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  #1  
Old 02-26-2019, 01:28 AM
NoZombies NoZombies is offline
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Default Talk to me about swaging sub caliber bullets

I swage a lot of bullets in the .312-.575 diameter range, and have made bullets as small as .224, (and 6mm and 7mm and .30 etc) but I've never attempted to make anything smaller than that.

I am curious, is everyone relying on commercial jackets for the small calibers?

What are you doing for cores, commercial wire? What diameters? What hardness?
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Old 02-26-2019, 02:57 PM
Mntngoat Mntngoat is offline
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i get cores from charlie hood. and I have a supply of Berger J4 jackets i have a spool of pure lead wire if you want to squirt your own.

ML
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Old 02-26-2019, 11:56 PM
MIBULLETS MIBULLETS is offline
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I think jacket availability is the key for sub 22 caliber swaging. If you don't have a supply you can make them which since you already swage, I'm sure you know. I've seen guys using rimfire case jackets swaged to 17 and also reduced commercial 22 jackets. Not sure if J4 still offers them but they used to sell both 20 and 17 jackets.

For cores, I'm guessing you can find the smaller sized lead wire and would think the same hardness would be fine as 22. I think the last stuff we bought was 0.5% antimony. For the small stuff you could also get or build a squirt die to make shorter lengths of smaller wire from some of your bigger cores you make.

Last edited by MIBULLETS; 02-27-2019 at 12:01 AM.
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Old 02-27-2019, 01:16 AM
NoZombies NoZombies is offline
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Thanks guys. Is wire at .095 useful for any of the sub calibers? I've got a lot of it as a byproduct of another process, and I was thinking it might be useful for the .17 or maybe .14 calibers if the jackets are thin enough.

A friend contacted me and told me that he was making .14 jackets from .17 jackets in a 2 draw process.
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Old 02-27-2019, 10:18 AM
camel camel is offline
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A member on here, Bills Shed, lives in Tasmania and does a lot with swaging down 22lr cases to 17 cal, he makes some pretty flash bullets out of them. Might pay to drop him a line, very helpful bloke.
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Old 02-27-2019, 01:34 PM
Mntngoat Mntngoat is offline
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22 caliber jackets can be reformed to .20 caliber just an extra step
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Old 02-27-2019, 10:52 PM
MIBULLETS MIBULLETS is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NoZombies View Post
Thanks guys. Is wire at .095 useful for any of the sub calibers? I've got a lot of it as a byproduct of another process, and I was thinking it might be useful for the .17 or maybe .14 calibers if the jackets are thin enough.

A friend contacted me and told me that he was making .14 jackets from .17 jackets in a 2 draw process.
Dave Corbin has this on his website for core sizes

List of wire size for calibers (jacketed):
.100-inch .14 drawn jackets
.125-inch .17 and .20 caliber
.185-inch .224, .243, .257, .264
.218-inch .270, .284, .308 thick wall
.247-inch .308, .312, .318, .323, .338
.275-inch .348, .350 tubing jackets
.312-inch .355, .357, .366, .375
.340-inch .400, .410, .416, .423
.365-inch .429, .452, .458
.390-inch .475, .500 thick wall
.430-inch .500, .510, .512
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  #8  
Old 03-08-2019, 07:53 AM
Bills Shed Bills Shed is offline
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Camel is on the money, I make my 17 cal jackets out of 22rf cases. Once drawn to 17 any imperfections from the original rim are ironed out and with a push through, pinch trim die a very neat jacket can be made. You could use just a end mill in a collet system for great variety in length.
I could not imagine trying to import jackets from overseas as the cost would be inhibitive. It only takes two passes through the press to make the jacket not including cleaning and annealing.
I make jackets from .450" up to .530" long. Lightest 17gn up to 30gn. These jackets have been pushed to 4300f/s without issue.
The only problem, if you could call it that, is that the 17 is a poor performer at low velocity, below 1400 f/s. I have tried many variants and I believe the small cross section really does not lead itself low velocity. Go fast or not at all.
As to lead wire, I have a mate up the road about 450km away who has a Corbin Hydro, H Press who extrudes the wire for me. I see him once a year or so and make 50kg or so. We extrude wire for 224 as well and that is the majority as you can make a lot of 17 cal projectiles out of 20kg of wire.
I cast the lead billets out of dead soft lead roof flashing prior to going down to make the wire as it saves a lot of time. Each billet comes out as over 2M of 17 cal wire.

Bill

Last edited by Bills Shed; 03-08-2019 at 08:44 AM.
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