Do not know if this would be helpful or not. Maybe you could drop a snail mail to them.
The Hanned Line - P.O. Box 2387 - Cupertino, CA 95015-2387.
Convert-A-Ball Die Review by Dan Walker
GB NOTE: Dan did a product review of the long version of this tool while Bruce reviewed the short version.
When the little box containing the Convert a Ball die from The Hanned corporation arrived from Graybeard, I immediately tore it open, and looked at the goodies it contained. The contents were rather meager. Just a threaded die and a single sheet of instructions. To say I was skeptical, is an understatement. After reading the instructions and pondering the claimed improvements made by the manufacturer, there was nothing left to do but get to work. Once I talked my buddy Rob out of a few battle packs of 8mm mauser fmj ammo and one of his surplus mauser 98's, I was in business.
The first order of the day was to convert some ammo for testing. The die and the simple instructions made this a breeze. I converted 100 rounds, using the convert a ball die, a hacksaw, and a file, in just about an hour and a half(working very slowly). I also kept 100 rounds in the normal configuration to use as a control group in my tests.
The conversion process using the long convert a ball die is the same as using the short die. The die screws into a reloading press, loaded ammo is run up into it, and a hacksaw is used to cut the tip of the bullet off, and a file is used to smooth the rough edges. The end product is a bullet about 5 grains lighter than what I started with, and having about a 3/16" wide meplat.
The first test was for accuracy. Over the course of a weekend, 20 5 shot groups were fired at 100 yards from a bench with each type of ammo. Due to a combination of lousy sights, a heavy trigger and a loose nut behind the stock, groups from the standard ammo averaged about 2.5 inches for 5 shots. The converted ammo averaged about the same as the unconverted ammo in my tests. Again, The rifle I was using was a bone stock surplus mauser 98 like you can buy for 49 bucks. It had a heavy, double stage trigger and lousy sights. I purposely chose this rifle because it represents what I feel the main purpose of the convert a ball die to be. That is, to allow you to use military surplus ammo and guns for hunting, and save money.
The next test was for penetration/bullet upset. I used boxes tightly filled with water soaked magazines as a test medium. 50 more rounds were converted with the convert a ball die for this test. The unmodified ammo was fired first. From 50 yards, the unmodified 154 grain fmj ammo penetrated an average of 14 inches in this extremely dense medium. The converted ammo really surprised me. I was stunned when I started tracing the wound channel through the box after the first shot. The bullet had produced a wound channel of about 2 inches in diameter and penetrated over 12 inches. It looked a lot like the path of a high velocity heavy cast bullet from my 45 colt. In the course of it's travel through the media, the bullet actually EXPANDED to 62 caliber, and shed much of it's core. This scene repeated itself for each of the subsequent shots.
The final test for the converted ammo came at the hands of my friends' son, Jimmy. Using the converted ammo made with the convert a ball die, Jimmy took a nice eating sized doe at about 85 yards. He hit her in the left side, broadside through the lungs. The bullet exited the off side, clipping the shoulder blade. He said at the shot she made a mad dash for about 30 yards and piled up. She dropped within sight, but he said he could have easily trailed her because the blood trail was vivid.
While one deer killed with this ammo is hardly an extensive field test, the penetration tests validate my finding that the Convert a Ball die does what it's supposed to. No, it won't make premium ammo out of surplus ammo, but it will allow people to use cheap surplus ammo and rifles to cleanly take game.
Dan Walker
Click Here for instructions from the company on the tool.
The Hanned Line
The Hanned Line - P.O. Box 2387 - Cupertino, CA 95015-2387.
