Ed Harris
posted this
25 April 2011
Here is a fine example of what Erik at http://www.hollowpointmold.com>http://www.hollowpointmold.com can do in modifying a standard mold into something more useful. The Saeco #351 is a plainbased, spitzer design intended for use in the .357 Contender pistol. The mold I got from Midway did not look like the catalog picture, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gotten it.
Its original spitzer nose was too long to feed through a 94 Winchester if crimped in the crimp groove. Its .12 diameter meplat was smaller than I wanted to chance using in a tubular magazine. Its bore riding nose of .350 was too small in diameter to engage the rifling. The bearing surface of the bullet was less than 1.5 times its diameter, so wasn't sure that it would shoot well. Almost everything was wrong, but I couldn't return the mold because I had cast a bunch of bullets from various alloys to try. Firing tests confirmed it didn't shoot as well as the RCBS 35-200FN, so I remelted the lead and was “stuck” with the mold.
Mom always told me when you have lemons, make lemonade. So, I sent it off to Erik with an upset throat slug from my Winchester 94 relined and rechambered to .35/.30-30. Erik did his inset-bar conversion truncating the nose to produce a .25 diameter meplat, with a nose length of .50 from the crimp groove to flat. The nose cavity is 60 degrees included angle and 0.6 of the meplat diameter. He cut a new front driving band ahead of the crimp groove which is .175 wide and .359 diameter to fit the throat of the rifle. He also widened and enlarged the rear driving band while reducing the width and depth of the lube groove to strengthen the base. I was not concerned with lube groove capacity because I will use lee Liquid Alox and the entire surface of the bullet will be “slobbered” anyway. The resulting modified plainbased bullet weighs 200 grains in soft BHN 10 alloy, vs. 208 grs. for the original Saeco spitzer.
Overall cartridge length crimped in reformed .30-30 brass is 2.52", which is about ideal. The bullet shoots better than I can hold with 8 grs. of Bullseye. More loading tinkering to come...
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia