Hollow based minie in Smith Carbine

[B-Davis]

To All:

Good day, to all! So in my own personal curiosity and desperation for a mold for my new Smith, I ended up taking a Lee 50 cal hollow based trashcan mold and tinkered a bit. I took valve polishing compound and polished out the cavity to .513. The Smith has a Hoyt reline done. I took an educated guess and tried 32 grains of 3F with NO filler in the black rubber casings with metallic flash holes. I only casted five rounds and expected key holes everywhere. Well here was the results at 50 yds offhand: Triple with a fourth round just missing the triple! The flier was my fault and I knew I jerked the trigger, but still in the size of a clay.

[Lou Lou Lou]

Outstanding. Did not believe I?ve ever heard of a HB smith round. Congratulations

[Tim Iannuzzi]

That's pretty impressive! Cool experiment. Congrats.

[Keith Williams]

Huh, what timing...I just suggested to our most senior carbine shooter to have his buddy create a hollow base bullet for him...what design, weight, or configuration I do not know. I will PM you.

Good stuff!

Keith A. Williams
15th. Reg VA Vol Cav

[Scooby]

I seem to recall reading that the military 45-70 projectile was hollow based, so I think it's an established notion.

[jonk]

I have a hollow based rcbs 540 Hodgson that works fine in a sharps so don't see why it wouldn't be fine in a smith. As noted some cartridges have a base that's hollow, not just the 45 70. The only challenge I see is not denting in seating.

[B-Davis]

I use the black plastic/rubber cartridges. As for the loading, since the cartridge is placed ?bullet forward?,it does not affect the actual bullet. The bullet has already entered the breech.

[Moose]

Hello All, Moose from Moose Moulds.
I've been shooting a hollow base minnie for years now in my smith.
Funny, Moose Moulds offers that mould now!!!!!!

[efritz]

I have seen a lot of good 5 shot groups. Take some of those 5 shot groups out to 10 shots and some are not so great. Have a Hodgdon that invariably shoots 8 tight and 2 wide. Worked with that bullet for quite a while. Never found a reason for it. Weighed them measured them inspected them etc. lost some good targets because of that bullet. Not knocking your experiment. Would like to see 10 shot group and then repeat it. Repeating is important.

[B-Davis]

First,
Moose, great to hear you have a hollow based minie for the Smith! Are there pics of the minie and what is the size? I am interested!
Eric, fair evaluation and statement. I myself am mainly interested for hunting, and five shots would be more than plenty, for my needs. But, you are correct about consistency. I have sent some of these to an interested person and they are going to try them to see how they work for them. More reliable date is more reliable results. As for the ?why?? Well, I always like to have multiple resources for things I need. If there is another viable resource, why not?