Anyone ever swedge their own hollow point bullets?

[steelman303]

0.224 - 50-60 grn bullets are non-existent (at least I haven't been able to find any)
had some on back order for a while....
I have seen a couple of companies out there that make swedging/forming sets ...
Anyone out there ever tried making their own HPBT bullets for reloading?
I have a hydraulic press that would fit the bill, & it would be time consuming, but hell ...
I can get loads of lead & copper...no problem
Any thoughts?....

 

[Beyschaefer]

I never have, but for many years I've promised myself that if a used set of Corbin dies that swage .22 LR brass into bullet jackets ever comes up - i'd buy 'em.
I say used, because new they're pretty close to a grand, last time I checked, and a guy can usually buy a whole BUNCH of perfectly good bullets for that. Usually.
Corbin also wrote a pretty good book on the subject (my copy is packed away, or I'd get the title right). Some googling on used book sites should turn it up.

If you DO end up making some jacketed bullets, write some posts about it! I'd love to hear from someone who actually HAS done it.

 

[808Huntress]

Aloha Steelman,

Hell, My thought's are go do it brother! If you've got a hydraulic press it should be a whole lot easier lemme tell ya. I'll be honest here although I have had my hands in making quite a few I was mostly the lead cutter My fiance and his cousin are the one's who actually do it all. We havent done any 224 only 7mm, 30 & 338 caliber's on corbin dies and swaging gear. For the 7mm they were using J4 jackets that came in buckets if I remember correctly and for the 30 & 338 the were using copper cups from corbin and another person whom I cant remember his name. May have been something like harrold's or something like that but we were having consistency issues.

My fiance's cousin then hired a local machinist to make CNC jackets out of copper bar stock I believe. That got too pricey in a hurry so that was the end of that LOL!

We havent gone and done it in awhile as we mostly shoot other calibers lately but here's a pic of some 338 HPRBBT bullets we made for Africa.

Here I am with a finished bullet fresh out of the walnut hill press bullets were 180 gr did well in Africa on plainsgame.

Bottomline I would say go for it at least you can say you tried who knows you just might come up with a winner

Aloha and Best of luck,

Rose

 

[George63]

I was at an event with someone who swaged their own .223 bullets - he had a single hell of an over pressure round - usually tough to do in 223 - almost certainly one bullet got by oversized - made me appreciate the quality control you get in projectiles for the price

 

[steelman303]

Thanks for the feedback.
I know it's quite an investment to get into.
I have even thought of making some dies on the lathe, heat treating... etc...
Who knows... necessity is the mother of invention..

With the current environment, I may take the $grand & get a 45-90 Sharps (replica) & just shoot the hell out of it. Lead slugs are a bit easier to make...

 

[steelman303]

I never have, but for many years I've promised myself that if a used set of Corbin dies that swage .22 LR brass into bullet jackets ever comes up - i'd buy 'em.
I say used, because new they're pretty close to a grand, last time I checked, and a guy can usually buy a whole BUNCH of perfectly good bullets for that. Usually.
Corbin also wrote a pretty good book on the subject (my copy is packed away, or I'd get the title right). Some googling on used book sites should turn it up.

If you DO end up making some jacketed bullets, write some posts about it! I'd love to hear from someone who actually HAS done it.

Yea, I have a magazine somewhere at home where they were spotlighting the process of using the spent 22lr for this a couple of years ago.
looks like a great idea & they were getting pretty good performance out of them.

 

[vinconco]

I bought the Corbin kit back in the 70's that uses the 22 rimfire cases as jackets. They are not super accurate and you have to keep the speed down to under 3000 fps but they do go bang. With the long rifle 22 case you can make a 60 gr. "open tip" bullet which some people confuse with a "hollow point" . Might have to drag the damn thing out if these shortages continue. The bullets end up with the headstamp on the base.

 

[MikeInUtah]

This is a must watch for you:
Advanced Bullet Swagging Nine Part Series - ammosmith.com

 

[X-fan]

Aloha Steelman,

Hell, My thought's are go do it brother! If you've got a hydraulic press it should be a whole lot easier lemme tell ya. I'll be honest here although I have had my hands in making quite a few I was mostly the lead cutter My fiance and his cousin are the one's who actually do it all. We havent done any 224 only 7mm, 30 & 338 caliber's on corbin dies and swaging gear. For the 7mm they were using J4 jackets that came in buckets if I remember correctly and for the 30 & 338 the were using copper cups from corbin and another person whom I cant remember his name. May have been something like harrold's or something like that but we were having consistency issues.

My fiance's cousin then hired a local machinist to make CNC jackets out of copper bar stock I believe. That got too pricey in a hurry so that was the end of that LOL!

We havent gone and done it in awhile as we mostly shoot other calibers lately but here's a pic of some 338 HPRBBT bullets we made for Africa.

Here I am with a finished bullet fresh out of the walnut hill press bullets were 180 gr did well in Africa on plainsgame.

Bottomline I would say go for it at least you can say you tried who knows you just might come up with a winner

Aloha and Best of luck,

Rose

Rose,
Would you mind talking about current gear and components pricing as well as how steep the learning curve is?
That shirt is bad ass!

I tried it 15 years ago and after dropping huge (HUGE!) money with Corbin I made a few bullets...I found the process so exasperating I sold my gear.
By sold my gear I mean I near gave it away.
That was before internet information sharing so I assume a new bullet maker would find life easier now?

 

[808Huntress]

Aloha X-Fan,

To be totally honest im not sure of all the names of the different dies etc. and the component cost. My fiance and his cousin are the ones who really get into it. I just helped along as they needed an extra hand per se. i mostly cut and swaged the lead cores or whatever material they wanted to try. Learning curve I feel depends on the person, but I agree that the internet has opened a whole new world of learning opportunities.

They started swaging in the early 80's long before I came along LOL!

Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you.

Aloha,

Rose

 

[rjjahner]

Pm sent let me know if you have any questions

 

[scudzuki]

Check MidSouth every couple days

I have had no problem finding .224 pills.
Check here every few days.
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply....+RIFLE&dept3=.224+DIA&dept4=&sortItem=INSTOCK
A month ago I bought 5000 MidSouth Varmint Nightmare 50 grain soft points for $505. They were in stock for weeks. They are very good bullets for the money.

Joe

 

[LARMIKE]

Hello All, I have swaged bullets for going on 10 years now. I am currently making 9mm,.40,.45, .224,6.5mm and .30 caliber. I have some dies from corbin but prefer the carbide dies I get from a fella in Ill. The cost is high for either but I can get carbide for just a little more than the Corbin dies. There is a slight learning curve, the most important is not to get to much in a hurry, if you do you can break a punch or worse a die, then you just have to wait longer to make bullets. as far as the bullet cost,J4 is no longer making jackets, they had a 100% price increase last summer, so I had to buy several years worth of jackets. My cost of making bullets is about 50% of what a commercial projo costs, but with increased consistency.
The time involved varies on how many you want to make, Well of course it is... I make several thousand cores over a week or so, then core seat them,after that I let them sit for about a week and then point form them, afterwards I tumble in stainless steel pins to make them shiny.

Steelman, I have a small bucket of jackets that I will make into bullets if you want to try them, I have mostly 75 and 77gr. right now. I use all of my projos in one form of competition or another, mostly hipower (service rifle)

I have seen the .22RF jackets made into bullets, I think I will leave that alone, unless I use my Eley or Lapua brass. Even still The bullets made from RF brass are, to me just above the frozen Hamburger bullets. They are very labor intensive to make. Mike