Gents,
I shoot a lot of lever guns,several wildcats based off the 348 Win,bullets are a bit of a hassle to find,lots of bullets in the diameters that I need but they are either round nose or spitzers,how can I modify these bullets to a flat nose design ? that would work in tubular magazines?

A simple swage die. Hard to make. But simple to actually use. In practice you could modify with a SKILLED machinist a redundant .32 S & W Long full length steel sizing die. Or, simpler, a standard .348" Lyman/RCBS lubesizer die used in a lubrisizer but use a, say, #429 top punch to force a flat end onto the bullet.

I don't have the resources to make anything,I am wondering if there is anything on the market ready to go ? a tabletop mini lathe or something that would work?

Your simple, bio-mechanical tool to make flat points out of pointed ones, is called, a file. Or a rasp. File off the lead down to the jacket. It works.
Of course, so will any lathe; done it many times.

You might even be able to chuck it up in a drill press to do the job.

Don't expect a great deal of repeatability, but it can be done.

You can get plenty close enough for a lever action using a drill press or a file; measure the length with a dial caliper and you will be within a couple of grains. It won't matter.

Thanks for the replies,I have used files,the easiest so far is compressing the bullet in a vice to flatten the lead tip,it actually peels off once you reach the jacket,is there any tabletop device,like a lathe or something? that would make this more precise & can also be used on TSX'S etc solid bullets? I obviously have no experience in a machine shop,appreciate the help.

Back in the day (late 50's) when 6.5mm bullets were unheard of, my uncle had a 6.5 Swede. The only ammo he could get was military surplus, full jacket round nose. He set-up a holder, something along the lines of a trim die, except it was for the loaded cartridge, with the tip of the bullet protruding from the die. Then he just filed the top of the bullet off and he had functional soft points.

Of course there are table top, mini lathes; just do a google search for them. Look at Grizzly, eBay, Harbor freight, they are common.

Yep those harbor tools cut off saws work awesome .
I make 375 Winchester bullets wiry them all the time .
They are accurate too .Hornady quit making 220 grain fp for the
375 winchester so I.learned from a guy on leverguns forum
How to make them works awesome totally safe !

quote:

Back in the day (late 50's) when 6.5mm bullets were unheard of, my uncle had a 6.5 Swede. The only ammo he could get was military surplus, full jacket round nose. He set-up a holder, something along the lines of a trim die, except it was for the loaded cartridge, with the tip of the bullet protruding from the die. Then he just filed the top of the bullet off and he had functional soft points.

One entrepreneur did this on a huge scale after WWI. Buying up surplus .303 FMJ loaded ammunition and modifying the tip.

The problem was then that the lead core would blow through the jacket leaving the jacket stuck in the barrel.

http://www.oldammo.com/september03.htm

i know this is an old post. you could use a sinclair meplat trimmer opened up to 348.

I actually made one for a friend years ago, using a Wilson trimmer.

I had to make the bullet holder, which would fit one diameter only.

But adjustable as to how much to take off the tip of the bullets.

I had a bud who is a machinist just chuck up some of my cast bullets and mill off some of the top to give me the flat point diameter that I wanted for the Sharps rifle. It only reduced the bullet weight about 8 or 10 grains and about tripled the meplat of the bullets.

It worked great although he had to buy a little fixture to do the job without denting the base or body of the soft lead bullet any.

quote:

Originally posted by TexKD:
I had a bud who is a machinist just chuck up some of my cast bullets and mill off some of the top to give me the flat point diameter that I wanted for the Sharps rifle. It only reduced the bullet weight about 8 or 10 grains and about tripled the meplat of the bullets.

It worked great although he had to buy a little fixture to do the job without denting the base or body of the soft lead bullet any.

I post this image on various discussions about modifying bullets where the conversations get around to how to hold a bullet to hollow point, knurl or groove for holding lube on cast bullets, or as I do, put a shoulder on plain based bullets to fit a gas check.
Pictured is the RCBS bullet puller die and bullet specific collet with a 9/16AF bolt to tighten the collet replacing the normal handle.
Runs perfectly true in a three jaw lathe chuck or could be set up in a drill press to carry out hollow pointing, flat nosing, whatever. The bullet puller is something many will have but just not think of as a bullet holder.

Good idea ^. Ill have to show my machinist. But he's already set up now though.

I would think that the easiest way to do this is to simply drill and ream a hole in a plate to fit the 348 bullet and blunt the nose in an arbor press.
It will probably round out the ogive but it will also keep the bullet at the right diameter and weight.

Agreed. With proper thickness of the plate to only expose what you want flattened, I think that would work well.

A friend made this for me....a copy of the Hanned Tool used to turn 22 LR ammo into flat points for small game. Just a bolt with a hole drilled through it at cartridge diameter and a larger inset hole in the bolt head to allow for the cartridge rim. The bolt top was hardened so that a file wouldn't eventually shorten the bolt/tool. I did extensive testing and could tell no difference in the trajectory or group size in the ammo before and after flat pointing, at least up to squirrel hunting distance.

This should work great to flat point any bullet, but a different bolt/tool will be needed for any bullet diameter AND bullet length.

I came to the same conclusion as did our other member about the same time. Files' work + simplicity is worth remembering. The Boers among others figured these things out over 120 years ago. So why are you people today so dim?!

Sorry, I just reread this. I didn't mean it to sound rude but it did. I should have said 'so many people' instead of you people.

Some few years ago I went on a rant for flat nose solids and the manufacturers laughed at me, or politly advised me they would not sell..My thinking Elmer made them work wonders in a pistol so why not a rifle..

In the meantime for years I used a file. finley some years later I found a gent who made me some solids on the order of a Keith simi wadcutter with a cutting shoulder at 400 and 500 grs for my doubles..and did they ever work..then over time they came about and became the rage..I never got a please forgive me from connie Barnes btw!


The first thing I noticed is the cutting shoulder that cuts nice holes in paper and is to this day claimed to have no purpose by some, shaved the hair around the bullet entrance hole for an inch or so, as clean as could be and that seemed to put more blood on the ground IMO..

Any way most bullet makers came around and todays bullets are the best in history..beyond a doubt..Kudos to the clan of bullet makers.

Some time later Gerard with GS Customs made a flat nose solid and so did Mike at No. Fork..I tested these two bullets and even without a cutting shoulder they were and are awesome solids...and GS Customs will make you about anything you want.

On a lever gun the old Barnes bullets are available in SN for the .348 and others, they really work and flat nose hollow points for the 25-35, 30-30 and 348 are available and do they ever work, yeah they do..and connie Barnes still has not apologized for her tacky remarks.