True Custom Bullets

Belt Mountain Punch bullets are turned from solid brass one at a time on a lathe. The base is then hollowed out resulting in a core filled with lead while the nose of the bullet is basically solid brass. The resulting Punch bullets are designed for one application, namely deep penetration on large heavily muscled and boned critters. Being made one at a time they are neither cheap nor designed for casual plinking; load them, sight in, and go hunting. Kelye’s newest offering is a 270 grain .430″ designed mainly for the .44 Magnum. This bullet is already being offered in loaded ammunition by Grizzly Cartridge Company and clocked out at just under 1,400 fps from my 71/2″ Freedom Arms .44 Magnum. You may recognize this name from Belt Mountain Base Pins for SA revolvers. Kelye Schlep runs both side of the business.

Other Punch bullets offered for sixgunners are a 300 grain .430″, 305 and 320 grain .452″ for the .45 Colt, .454 Casull and .460 Smith & Wesson; 380 grain .475″ for the .480 Ruger and .475 Linebaugh; 420 grain .500″ for the Freedom Arms .500 Wyoming Express and .500 S&W; and a 458 grain .510″ for the .500 Linebaugh. All of these bullets feature deep crimping grooves and in some cases a knurled gripping surface around the lower part of the bullet, which fits inside the case so they stay in place under heavy recoil.

NWCP Bullets

Bob Sauter of Northwest Custom Projectile (NWCP) offers a totally different style of bullet as well as different configurations for different applications. NWCP bullets are of more conventional materials — copper with a lead core — however there is nothing conventional about his designs. Bob not only offers plain-based bullets but also a RBBT, which is a rebated boattail. All handloaders know what a rifle boattail looks like, but I don’t know of anyone else who has ever offered the same design for handgun bullets. I first used these for loading heavy bullets in the .45 ACP and covered them in the Sept/Oct 2007 Taffin Tests.

NWCP bullets may be custom ordered as to wall thickness according to their intended use. A full house loaded .454 requires a much thicker wall than a standard .45 Colt. If the latter is pushed to the maximum in a .454, bullets can come apart, while the former in a 1,000 fps loading will probably not expand. Bob can custom tailor any bullets to the customer’s specifications. For the .45 NWCP not only offers the 260-grain RBBT Scorpion for regular hunting use, there is also the ManStopper, which is basically a full wadcutter with an obscene hollowpoint. These are not for long range accuracy but rather reasonably close maximum effectiveness. In the .50, the ManStopper is also offered, as well as a 350- grain flat-based, flat-tipped hunting bullet.

I have tested the NWCP 260 HP .45 Colt bullet in several Ruger Blackhawks. Loaded over 10.5 grains of Hodgdon’s Universal. it clocks out at just under 1,100 fps from a 71/2″ barrel and puts five shots into just under 1″ at 25 yards. Going to opposite extremes, this bullet over 6.0 grains of Universal in the .45 Auto Rim is a pleasant shooting 800 fps from a 4″ S&W Model 25 and does 1,480 fps with 35 grains of Hodgdon’s Li’l Gun loaded in the .460 S&W. In both cases 25 yard groups are right at 1″. In the 83/8″ S&W .500 the 350 grain Soft Point over 30 grains of H4227 is just under 1,300 fps while staying well under 1″ at 25 yards.

For serious sixgunners, especially for hunting, one or both of these companies can offer custom bullets which will get the job done.

For more info: Belt Mountain Punch (406) 388-1396, www.beltmountain.com; NWCP (406) 723-8683

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