Keeping with the hardware store theme of the last couple of posts, today we’ll be covering a hole-saw projectile design. The difference is this one was originally meant to cut into wood.

Stanley W. “Bill” Kaswer was a gunsmith and avid bowling pin shooter. His goal was to design a projectile to cleanly knock pins off of the three-foot depth of the table. Rounded ogive bullets already have a nasty tendency to glance off of rounded impact surfaces, and pins react unpredictably to anything other than a directly centered hit. They can tip over, spin, and roll. But your time doesn’t stop until all of the pins have left the table.

Some shooters found that hollowpoint bullets worked a little better on edge hits. Kaswer’s thought was that if he serrated the edge of a hollowpoint bullet, the saw teeth might bite better and prevent glancing from off-center hits. Kaswer started with a hard cast lead core that was seated into a jacket and swaged to shape in a Corbin press. The jacket was merely intended to preventing lead fouling.

Kaswer Custom Inc. was formed in June 1987. Kaswer filed his patent application in September 1987, and received US Patent #4,829,906 in June 1989.

Pin Grabbers were introduced at the Second Chance Bowling Pin match in 1987. Lorraine Ferns used Pin Grabbers to set a new women’s world record, knocking off a full two seconds of the previous record. She teamed up with Mike Plaxco to take first in Mixed Doubles, and she also took second in Mixed Doubles while teamed with Dave Wheeler. Ferns and Susan Cooper took second in Women’s Doubles.

By 1988, loaded ammunition was available in .380 Auto, 9x19mm, .38 Super, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, 10mm Auto, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .45 Auto, .45 Colt, and .45 Winchester Magnum. Depending upon the cartridge, prices ranged from $40 to $50 per fifty round box. Individual projectiles were also available for handloaders for $20 to $30 per 100 bullets. However, special seating dies were required to prevent deforming the saw teeth.

By 1990, Kaswer’s lineup included the hunting-oriented Game Grabber in rifle calibers, the self-defense Law Grabber, and the polymer core Turbo Grabber. Alas, I do not have ballistics for these.

Bill Kaswer’s 2015 obituary:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newstimes/name/stanley-kaswer-obituary?id=15631921