I just bought a few hundred bullets,Barnes TSX's,the price was really good,.458" dia,weight 350 & 450 grs,in order for me to use them in my lever action rifles I will have to grind down the nose to make them safe to use in a tubular magazine,has anyone here modified bullets in this way? if so? how much oversize do you need the nose of the bullet to be to make it safe for use in Lever action rifles where the nose of the bullet is sitting against the primer in the next round,checking some FN bullets,I see that the flat meplat is about.330".

Many times, in my lathe; have to make the flat bigger than the primer. That is the "point".
Now, if you seat primers high, then it won't matter; a friend caught a 44 Mag brass case in the mouth that way from a Win 92. Not pleasant at all.

Do a search on AR...that subject was covered very well not very far in the past...lots of very easy to do suggestions and solutions.

Primers are ~0.220" OD so anything around 0.300" or larger will work...BUT as dpcd says a high primer negates ANY nose chopping so just be careful with primer seating.

I quit loading any more than 3 in my leverguns, 2 down and one up because of the weight of the extra bullets upsets the rifles balance, makes it heavier and if I can't do the job with 3 rounds I don't need to be hunting anyway.

I've done the same thing with FMJ's for my Win 94 30-30 back in the day and Marlin 336 converted to 356 W, 444M, 458 Amer, 45-70...never had any problems with the two in the tube, but that DOESN'T MEAN IT WON'T EVER HAPPEN. BEST way to prevent it is to load just TWO, one down and one up and have a third between your fingers ready to stuff in the loading port or drop in the chamber...then you won't have to muck around with the bullet noses at all. I've shot a LOT BRONZE TIPS, 100-150 gr lead and gummy bears that way also in a Win 94 30-30...traded it to a guy for a Rem 700 action and he did a 30-30 AI rechamber and was very happy shooting Bronze tips, FMJ's and a whole bunch of other "pointy" bullets in it, but ALWAYS 1-2 down and one up.

If you DON'T MODIFY the follower to handle pointed bullets, the 3rd lead tipped ones gets mashed up a bit from recoil...basically just drilling a hole big enough to contain the lead portion plus a bevel or cone so the bullet nose doesn't stick. Anyone with a lathe can make you one out of Al, Delrin, plastic or any other material just about.

Good Hunting

It has happened!!! cutting the tips off the FMJ's when done too much( whatever that was ) can push the lead out the barrel but not the jacket. roger

Hummmm...Thanks for the info...that is good to know...Me and quite a few others I've known that do/did the FMJ nose bobbing thing have "dodged the bullet" so to speak. Never had that happen as far as I know or even approached happening "as far as I know"...but in this game MANY things we/I did in the past might not have been all that safe compared to todays world, we just didn't know about it, absent the internet.

Back in the day the price of 30 cal FMJ's was VERY attractive and worked in lever action 30-30's very well...not so much in todays world as reloaded ammo component prices approach the cost of factory.

I turned my last 30-30 into a 356, but I'm sure I have some 30 cal FMJ's stuffed back in some corner that can be loaded to 30-30 ballistics and tested in one of my 308's. With that knowledge in mind I will do some testing and approach it differently than in yesteryear.

Good Hunting