Home made cannelure tool

I’d like to start out by saying thank you to all of you that have put so much info out there for people like me. I like to tinker with things & swaging bullets definitely gives me all the tinkering I can handle. I don’t have the setups you guys are using or make the pure eye candy you call bullets but I do have a rcbs press, arbor press & a drill press & a couple old rifle dies to play with.

So I made a draw die to make 9mm cases into .358” jackets.
Made a trim die to trim the .358” jackets.
Turned an old 380acp expander die into a bump die to turn 40s&w’s into .430” jackets.
Made a trim die for the .430” jackets.

So with them I can play/make simple 38/357 & 44spl/mag jacketed hbwc’s and hp’s. I kept reading about cannelures & thought why not give them a try. So I’ve been collecting pieces & parts & finely got the time to put a cannelure tool together.

Attachment 59474

A close up of the home made cannelure tool.

Attachment 59473

Some of the simple 38/357 hp’s I make that I ran thru the cannelure tool in about 1 minute.

Attachment 59472

It’s nothing fancy but I don’t have a whole lot in it either, $20. The most expensive part was the can opener ($11) that I used. Can openers have the small toothed wheels on them that will cut/press/indent the bullet’s case.

wow nice job looks like it works pretty good too and the price is right keep up the good work.

I'll bet it would not take much to make an electric can opener into a powered canalure tool, nice work & good idea

I like the long handle.
The CH4D version comes with a short handle, and it's literally a pain.

NIce work

That is ALRIGHT. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.
Jack

I am impressed, very clever indeed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DukeInMaine

I like the long handle.
The CH4D version comes with a short handle, and it's literally a pain.

NIce work

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I put a piece of steel tubing over the factory handle, I need to make a longer handle one day.

Thank you for the replies, it was actually pretty easy to make. It took about an hour to finish cutting the steel, drill & tap the holes & put it together.

I don’t know if an electric can opener would work, you need to have the cannelure adjustable for the different sizes/calibers of bullets & the different height for the different bullets. Besides it takes longer to put a bullet in & take it out than to turn the handle 5 or 6 cranks to put the cannelure on the bullet.

The experiment on making the tool wasn’t done out of necessity, I just didn’t want to spend $70 + shipping for something I wanted to experiment with. So instead of sending ch $70+$$$ I made one to play with. I’ve loaded/tested some of those shell case bullets that were loaded to the raggedy edge & tested. I wanted to test some “hot” loads in a couple of revolvers & thought it might be better to have a cannelure on the bullets.

This looks interesting,
could you post the details?
I would like to try my hand as well
Thanks,
Ray

There's really not a lot of details to give.

A cannelure tool need:
rollers so the bullet can spin
a screw to adjust the height of the bullet (tall/short)
A wheel that marks/engraves the bullets (can opener 1/2)
A screw to adjust the depth of the cannelure in the bullet (22cal/50cal)

Forrest, there you go again! making clever awesome things in the most simple and elegant manner... carry on :Bright idea:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Forrest r

There's really not a lot of details to give.

A cannelure tool need:
rollers so the bullet can spin
a screw to adjust the height of the bullet (tall/short)
A wheel that marks/engraves the bullets (can opener 1/2)
A screw to adjust the depth of the cannelure in the bullet (22cal/50cal)

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What did you use for rollers?
What did you use for the crank handle?

For rollers I used some 3/8" stock cut into 1/2" lengths and drilled a hole in them to accept a 8-32 cap head screw.

The handle/body of the tool is nothing more than a can opener. The handle/drive wheel is on 1/2 of the can opener. If you take the can opener apart you will end up with a:
Handle
metal body/plate
Cannalure wheel (drive wheel)

After I used it for awhile I found some 10mm round by 13mm high bearing I had laying around and put them in for rollers.

The Ultimate Cannelure Tool:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...Cannelure-Tool

Have Wide Body UCT's on hand ready to ship...

Believe it or not this thread is why i joined this site, i am interested in building a homemade bullet cannelure tool, also Forrest r if you every deside to build more bullet cannelure tools, let me know because i reload for 400 Cor-Bon and it was recommended that cannelured bullets are ideal for the .401 cal. that are used for the 400 Cor-Bon.

I'm going to give this a try myself. I have several hundred 375 bullets I want to cannulure and been putting off buying a $100 tool just for them. The wheel is all I need. I have a 5gal bucket full of cranks, rollers and odd ball parts & screws that I have saved when scrapping out old IBM office equipment. I had thought of taking a cutting wheel from a pipe or tubing cutter and turning it down. I could live with a smooth groove but I like the can opener wheel idea better.

I like it!