Bullet modification

[Topshot]

Roy,

The CEB issues in .375 calibre will be solved early in the new year.
This is their answer to your dreams.

They have a facebook page that will answer all your questions if you ask. Great interaction between manufacturer and customer.

325gn Tipped CEB .375 calibre. Other info available soon..

 

[royinidaho]

Thanks Topshot,

I agree on their customer relations. I talked with the head fella there for quite awhile. Very informative and gave great suggestions.

They are building a 375 Chey for their own purposes. Should help them with their development work.

Regarding you post. If I wanted to shoot a 325 class bullet I would have stayed with the 338 cal.

The 352 CEB is a ton flatter than the SMK @ distance which is really enticing. However if a 350 SMK can be modded to get the bc up to the 0.9 of the CEB I'll be satisfied.

We'll see how things turn out.

Taking measurements as I type.

Merry Christmas.

Remember, "The cartridge in a pear tree"

 

[Deleted member 46119]

What about using CEB tips?

 

[Topshot]

Roy,
The tipped 325 grain .375 cal bullet was just a teaser. There may be tipped CEB laser bullets much heavier than this. We will just have to wait and see.

jfseaman,
I don't think that CEB would sell there tips but you could ask.

In the mean time I am playing with uniforming the tips and hollowing out the standard 350gn SMK.

Below are some I just made up with an unmodified one on the far right.
The bullets just have the uneven tips squared up and a 50 thou center drill run into them various depths.
I have also done a few with a 60 thou hole drilled deep into the nose to see what effect this has.

 

[benchracer]

According to their Facebook page, CEB is currently testing 325g, 350g, 375g, 400g, and 425g Lazers in .375. That should pretty well cover the full spectrum of .375 cartridges.

 

[royinidaho]

According to their Facebook page, CEB is currently testing 325g, 350g, 375g, 400g, and 425g Lazers in .375. That should pretty well cover the full spectrum of .375 cartridges.

If I would have thought ahead I would have done differently but the bbl that came available when it was time to buy was a 10 twist. Which may well limit the heaviest bullet to the CE 375 grain offering.

 

[Topshot]

The 352 CEB is a ton flatter than the SMK @ distance which is really enticing. However if a 350 SMK can be modded to get the bc up to the 0.9 of the CEB I'll be satisfied.

Roy,

The 350gn SMK will never get anywhere near 0.90 BC.

 

[IdahoCTD]

That is some heavy duty jacket thickness in the nose of the 350SMK's. Because it is so thick it might require some beveling of the jacket near the tip or to have the back of the tip angled like Roy's brass tips to get reliable expansion. Topshots idea of drilling the tip out would probably work too but will sacrifice BC for expansion.

 

[royinidaho]

Roy,

The 350gn SMK will never get anywhere near 0.90 BC.

When I get some acceptable ones made up I ship you some then you can tell us what the guestimate is.

Hope you live where its warm so we don't have to wait till spring.

Can't get to my good LR spots because of snow and vehicles of any sort aren't permitted. And that's a good thing.

 

[Pdvdh]

In the mean time I am playing with uniforming the tips and hollowing out the standard 350gn SMK.

Below are some I just made up with an unmodified one on the far right.
The bullets just have the uneven tips squared up and a 50 thou center drill run into them various depths.
I have also done a few with a 60 thou hole drilled deep into the nose to see what effect this has.

Here are a couple links to two options for increasing the odds of expansion on game of the SMK, Berger, or similarly constructed bullets.

These are from a fellow in New Zealand. One article discusses annealing the tips of Berger VLDs to help promote expansion at lower speed impact velocity - that otherwise might not occur with the factory bullets. It includes an annealing video tutorial. The author states: "Annealing (softening) is one method of encouraging fragmentation of the VLD, meplat trimming to 70 thou and sacrificing BC for fast clean killing is another method."

Berger VLD annealing tutorial

And here's another video tutorial and discussion on annealing the Hornady SST and Interbond bullets:

SST and Interbond annealing tutorial

I learned first-hand this past fall that uniforming the meplat and hollow-pointing Berger VLDs has a tremendous impact on their rate of fragmentation. I used Kevin Cram's Meplat Uniforming tools. Here's the thread with the photos of the caribou carcass, showing how aggressively the Berger 210 VLDs expanded on impact. Both bullets still exited the caribou out the far side rib cage. With a 350 grain bullet, I'd expect you'd still get decent penetration even if the bullets opened quickly and aggressively.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/pics-berger-bullets-not-performing-103068/index24.html

Never saw entry side damage anything like this on other game animals I've shot with the factory 210 VLDs.

Getting the Sierra .375 350gr bullets to expand more readily be accomplished with annealing or meplat uniforming and hollow-pointing. Or doing both.

 

[midwesthunter]

Looks like what kirby started earlier this year, I wonder if he got around to any testing

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/boosting-bc-commerical-bullets-110694/

 

[Erik Kiser]

What about the idea of using a small four bladed die pressed into and back out of the hollow to cut 4 "perforations" in the tip of the jacket to try and promote the jacket tearing back into petals the way an X bullet does. The jacket is tough but maybe if you could ever get it tearing it may go ahead and expand. If you look at a cut away of the X bullet they are very thick at the nose and Barnes has then opening up beautifully. A sort of chink in the armor

 

[benchracer]

Looks like what kirby started earlier this year, I wonder if he got around to any testing

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/boosting-bc-commerical-bullets-110694/

That was a FASCINATING read. I don't know how I missed it. Thank you! It is things like this that leave me IN AWE of some of the talented people on this site. It is people pushing the boundaries like this that force manufacturers to keep improving their products. I am convinced that most of the REAL R&D is done in the field by individuals long before certain ideas appear in the marketplace.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Tips are on sale/clearance now at www.midway.com