When I was a teenager hunting squirrel and rabbit my granddad told me that if I took a knife and cut an X in the tip of my bullet I would have more killing power. I tried it a few times with .22s but didn’t see any difference except that the bullets weren’t quite as accurate at longer ranges then the uncut ones. Has any one else heard of this or done it?
Cutting an ‘X’ in the tip of a bullet?
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Dum Dum......
Early 'dum dum' bullets were made this way, which was a form of expanding or mushrooming bullets. The bullet still has to have enough velocity and the lead much be soft enough to deform. Cutting an 'X' isn't a guarantee of a more effective bullet, as the bullet needs to be designed to expand correctly and be the correct hardness of lead. The Dum Dum arsenal in India removed jackets from FMJ bullets to make softer bullet that would flatten on impact. An expanding bullet can create a larger wound, especially at the exit. This lead governments to limit use of expanding ammunition because putting a hole in a person was more humane than mutilating them.
Anyway, cutting an 'X' CAN make a more deadly round, but it's not guaranteed. If you want to use meat from game you shoot, Dum Dums can destroy otherwise good meat.
Modern day JHP bullets can, when selected carefully, do a better, more controlled job than cutting with a jackknife and be more accurate.
Early 'dum dum' bullets were made this way, which was a form of expanding or mushrooming bullets. The bullet still has to have enough velocity and the lead much be soft enough to deform. Cutting an 'X' isn't a guarantee of a more effective bullet, as the bullet needs to be designed to expand correctly and be the correct hardness of lead. The Dum Dum arsenal in India removed jackets from FMJ bullets to make softer bullet that would flatten on impact. An expanding bullet can create a larger wound, especially at the exit. This lead governments to limit use of expanding ammunition because putting a hole in a person was more humane than mutilating them.
Anyway, cutting an 'X' CAN make a more deadly round, but it's not guaranteed. If you want to use meat from game you shoot, Dum Dums can destroy otherwise good meat.
Modern day JHP bullets can, when selected carefully, do a better, more controlled job than cutting with a jackknife and be more accurate.
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I remember drilling holes in the tip back around 1970? worked pretty good [emoji1]
Now, the best....
Now, the best JHPs are so expensive if I need HPs I'll break out the drill.
Now, the best JHPs are so expensive if I need HPs I'll break out the drill.
DWalt
Member
I remember special jigs being sold on the reloading tool market that made the hollow-pointing operation more precise and uniform. No idea how well they worked. I'd think for handgun loads, very soft lead bullets would be required. I remember back when I was a kid, one of my father's friends always cut an X in his rifled slugs for deer hunting (at that time, Ohio allowed only rifled slugs for deer hunting). Again, I have no idea if they worked any better with the X, probably not.
zzzippper
Member
Load a hollow base wad cutter upside down.
ACP230
Member
Heard of it.
Have not done it.
Someone gave me a few rounds of .30-06 ball (WWII vintage) that had the tip of the bullet sawn off. Supposedly used for deer hunting when the
GIs came home.
I didn't shoot it. I read that sometimes the lead core would squirt out
of the bullet and leave the jacket in the bore. Hilarity would not
ensue on the next shot.
Have not done it.
Someone gave me a few rounds of .30-06 ball (WWII vintage) that had the tip of the bullet sawn off. Supposedly used for deer hunting when the
GIs came home.
I didn't shoot it. I read that sometimes the lead core would squirt out
of the bullet and leave the jacket in the bore. Hilarity would not
ensue on the next shot.
Tried it when young to my 22 bullets, but being a young kid with a dull knife, things went down hill, from there on ........
Today a Dremal with a drill press stand might work, if you
had a jig or unit to hold the shells steady or maybe five cci
plastic trays glued together ?
Do you want them holes, BIG or small, buddy ?
Today a Dremal with a drill press stand might work, if you
had a jig or unit to hold the shells steady or maybe five cci
plastic trays glued together ?
Do you want them holes, BIG or small, buddy ?
Texas Star
US Veteran
I've read of mobsters doing that and putting garlic or poison in the X to cause infection if the bullet didn't kill. I think the cop in, Jaws put mercury in a hollowed out .38 Special bullet.
Dum-Dum Arsenal loaded lead bullets in two versions of the Manstopper. One was a big wadcutter and the other was a HP. Both were said to be very effective. These were lead.
Britain reverted to the lead RN .455 bullet, MK II, for WWI, but in 1938, Germany raised a diplomatic ruckus about lead bullets and they began jacketing handgun ammo. That remained the norm in WWII and later.
I don't approve of cutting bullets in .22. Probably harms accuracy and bullet integrity. A .22LR HP is going to be deadly enough on game of suitable size. There's a special load that expands gradually and penetrates well on big Australian hares. I think I'd use it on coyotes or other animals at the limit of what a .22 should be used for. Winchester used to sell it as the Power Point. I hope they still import it.
Dum-Dum Arsenal loaded lead bullets in two versions of the Manstopper. One was a big wadcutter and the other was a HP. Both were said to be very effective. These were lead.
Britain reverted to the lead RN .455 bullet, MK II, for WWI, but in 1938, Germany raised a diplomatic ruckus about lead bullets and they began jacketing handgun ammo. That remained the norm in WWII and later.
I don't approve of cutting bullets in .22. Probably harms accuracy and bullet integrity. A .22LR HP is going to be deadly enough on game of suitable size. There's a special load that expands gradually and penetrates well on big Australian hares. I think I'd use it on coyotes or other animals at the limit of what a .22 should be used for. Winchester used to sell it as the Power Point. I hope they still import it.
cowart
US Veteran
Thats the "Dynapoint" - note the tiny dimple in the nose of the bullet, instead of an actual deep hollow point.
In the movie "The Bear," you can one of the hunters cutting Xs in his bullets.
I've heard of it.
I've also heard of removing buckshot splitting them like a split shot sinker, then crimping them onto a thin wire and stuffing them back into the shell, or opening a buckshot shell and pouring in glue (really seemed like a DUMB idea), and sealing the shell up to make a slug (real slugs weren't allowed then).
Never tried any of them. Somehow it always seemed that the people who designed, manufactured and sold the stuff probably knew more than I did...or than the people telling me to do that stuff did either.
I've also heard of removing buckshot splitting them like a split shot sinker, then crimping them onto a thin wire and stuffing them back into the shell, or opening a buckshot shell and pouring in glue (really seemed like a DUMB idea), and sealing the shell up to make a slug (real slugs weren't allowed then).
Never tried any of them. Somehow it always seemed that the people who designed, manufactured and sold the stuff probably knew more than I did...or than the people telling me to do that stuff did either.
I tried cutting an "X" in bullets when I was a young lad. Found out it was just a ploy by Johnson & Johnson to sell more Band-Aids.
M E Morrison
Member
Yes, it was pretty common advice when I was a kid - along with "ringing" a birdshot shell to turn it into sort of a slug.
Both were bad ideas!
I know some of the local red necks up here did that in the past. Some also drilled a little hole in a shotgun slug and put a sheet metal screw in the center, they swore it made that huge slug even more deadly.
Yes I have seen both kinds of those loads here, but do not know if they were still being shot.
zzzippper
Member
The assassin in the original The Day of the Jackal did that, causing the mercury to slam forward when it hit something solid and explode the bullet. He didn't get DeGaulle though. I didn't see the Bruce Willis version.
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Arik
Member
English soldiers did this in ww1 to punch through the metal plates the German snipers hid behind
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DWalt
Member
Originally Posted by zzzippper View Post
Load a hollow base wad cutter upside down.
Not quite - they simply reversed the FMJ military bullets, not hollow-base WCs. Germans did it also. Also, probably so did every other combatant. It worked after a fashion.
The shedding of the jackets FMJ military bullets which had the tip cut to expose the lead core is a myth. Julian Hatcher, in "Hatcher's Notebook," discusses it thoroughly.
Load a hollow base wad cutter upside down.
Not quite - they simply reversed the FMJ military bullets, not hollow-base WCs. Germans did it also. Also, probably so did every other combatant. It worked after a fashion.
The shedding of the jackets FMJ military bullets which had the tip cut to expose the lead core is a myth. Julian Hatcher, in "Hatcher's Notebook," discusses it thoroughly.
Frank237
Absent Comrade
Hollywood BS...just another inaccuracy regarding firearms that they show in movies from time to time.
I always liked the Sniper who was FILING the tips of his .308 rds with a small file to somehow "true them up" ?????
Or the 9mm rounds that can not only PENETRATE the steel of an LP Gas cylinder, but IMMEDIATELY cause it to explode.
I always liked the Sniper who was FILING the tips of his .308 rds with a small file to somehow "true them up" ?????
Or the 9mm rounds that can not only PENETRATE the steel of an LP Gas cylinder, but IMMEDIATELY cause it to explode.
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