Is the round nose pistol bullet not politically correct anymore ?

[Ben]

I seldom see people casting, shooting , or buying round nose handgun moulds anymore.
Seems that the wide flat meplats, the " Keiths ", etc. are the dominant moulds now.

In my T/C Contender , 32 H & R mag., the Lee , 100 gr. RN is the front runner in the accuracy dept.- - - ( right now )

I got outside and cast more today.
May not be politically correct, but it certainly shoots well !

Ben

4 bullets below in a nice tight little group :

 

[JWFilips]

Well Ben, awhile back I bought an old Ideal 358311 mould off the eBay dang it..... it did shoot better then anything else I had in my 357 mag S&W 19 and my .38 Spec S&W 15 ( even though the mould had some issues with a damaged mould top. Had my buddy mill off a bit of the base area of the mould Then sent it to "Buckshot" to hollow point for me When it came back Magically it was even better! To this day it is the best shooting bullet in my .357 mag and my .38 Spec yeah a round nose!

 

[williamwaco]

Well, Since you asked.

My first experience with a "real" handgun was a .38 special with the "police special" loads. 158 grain round nose lead bullets at about three feet per second.

Those loads would not break a pop bottle at 10 yards. They would send it spinning away but would not break it. They would not penetrate the window of a late '40s model car body if they impacted at an angle.

My mentor told me it was because of the round nose bullets. Of course he wanted to sell me the equipment to load the .38. Which I bought - and started loading the Ray Thompson design cast bullet.

Well Two things happened. I could break glass and penetrate tin cans at the dump. And it made beautiful round holes in a paper target.

I have never owned a round nose bullet mold.

 

[Brad]

I don't own any RN pistol moulds. I own a few RNFP but no RN. Can't really say why.
I do think some is because so many want a bullet for hunting/self defense/ whatever and feel a RN isn't a good choice.

 

[RicinYakima]

I remember an article written by Al Miller for Handloader many years ago. Every one agrees that RN's bullets can be accurate. (I think because more of the mass of the bullet is behind the top driving band.) but like Waco says, does not deliver much shock. Miller's position was that for the 40+'s it made them into pistols for eatable small game. A 44 of 45 slit is easier to deal with than a 45+ cone blown out the off side.

The Lyman #311576 is the most accurate bullet in my 32/20 contender, so it I want to shoot groups, that is what I use.

 

[JWFilips]

A round nose with big Hollow point Would change those folks minds!

 

[williamwaco]

A round nose with big Hollow point Would change those folks minds!

OOOOhhh. Those sure are purrrdy.

 

[Ben]

Assuming the RN to be ineffective design as a defensive bullet, the 45 ACP and 45 Colt have fared pretty well for over 100 yrs with their RN designs.

Seems that in WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, ( & other engagements..... ) the old 45 ACP with its RN design has fared pretty well .

Ben

( Jim....those HP's look awesome ! ! )

 

[Brad]

True, but they lack "sex appeal" and that is what sells. The uninformed are not concerned with things like facts about the ability of a large caliber round nose to "stop" things.

 

[Ben]

Brad,

I think you're right, many want a " Do - All cast bullet ", that is a good paper puncher, a good defensive round, a good this , a good that and one that the " In Crowd " has positive remarks about. Can it actually do all these things ?

One caliber, one mould....the ultimate .

Ben

 

[Ian]

Off topic, but that's a really good photograph, Jim.

 

[quicksylver]

Well Ben...I use RN in my 45,9mm,38 ,357, 38 Super,44 and 45 Colt. They feed reliably in the autos and look really cool ,read old timey,in the wheel guns.
Absolutely no issues with accuracy, ricochets maybe, holes harder to score.

You can make them look like the old outside lubed ,black powder bullets.

I still have unopened boxes of Winchester,lead RN ,357's

Now there is leading waiting to happen.

 

[35 shooter]

Round nose bullets have been getting the job done on the target range or in the hunting fields for a lot more years than any of us have been around.

I've always liked the way a rn bullet looks in a loaded cartridge too...something simple and clean about it to me.
Of course when i was a lot younger they were a more common sight than now.

Flat points probably impart more shock, but a fairly blunt rn is not far behind to me.
My problem is that i like them all lol....makes for a lot of molds in the collection!!

 

[quicksylver]

E. Keith had a lot to do with the "demise " of the RN.

Anyone remember those days?

 

[RicinYakima]

Ben, Having seen RN ACP 45's use in RVN, and RN .30 carbines, they are not as effective as reputed. Also having worked as a firefighter/medic for 28 years, the RN makes a nice slit .45" wide, better than anything smaller, but just a slit. They are really effective if they hit a long bone, upper arm, thigh, or the spine. Then the mass of the .45 ACP really shows its power. Never had a patient shot with a 45 Colt lead bullet, so can't comment on those.

 

[Rally Hess]

In either 1981 or 1982, a soldier at Ft. Hood,Tx, signed a .45 out of his arms room,and went to his kids school and shot his wife in the parkinglot of the school. He later got into a gunfight with the Harker Heights Pd, who were issued .357's with 125gr FMJ's. They shot the soldier seven times, mostly in the extremities, but also once in the neck. He was eating, drinking and in good enough health to give a statement 2 days later, had he not declined.
Didn't take long for the ammo makers to come out with more lethal versions for the .380's alot of cops used at the time for back-up pieces either.
I own two .38, one 9mm(conical RN), and one .45 Rn moulds but haven't been real impressed with wound channels on shot game (particularly beaver). I've been way more impressed with what I've witnessed with KT or HP bullets in both pistol and rifles shooting pistol calibers.

 

[Winelover]

I cast 125 grain RN for my nines and don't have feeding issues in all that I've tried them in. Load 158 grain RN in 38 Special cause they seem to work the best with speed loaders.

 

[Ben]

As we go on with this, seems many are " open " to the RN concept in certain situations while others don't care for the bullet style at all.

A bit like Ford and Chevy, UUhhh ?
We all have our preferences, nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Rick]

Ford or Chevy?

Maybe it's that there are different nose styles because different styles work better or worse than other styles for a given purpose. Ignoring that then yeah, Ford or Chevy.

 

[Brad]

What I really prefer is a taper from nose to bore diameter with no sharp front band. I think that can be far more important than the shape of the unsupported nose.
Get a bullet not the bore straight and let it engrave straight and it is gonna shoot pretty well. For paper or steel I'm not too concerned with terminal ballistics.