First Bullets

[John Parrish]

I finally got my Blackmon dies and have made my first few 6MM bullets. I have a couple of questions about my results.

1) What final diameter (pressure ring at the base and the area between the base and where the ogive starts) should I be expecting?

2) When I remove the jacket/core from the core seating die, I see a mark at the base of the jacket. It starts at the base and spirals up the jacket about 1/8", and makes a bit more than one full revolution around the jacket. Any idea what can be causing this mark, and how can I get rid of it?

Thanks

John

[Mntngoat]

John can you post a picture of the mark on your bullets?

ML

[John Parrish]

I'll try to figure out how to post pictures tomorrow. Thanks

John

[MightyThor]

Originally Posted by John Parrish

I finally got my Blackmon dies and have made my first few 6MM bullets. I have a couple of questions about my results.

1) What final diameter (pressure ring at the base and the area between the base and where the ogive starts) should I be expecting?

2) When I remove the jacket/core from the core seating die, I see a mark at the base of the jacket. It starts at the base and spirals up the jacket about 1/8", and makes a bit more than one full revolution around the jacket. Any idea what can be causing this mark, and how can I get rid of it?

Thanks

John

Well, I believe that 6mm is same as 243 so your diameter should be .243 I have an old die that makes 224 bullets at .226 I was not completely satisfied and aquired a set of corbin dies that make .224 on the button and .243 dead on as well. If you are getting weird marks on the jackets and oversize bullets you may be seating the cores to hard. I read somewhere that you should not seat the cores using the breakover part of the press stroke cause it is easy to generate too much pressure and either bulge the die or get other weird results. I find that If I keep die set deep I can "feel" the lead seat in the jacket. I have not done any 30 cal stuff so can't speak to the effort needed there, but all the way up to 25 cal I find it does not really take too much pressure to seat the core.

[John Parrish]

I have not heard the concern about using the "breakover part of the press". That is how I currently have the die / press set up. I'll re-adjust it this afternoon and give this advice a try (to see if it has any effect on the marks on the bullets). Thanks

John

[Mntngoat]

John you want the cores seated firmly but without bleed by the punch. On 20 caliber bullets, since the jackets are formed from .224" jackets you have to seat them to form out the base of the jackets. .243" jackets that should not be an issue.

ML

[george ulrich]

john, glad you have got your die's. normal dia's. pressure ring should be about .0002 larger than bearing surface. not sure about other mark picture would help alot. also you can control diameters with type and amount of lube used. george

[John Parrish]

Originally Posted by george ulrich

john, glad you have got your die's. normal dia's. pressure ring should be about .0002 larger than bearing surface. not sure about other mark picture would help alot. also you can control diameters with type and amount of lube used. george

Hi George. Good to hear from you.

I've got a few pictures. Working on figuring out how to attach them. Hope to have a couple pictures posted soon. As for the pressure ring, I am getting about .0004 larger than the bearing surface. How can I control this with the lube?

John

[John Parrish]

OK, this is obviously beyond me. Can anyone tell me how I can attach pictures (that I have on my computer) onto a post on this site? Thanks

John

[Mntngoat]

John you need to host the photos on a photo site before youcan load them to your message.
If you'd like I will post them for you just email them to me.

MSLiechty AT Yahoo DOT Com

ML