I made bullets!!!!

[BadgerBob]

I MADE BULLETS!!! Sorry didn't mean to yell, but this is a new experiance for me. I cant believe that I waited this long to start swaging bullets. I have had no luck at all finding a smaller quantity of 17 or 22 cal jackets (other than Corbin, I can buy bullets for what he wants for jackets) I don't think I'm ready to buy 7000 jackets just yet. So in desperation I made a 22LR jacket maker, after I ironed out (no pun) a few little problems, it worked great. So after I made a couple hundred jackets with book in hand I jumped in with both feet. The dies that I got where in a RCBS box that just said 22 bullet dies, no other labeling so with the help of some pictures I sort of figured out what the different dies did. The first thing I figured out was that you should take the time to anchor the press down, before you start (what can I say, I was excited). Anyway after a few tries out popped a cool little 22 cal 48gr brass colored bullet, I was hooked.

I posted this on another thread but I will ask again, is there anyplace other than Corbin to get a lesser amount of jackets. I don't think that I'm ready to just jump in and buy 10000 jackets (7000 17's and 3000 22's per bucket)

One other question, there seems to be some debate on weather to anneal the 22 hulls before I swag them or after. I read somewhere that just put them in a metal container and throw them in the wood stove for a few hours (important safety reminider...triple check to make sure there are no loaded rounds, other wise it will make a loud noise and scare your wife and dogs, and she will not let you use the wood stove any more) (not that I did that) (glad I used a strong metal can) So do I anneal before or after forming?? (think I will wait till my wife is out of the house next time)

Oops one more, one of the other fellows on the forum suggested that I make up a set of draw dies to make 20 cal jackets out of 22's and so on. How much of a step down can one take at a time? Is it feasible to draw down the 22 LR jackets to 20 or 17?

Thanks
Bob

[dungheap]

Glad I set the ol' coffee cup down before reading your post, BB, or I would have had it coming out my nose!

Sorry, I can't offer any input concerning your project, just wanted to thank you for a morning chuckle.

Did you look into J4 jackets (if they're still around)?

[MIBULLETS]

Bob, you definately can reduce those 22 jacket to 17 and 20. You can reduce them to 20 in one step, but may want to reduce them to 20 before going down to 17. If you are looking for a die to do this or making one, you should look into a reduce/trim die. This die will reduce the jacket and pinch trim it in one step.

I anneal the jackets after de-riming them instead of before, this is the most common practice, some guys are convinced that it is better to do this before. I find that I get much better luch annealing after, less poping through, but it somewhat easier.

[vmthtr in Green Bay]

J4 is the ones that sell in buckets. I have no idea where you can buy in small numbers. A friend makes our BR bullets on a J4 jacket. Bought a die set from Blackmon. He won the Nationals for Hunter Benchrest one year with them. Ron Bertrand is his name. I tried and it is not for me.

[rickiesrevenge]

You can get sierra jackets for the 22. https://www.sierrabullets.com/index.cfm?section=store&page=purchase_bullet_jackets

They are sold in 1k lots.

Aaron

[BadgerBob]

You can get sierra jackets for the 22. https://www.sierrabullets.com/index.cfm?section=store&page=purchase_bullet_jackets

They are sold in 1k lots.

Aaron

Out of stock!! And from the sounds of it they have been for some time.
Bob

[redrock ranger]

Berger makes the J4 jacket. I think Bruno's sells Berger J4. I think a bucket is the smallest quantity. Check both websites.

Corbin did sell jackets in quantities as small as 250, if i remember correctly.

[Greyfox1947]

I have no idea if you are even interested, but it looks as though Berger has enough jackets to sell to last a while:

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?84844-J4-Jacket-News

just sayin'

Rick

[iiranger]

I assume by "Corbin" you mean Dave who is the bigger "noise" in the business and sells at prices reflecting his efforts.

He has a brother, Richard. [RCECO.COM] Formerly they were partners I think. Among other things swaging related, Rich is on his own and offers jackets as available in bags of 200 for around $10.00 and up. Bigger cups cost more, Oh Surprise... LUCK. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Happy Trails. :D

[redrock ranger]

Yes ,i know who Richard is. I have a Walnut Hill Press and all the necessary stuff required to make bullets. FORSALE. Yes i know who Dave is. Used his jackets.

[BadgerBob]

I made a set of draw dies, to draw 22lr cases down to 20 and then to 17. I had about 6, 22 short cases that I used to make some 27gr 17 bullets, but I think that I need to anneal them again before I form the points most of them split. The other problem is that a LR case stretched out to 17 is about .910 long so I either have to figure out how to cut them down or make some 70gr 17 bullets.

Still cant believe that I didn't get into this any sooner, this stuff is bunch of fun. I figure that the new will wear off sooner of later, but till then I have all kinds of ideas.

Bob

[larryinIA]

Bob....you got any rooms available? LOL

[redrock ranger]

I was on Dave Cobins site today. He had small quantity's listed. I think 17 and 224 jackets where the smallest caliber. I used a few of his .243 jackets,not J4 but respectable.. for varmints .

[MIBULLETS]

Bob, I'll be curious how your 20 and 17 bullets on the 22 jackets work out. I know most keep the 22s around 3000fps. I have shot them faster without any issues but the barrel was very smooth. Interested to see how fast you can shoot them accurately.

[BadgerBob]

If I cant figure out how to trim the jackets we may never know how fast I can push them. I did peel the jacket off one of the 17gr Vmax, there about the same as a a 22lr case in thickness.

Come on out you can share the craft room with Crazyhorse, Oh and Max my dog him and Matt have become great friends.

Bob

[crazyhorse]

Heck yea I needed more days this last time! Take your xtra thick thermals! That WY breeze is a special kind of brutal. I bet Max has been missin me this week...next time I take my nuclear fusion powered jammies :D

Matt

[redrock ranger]

Dave or Richard Corbin makes a { die?} called a pinch trim die for the trimming process. If my memory serves me correctly. Perhaps there is a picture on the website.

[MIBULLETS]

They can make two types of dies, one is a pinch trim die as mentioned, but they also can make a die that reduces and trims in one step. To do this you may have to go directly from 22 to 17 though. I would ask Corbin if interested.

I saw where someone either here or on Castboolits swaging fourm made their own trim die like Corbins ET-1 style.

Here is the link to both of them...

http://www.corbins.com/et-1.htm

[BadgerBob]

Well I been busy again, I was looking at those 22lr/17 bullet jackets and decided to see what I could come up with. I did it! I made some bullets out of them.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/1219120710.jpg
The one on the right is a H-G 37gr bullet, the one on the left is my 46gr bullet. OK so I was bored. Sorry about the crapy picture.
Bob

[Hotshot]

I'd like to buy some of those for my 17-300Weatherby. I want to work up a load for elk hunting next year. Can you make anything heavier?

[ab_bentley]

Wow, 46gr 17cal. Adam

[BadgerBob]

I made a punch today that cuts the 22lr cases down to .400 in length and just under 20 cal in dia. It works great, after I get them cut down I run them through the 17 ring die and I have a 17 cal jacket that comes out at .530 in length, I think they will work good for 20 and 25 grain bullets. I'm just going to have to wait and see if I need to anneal them again.

Bob

[MIBULLETS]

Bob, did you make the punch to work with your current draw die?

[BadgerBob]

Yes I just made a different punch that would draw a portion of the case down to 20 cal then there is a portion of the punch that is the same size as the ring die, that shears the case off at that point, works better than I thought it would.

I just made some 20 and 18 grain bullets to try them out, everything went just fine, now to shoot them and see how they do.

Bob
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/1220122301.jpg

[MIBULLETS]

Excellent! Can't wait to hear how they shoot.

[ray h]

Bob when you pinch cut a jacket off, how smooth is that cut. Does it cause any problems when reducing the jacket dia down? Can you control the OAL of the jacket accurately?? Pretty neat that you can think of an idea and then make it to see how it works.

[crazyhorse]

Cant wait to try some of those babies out Bob...

Ray my bud that died in a plane accident used to tell me at work every day "if the women dont find ya handsome at least they find you handy" :D Dano J. was a character.

Matt

[ray h]

Good point Matt. Those bullets may not BIBs but if they are moa gopher then they're good to go. Plus it's something Bob made from rf cases everyone throws away. Hope we get get a field report soon.

[MIBULLETS]

Bob, was wondering what brand dies you are using to make those 17s?

[clipperbill]

Hi
I'm delighted that you made some bullets from the SAS you obtained from me!
I think it's great that you can make jackets from your homemade dies.
Your bullets will equal accuracy of any of the commercial hollow points.
Bye,

Bill

[BadgerBob]

Bill, I haven't had this much fun since I got my first lathe! I just cant believe that it took me this long to get started. Thank you very much for the equipment and all the help.

The dies and press are SAS, I figure that there pretty old but they work great. I had to make a few parts to get the draw dies to work with my press but so far they work good. I finally got some better pictures.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/17dies.jpg
This is the set of SAS 17 caliber dies.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/drawdies.jpg
This is the set of draw dies that I made to take 22 long rifle cases down to 20 or 17
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/trimdie.jpg
This is the trim die that takes a 22 jacket to 20 cal and trims it to .400

Bob

[BadgerBob]

Again some better pictures.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/jacketmouth.jpg
This is a jacket that has been drawn to 17, the jacket mouth is not real rough but it is not completly smooth either but is is good enough to make a decent bullet.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/17bullets.jpg
A better picture of the 20gr bullets before they have been cleaned.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/SASpress.jpg
The SAS press, its an oldie but a goody.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee481/RwBeV/46grhornet.jpg
And finally my 17 AH loaded with one of my new 46gr 17 cal bullets, I havent shot any of them yet, Im still waiting for my 3 twist barrel to show up.

Bob

[BadgerBob]

I made some 17 bullets yesterday, with the J4 jackets that showed up I made some 18 and 23 grain I also made the same weight with the jackets I made from 22 lr cases.

In the morning were going to go give the 23 grain bullets a smoke test, not sure what we will find but Im going to shoot them at something, coyote, jack rabbit or maybe just a rock but Im going to shoot them. Im sure that the J4 jackets will hold up to the speed but the big question is weather the home made jackets will. I did notice that the home made jackets where the same thickness as the j4's and there the same weight. I guess we will see.

Bob

[MIBULLETS]

Well good luck to ya! BTW, what will you be shooting then out of?

[BadgerBob]

I loaded them in my 17 Rem with a load that should be around 4K, the coyotes didn't corporate today so I stopped by the place I have a range set up on a friends place. I have a 1/2" thick steel gong set up, at 100 yards all five bullets made it to the gong and I had a about a 1 inch group, just leaning over the hood of the truck. I think that there going to work just fine.

Bob

[stephen perry 1]

Bob
Your Thread on making the dies to make your .17 and .20 bullets is near heroic. Needs to be kept on the first page a long time so new guys can see the worthwhile struggle to make those gems we call bullets. Reminds me of early B&A bullet making dies, Congrats Bob.

Stephen Perry

[george ulrich]

nice job I have a couple of sas presses and a set of 30 cal. dies for them. maybe i'll play around and do some smaller sizes for them. george

[BadgerBob]

To me its sort of like starting at the beginning, I know this press is probably as old as me, but it still make pretty decent bullets. Even the 17 bullets that I'm making out of 22lr cases shoot pretty darn good for no more than I have in them. I know that I need to modernize if I'm going to better my bullet making but for now I'm having a ball.

I sure appreciate all the information that all of you have posted on here, it makes it a heck of a lot easier for a fellow like me that is just starting out with this craft.

Thanks again guys
Bob

[george ulrich]

by the way if you want to clean jackets after draw try citric acid powder 2 tablespoons per gallon boiling or at least hot water then rinse in hot water. allow to dry. or if you want to clean after point up vibrating tumbler with rice. george

[BadgerBob]

I found that if I tumble them with my stainless steel pins, after I make the initial jacket they come out like brand new, there really pretty!

Bob

[Bill K]

Hey Bob. What or how long is the throat on your 17AH to get that 46 grain into it ? I am still trying to get another coyote with the 30's you sent me. Just the one so far.. Missed one however, not your bullets fault ;) It was the nut on the trigger :D Bill K