.308 swageing from recycled components..

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these are some 130gr .308 varmint bullets i swaged with my home made die set ( i got a few hundred of them done waiting for the polishing step).. these are as cheap as i can make.. i got everything from local scrap dealer. i got a piece of 0.025inch thick copper roofing material for $12.00 that gave me a few hundred jackets.. the lead is soft lead diving weights i got from same dealer that i melted down and cast the cores out of.. i figure i got probably $5-$8 per 100 bullets, compare that to a box of 100 varmint 130gr bought commercially at $30.. they seem to do good with 2015 LC military brass, Federal #210 LRP, and 47gr of H414, can print a group at 50m around 3/8inch when i tested them. still need to takem out to 100m and beyond, being i live in a wooded area and in an area with many hills ill have to find a place that i can get 300m-400m. but that is central Alabama, what did i expect..

Nice job mauser, Let us know how they do.
Pee Wee

Very nice! Give us a run down of your equipment!

all home built equipment... i acquired a couple of small tabletop punch presses from scrap yard a while back, i use one to punch out the copper blanks and the other one i made a new crank and rod for it and turned it into a drawing press. i got a good 2inch stroke with it.. here is a video of it in operation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuPOUIfcOWQ every drawing step i do is done with this press. used to use an arbor press to draw them and that was too slow for my taste..

i anneal my jackets after the drawing processes, otherwise i blow the bottom out of the jackets with the next drawing step.. im using for that a small electric kiln that i retrofitted with a digital controller.. i also got it from the same scrap yard for less than $20. this is how i anneal the jackets.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCk5DkUR0Fk

for the trimming, core seating, and point forming, right now im using the arbor press i was talking about.. trimming and core seating is done like the corbin system, with the trimming done with the die and the tapered trimming punch. trimming : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNCtLSAStU and point forming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQFaiantLfA all of my dies and punches are made from grade 8 bolt material, the dies are heat treated at 1,500*F in the kiln and water quenched.. water quenching makes them harder than a file.. i leave the punches slightly softer than the dies so that the punch wears and not the die, the punches get oil quenched.. the way i got my punches and dies setup is im using a stop collar that goes over the punch that bottoms out on the top of the die to limit the swage. for shorter bullets i use a thicker stop and for longer bullets i use a thinner stop.. this way i just put the punch in the press and start without ever having to adjust anything..

for polishing im using a old rotisserie motor and a old hand cleaner can with 2 baffles in it so the stuff inside tumbles instead of sliding.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eETZb0W6Ha0 i can do a few hundred bullets at a time. im gonna have to change the stuff im using to polish them in the tumbler with, being these are hollow pointed bullets the corncob ends up in the cavity and i have to sit down to decob the lot..

im working on a better press to replace my arbor press.. it will be a pneumatic press with capability of 2,000lbs of force and be totally adjustable.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLff0QS-4h4 it is just 4inch H-Beam with holes drilled in rows for the adjustment.. the cylinder is also home made from a calibration gas cylinder and some 1-1/2in thick aluminum plate i got for scrap prices.. this press will be a double acting system that will swage on the down stroke and eject on the up stroke.. people have asked me about why i am using a 1/2in drill chuck on the ram of the presses im using.. it makes for a quick change of the punches. i just loosen the chuck, change the punch and die and go.. really speeds things up..

I subscribed , hope youll keep the camera rolling

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this here is what happens to the bullets when they strike a bunch of wet newspaper, nothing left but bitty little shards.. no way your getting rifling and ballistics off that.. you cannot even tell what caliber it was..

leave the corn cob in the nose.
it hurts nothing and won't change the terminals your getting now.