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The HB really provides two fuctions. It can squeeze down into the thicker walled area of the case when seated flush with the case mouth. It also expands when fired to better engage the rifling and seal the propellant gasses.
It also provides the longest bearing surface possible with a bullet of that weight. This makes them very, very accurate, if loaded properly. It also puts the weight forward, which also helps accuracy.
I thought maybe the skirt would flare to provide a gas seal but just didn't know for sure.
It sounds like a hollow base is a positive feature. Does it have a downside also? I've only seen them advertised in a couple of places mostly everything is flat based.
Winchester and others have made hollow base JACKETED "9mm" bullets going on almost 100 years. Some foreign makers even stamp a makers mark in this cavity. These can/have been loaded at full power with no concern for blowout at all.
I would like to offer my comments on the 148 gr HBWC bullet. As said previously that were designed for mid range target work, shooting at both 25 and 50 yard bullseye targets. Originally they were were used in the S&W K38 and the Colt Target Revolvers with a standard loading of 2.7 gr of Bullsyye powder. Soon after the the S&W Model 52 Master semiauto came on the scene, that same load was used quite effectively with the bullet seated to the case mouth. I have shot 1000's of these rounds thru my 6 in Python and my 52-2 quite accurately in bullseye competition some years back. One other note, before the advent of decent hollow point bullets, many shooters were loading HBWC bullets backwards thinking they would open up dramatically and be effective manstoppers. I found them to either tumble or keyhole after 15 ft and difficult to keep on a 25 yd slow fire target however.
Berry's is now making plated hollow base bullets for the 9mm, .40 and .45 acp calibers. The 185 grain RNHB .45 acp bullet is my favorite plinking bullet for my various .45's. These can be loaded to full power without any problems. My .45 acp load is clocking 963 fps from my Springfield XD, and is very accurate.
This gives you the same profile as the heavier bullet, but in a lighter weight.
I have some of those Berry's 185 grain RNHB bullets and they are great. My buddy traded me 500 Winchester 230 grain bullets for 500 of my berry 185 RNHB becuase they fed so much better in his Rock Island 1911. I have no problem in my 1911 with the Winchester 230 grain so I traded him.
I just got in some 9mm FMJ scrutiny: is it considered a full metal jacket if the base is open? ) hollow base bullets. Can I load them from the 'suggested starting grains' working up to the 'max load grains' or do I need to be conservative, respecting the possibility of the skirt separating? or is that mainly an issue with lead only bullets?
Thanks for all the participation Guys.
That's a different animal from the HB bullets most were talking about here. They were talking about hollow based lead bullets, usually flat topped wadcutters, but sometimes round nosed.
What you have are what are generally considered plain old FMJ bullets. Even though the base is a little hollowed out and there's no copper there, the same characteristics mentioned for HB lead bullets don't come into play. The vast majority of .45 ACP FMJ bullets are like that.
Load those 9mm FMJ's just as you would any jacketed bullet. You do not need to be "conservative" with them.
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