be cut or drilled without that risk, that is how Speer makes Gold Dots; the "dot" is a bit of nose plating material driven in by the hollow point punch.

 

[borrowedtime69]

"Do you get in so many gunfights that the price of hollow points matters?" - well.... not THAT many

I dont know, i just thought it would be an effective way to spread my money out a little more, since my family is a bit low income (we all have full time jobs except my youngest whos in college) and take nothing from the government. and honestly, im a medical nightmare with many health problems. we spend a lot on docs & meds. plus, its that little Scotsman's voice in my head telling me its terrible to spend that much for so few rounds.

i am trying to stock up on the right ammo on a tight budget just in case, or WHEN the government decides that we have to shut the whole country down because somebody got the sniffles. once things get tight again, it'll be impossible to get ammo again, especially scary when you see the rioting, destruction of property, and other violent crimes in the cities.

so, dumb idea, moving on. thank you

 

[Jim Watson]

If the zeds get so thick on the ground that I run short of factory hollowpoints, I will just have to tackle them with the bulk plated and coated bullets I load for cardboard targets.

 

[trackskippy]

I wouldnt get to wound up about the differences in ammo. If you can shoot well with your practice ammo, and they go where you were looking when the gun goes off, you'll be OK.

 

[Riomouse911]

Borrowedtime69,

Not a dumb question, none of us knew everything from birth.

As the guys said FMJ ammo doesn’t convert easily to expanding hollow point ammo, the jackets just aren’t made to expand.

In all honesty, worrying about hoards of folks overrunning your home while you’re armed with fmj bullets is pretty remote. If you choose to stay armed, fmj ammo can work to defend your family far better than nothing at all.

May you never need to fire a shot! The scrutiny one endures and potential civil or criminal Court battles are no fun.

Stay safe.

 

[Kevinq6]

It's a creative idea but yeah not a good idea from what the others said. I would just not shoot the defensive ammo as much. If there is civil war you will probably want other types of planning but also you would probably prefer a rifle. Also remember if you win a gunfight you might be able to take their ammo.

 

[jmr40]

I'd rather take my chances with FMJ than try to modify bullets. Yes, HP ammo is expensive, especially right now. But you could buy 2-3 boxes of expensive HP ammo, fire a magazine full to ensure they function and verify the point of impact. After that the rest may well last you the rest of your life. Shoot cheaper FMJ for practice and save the expensive stuff for when you really need it.

 

[GAF]

Just use what you have on hand for self defense.

 

[LaneP]

I wouldn't. Defensive ammo could be anything but normally we associate that term with some sort of controlled expansion HP bullet that was designed specifically to meet certain penetration and expansion criteria. A modified FMJ is not likely to meet one or more of those goals. There is a risk of pushing the bullet deeper in the case, potentially increasing pressure (if you're working with factory ammo and not handloading the modified bullets separately). Speculative and potentially outside the scope of this conversation, some folks will tell you if you're involved in a self-defense shooting, you don't want an over-zealous prosecutor to point out to a jury you were in your garage modifying your ammo (public perception optics).

 

[beag_nut]

Just my personal experience: don't take anything (other than some of the ads) appearing in Backwoodsman as proven fact. Unless one is heavily into Bigfoot.

 

[stillquietvoice]

May you never need to fire a shot! The scrutiny one endures and potential civil or criminal Court battles are no fun.

That's the plain truth. Btdt didn't like it

 

[gobsauce]

What about the rounds that are just lead? Like .22, and the one box of .38 I have?

 

[phonesysphonesys]

Look for soft point bullets. They are just as effective and cheeper. FMJ has killed a lot of people.

 

[MikeInOr]

I think you might want to consider looking into reloading. Reloading my own Gold dot hollow points costs me an extra penny or two over my FMJ loads.

I would not file down the tips of FMJ to expose the lead and I doubt they would be all that more effective... but it is your choice and you can alter your ammo how ever you would like to if it helps you sleep better at night.

 

[Captcurt]

I can assure you that a couple of FMJ's will change the mind of any bad guy that comes crawling through the window. You are over thinking this.

 

[The Glockodile]

In all honesty, worrying about hoards of folks overrunning your home while you’re armed with fmj bullets is pretty remote.

Gramps went through WW2 with nothing but FMJs

 

[kidneyboy]

Just my personal experience: don't take anything (other than some of the ads) appearing in Backwoodsman as proven fact. Unless one is heavily into Bigfoot.

Wait a minute... what are you saying?........

 

[Zerodefect]

You only need 100 for your favorite pistol.

Battlefield pickups after that.

 

[Swampman]

You can spend less than a C note on a good hollowpoint mold and make as many decent quality defensive bullets as you want.

 

[P5 Guy]

You can spend less than a C note on a good hollowpoint mold and make as many decent quality defensive bullets as you want.

Beat me to this.
Another design that proves to be a good defense round are Semi-Wad cutters or any round nose with a wide flat point.
Just because a hollow point mushrooms nice for its close-up doesn't mean it will do this every time.

 

[buck460XVR]

Just putting a hole in the end of a bullet does not make it a great SD/HD bullet. Jacket thickness and alloy composition matter too. I've shot a ton of JHPs that do not expand on soft targets any more than JSPs.

 

[Kleanbore]

FMJ has killed a lot of people.

That has nothing to do with defensive effectiveness.