Samples, and goofing around

[DsGrouse]

270 grain swaged lead SWCs.





270, 280, 290, 300, and 360 grain bullets.

[DsGrouse]

Here is the 360-grain bullet chrono data.

Three crimps, two seating depths, and one powder charge. This, I think, is part of the reason the SD is a bit wider than I expected.



One of the spent bullets after hitting steel.





As for the groups,
270 grainers, about a 4-inch group at 55yds
280 grainers, a 4.5 inch group.
290's was a 5 inch group at 55 yds
300-grain bullets were about a 4" group.

The 360's I shot at Steel, and they all hit, so...at least an 8" group. Everything did well, it fired, and velocity was right in the realm I'd expected. They all hit the paper and steel. So, I consider it a positive outcome. I think as I get new dies and refine my process, I'll be in a position to create better and more consistent ammo.

[DsGrouse]

More samples. These are 200 to 260 grain samples


A few 290 to 310 grain swaged bullets.



A few 280 grain JHP samples


Final samples 362-364 grain JSPs. Next up, trim down the cases to make this same bullet at 280 grain and 300 grain sizes.




The smacked ends are due to having to tap the bullets out of the swage press using a mallet. I'm thinking I can fix that in the future by using a different process.

I've putting in an order for swaging dies and presses. I'll keep at this as time goes by and let you all know how it goes.

[DsGrouse]

I finally got some guilding metal jackets in. I've got more on the way. Here are a few .452 cal samples using .680 and .840 length jackets.



Issues I found with jackets. They tend to crush more easily than spent brass used as a jacket. Meaning the length I set the dies at is a little more finicky. You can see some of the in the tops and bottoms of the bullets. Each one of these was a different adjustment. The fine lines on the bullet jacket is lube. It wipes off.

The .840 jackets are interesting as they did really well in the point forming stage. I think if I back out the die when using the .840 jacket, I can eliminate that folded portion.

The .680 Jackets should make perfect 300 grain +- 3-grain bullets with minor adjustments in die length.

All in all, I am quite pleased with how the jackets and bullets turned out. I need to do a few solid-tipped JSPs instead of the hollow points.

[DsGrouse]

Samples part two... 0.680 jackets again
300grn JHP test samples



290 grain JSP test samples



I've a bit of fine-tuning to do. I need to add a bit of material to my core and swage it down with a bleed off. That should even out the noses of the bullets. I'm also probably hitting the bullets too hard when ejecting them, which is giving some that splayed-out nose.

[Hatchdog]

^^^^^^^ maybe so but you sure are making progress. This last batch is looking great.

[CT_Shooter]

I enjoy reading about this very interesting project. Thanks for sharing your progress as you go. I'm impressed.

[DsGrouse]

So, I took the advice of another swager and set my cores to about 3 grains over the weight I wanted. I put the cores in the core Seating die, then passed them into the tipping die just enough to give the copper jacket a curve. Once that was done, I ran the cores back through the core seating die with the bleed-off ram.

The result after running them through the point-forming die? +- 0.3 grains on my 300-grain bullets.

Photos are prior to trimming the sprue.
My best ones yet.




I also went back through my previously run bullets and ran them through the point forming die again. I'd finally gotten the point form die right where I wanted it. That second pass uniformed my bullets considerably. I'm looking forward to trying them out. Does anyone want to help fund a couple of blocks of clear ballistic gel?

[5shot]

It's been interesting watching your skills evolve to the point where you're turning out some really good looking bullets. I've never attempted swaging and will stick to casting. It's an old dog-new trick sort of thing with me. But, my prairie dog shooting buddy has made it into the Benchrest hall of fame using his own swaged bullets. He has either won or placed well in numerous national matches.

Carry on

[DsGrouse]

My blank-forming die arrived today. I gave it a go on both gilded and brass jacket bullets.


I need to play with the core weight and depth of the blank firing die. Ideally, I'd like the petals to be scored a little further down.

[DsGrouse]

This is my second attempt at using the blank firing dies. These are two of the failures. I need a few more grains in my lead core—probably 5 grains or so. I also need to work on swaging the core to the jackets.

That said, these two failures are an improvement over yesterday's attempts.

The brass jacket is 290 grains the copper jacket is 245 grains.

[DsGrouse]

The better swaged examples versus the ones that didn't turn out so well. Swaging is a learning process.

More of last night's efforts. I have a few ideas to improve my efforts. Especially with the brass jackets. I'll get there; consistency is the goal.

The better gilded metal Jacketed bullets, again, I think 5 more grains of lead would have helped.



The ones that had more than a few issues.



The brass jacketed bullets. I've more than a few Ideas on how to improve these bullets. The grain of the core is pretty spot on, placement of the hollow point maker needs to be adjusted, as does the depth of the swaging die. To be fair, 1/3rd of these are from the night before, but they turned out okay.


These are the messed-up ones. For these, I need to seat the core partially with a smaller-diameter ram and then perform a second swage to ensure I've got the jacket appropriately aligned. From there, core weight, depth of the point form swage, and depth of the hollow point punch need to be adjusted.

[DsGrouse]

In my third attempt, I standardized the depth I used with the blank forming die. I added about 5-7 grains of lead to my core, and I lowered the point form die by a half turn. The second attempt was only performed on the annealed 40SW brass.






Now we are on our fourth attempt at skiving, this time with gilded copper jackets.

The 300-grainers in the red box are +- 3.0 grains. I don't have a core swage that allows me to bleed off excess properly with the gilded metal jackets under 310 grains.



The 280 grainers in the blue box are roughly 280 to 285 grains.



I lowered the swaging point form die, and the hollow point ram. Cleaned up a number of issues with the bullet face. There is some work to be done there and improvement to be seen. I am confident that improvement will come with repetition and acquiring the correct core swage bleed-off die.

The second set of photos is the same brass jacket bullets from my second attempt. For the lack of better terms, I tightened up the die and the hollow point punch. I ran the same bullets through the die again and improved their overall appearance.



Whether that improvement will equate to accuracy has yet to be seen. I'll not be able to load these for a few weeks.

I'm contemplating picking up a couple of clear ballistics gel blocks to test how these will perform as subsonic and supersonic bullets.⁩

[DsGrouse]

It's been an enjoyable hunt. I've three full swaging die sets in. This is the most complete set. It will allow me to make 6mm jackets out of 22 mag and 22wrf brass. Draw down 6mm jackets to .224 jackets. Use 22lr to make .224 jackets.
I've point form dies to make 4s,6s,8s open tip and lead tip bullets.

My second die set is for 30 caliber bullets. With it i have a 9 degree spire point die. I'm hoping to pick up qn 8s ogive point form die in the future.

My third set is a .358 die set with a 1 1/8 E die point form die. I am looking to pick up a truncated cone point form die in the future.

What do i have coming?

.430 lead bullet die set in swc, suitable for 1/2 and 3/4 jackets.

.355 lead bullet die set, suitable for 1/2 & 3/4 jackets

.454 leas bullet die set with a swc poit form die suitable for 1/2 & 3/4 jackets.

I've a number of other dies bits and bobs on the way also.

Jacket maker dies to draw down .380, .9mm, .38 super brass to .357/8 jackets.

Jacket maker dies to turn 40sw into .430 jackets

Jacket maker dies to turn .45 acp into .452/4 jackets.

Finally i've got a passel of sizing and drawn down dies for other calibers.
It's been an enjoyable hunt. .

[Hatchdog]

As technical as this process is and with my limited knowledge on swaging bullets I struggle a bit to follow along but it’s all very interesting. Thanks for taking us along on your journey.

[DsGrouse]

Hatchdog. I've never used dedicated dies. I'll do my best to doccument how it goes

[DsGrouse]

Pictures of the .358 and .308 dies

358 Core Swage



358 core seat die.




358 point form die, 1 1/8E



9mm cases drawn down into .358 jackets. These are examples.





.223 cases drawn down to .358 jackets.



.358 hollow point cavity punch.



9mm jacket core seat.




.308 core swage die



.308 core seat die



.308 9-degree spire point form die.



A pair of core seat dies for use with different jacket thicknesses




Sample 9-degree spire point bullet.


External Punch holder

[CT_Shooter]

I just smile as I follow along; me being totally ignorant of everything you're doing. I was not aware that this project and process for making jacketed bullets for reloading even existed, but clearly it does and you are doing it. I think it's fascinating; actually, amazing. Thanks for taking us along on a ride down a very unusual road. Great pictures, by the way.

[DsGrouse]

The folks that make the dies are in their 70's and seem to be retiring out of the work. I figured that if I wanted to do this, I'd better get off my duff and pick up the dies.

I started most of this because heavy subsonic bullets are crazy expensive.

[BrokenolMarine]

Great project. We all need something to occupy our time, and I too like things that end up with a beneficial product of the other end. I took up reloading when shooting ppc for the same reason. Ammo in that volume WAS expensive.