308 bullet from 9mm brass?

[nicholst55]

I read an old post by Dave Corbin on THR today, where he said that 9mm brass makes a fair, as opposed to good, .30 jacket. Of course, he's busy selling bullet jackets, and that may be a contributing factor to his opinion.

I'm still interested in pursuing it, if just to rule it out as a potential source of jackets.

[sargenv]

For the 308 the 150 ish is just fine, but there are heavy 308's out there.. 300 magnum for one, that craves something a bit heavier generally... and then there are those that want a really heavy jacketed bullet for subsonic work.. ie 300/223 or 300 whisper.. it's all about options

[Got-R-Did]

BT, how about going the opposite direction and use a .380 case to make varmint bullets for the .308. They might also be just perfect for the .30 Carbine.
Got-R-Did.

[Tom R]

I would like a set of these dies when they become available please let me know.

[BT Sniper]

Check out the jacket of a 308 made from a 9mm reduced case!!! Should remind you of a speer trophy bonded jacket. Or a nolser BT or old solid base bullet if I remember correctly.





175 grain from 5.7 brass, 160 grain from 9mm and a 140 grain from 9mm




175 from 5.7, 160 from 9mm and 140 from 9mm


I like the 140 grain bullet. I think when I bond the core it should be one heck of a bullet!

I'll keep you all posted

BT Sniper

[mroliver77]

BT this is where I want to be. Now make us some reducing dies to buy from you.
Please
Jay

[Got-R-Did]

Maybe some 125's from .380 brass? Varmints beware!
Got-R-Did.

[BT Sniper]

Maybe some 125's from .380 brass? Varmints beware!
Got-R-Did.

I actually did make a couple 125 grain from 380 worked good.

I'll work on some reducing dies too.

[coleman]

BT, What will the price be? Can you give us a ballpark figure? Thanks Coleman

[Got-R-Did]

Brian, If you (or anyone that purchases the die set) is interested in swaging about 500 of the .380 ACP based Varmint bullets in .308, I will supply the cases.
Cheers,
Got-R-Did.

[BT Sniper]

Spent a couple days with the 308 dies. Made some very good 176 grain bullets from the 5.7 brass and have been shooting them a bit latly. Getting 1.25 MOA at the moment from a basic Steven's factory rifle out to two hundred yrds at the moment. I should be able to get better but it is a rather thin barrel and gets hot fast. Figured I would use the new bullets for upcoming deer season starting this weekend.

Well then I was looking threw my stuff and found the sized 9mm brass down to .302 and thought "WAIT A MINUTE! A UNPROVEN BULLET!" As it turns out a 9mm and the FN5.7x28 are nearly teh same weight at 60 grains so I simply used one of my 117 grain cores, the same I use with the 5.7 308 brass jackets and VOLIA! a 177 grain 30 cal bullet with a 9mm for a jacket. Looks pretty fricken sweet. Only problem I only have one day to see if they will shoot. We shall see!

Bullet pictured where made in my custom dies of course and bullets pictured are what they came out of die like. No additional lead point forming die was used or needed. I used wheel weight alloy for the cores. This harder alloy vs. pure soft lead is what allows me to eject a bullet with such a large lead tip without messing up the tip of the bullet.

Check it out!

177 grain 308 from 9mm loaded in a 300WM should get 3000 FPS no problem!



The process of sizing the 9mm down to a 30 cal jacket! 5.7x308 bullet on far right shown for compare.



The 9mmx308 bullet next to the 5.7x308 bullet all 176-177 grains!



Good shooting and swage on!

BT

[DukeInFlorida]

Nice work, Brian.

Let me say GOOD LUCK to you, hunting. The faster you get some meat on ice, the faster you'll be back at work with dies.

I have been saving up 5.7 brass, and now have a full medium sized flat rate box full. That's a goodly amount of 308 bullets.

Good luck and be safe.

[MIBULLETS]

BT it will be interesting to hear your results with this bullet. I have heard that a bullet with that much lead hanging out at higher speeds can cause the lead to slump some and maybe be less accurate. I have not seen this proven so who knows, they might shoot great!

[BT Sniper]

I've read the same thing. I'm hoping that with wheel weight alloy it might hold it's shape a bit better.

I recall a member here made some bullets that looked similar to these in 338 cal with a long lead tip that shot really well.

If all goes well I should be off to range tomorrow to teest some of these out.

BT

[MIBULLETS]

Yeah harder lead might stand up better. They sure look nice! Look forward to the results.

[BT Sniper]

I got to shoot some of the 9mmx308 bullets I pictured above. Results were great as far as recovered bullet. Found it in the 5th milk jug of water. Nice mushroom and retained 97 grains.

Accuracy will need some work. I was getting a pattern rather then group. I may have to try them in my bull barrel 308 as my small thin barrel in my 300 WM steven was hard to keep cool.

I was able to shoot 1/2" with my steven 300WM and my 5.7x308 bullet though.

I'll get pics up when I get back.

I'm off hunting.

BT

[Boolseye]

BT,
those look amazing. I'm impressed. The question that occurs to me (which nobody mentions, so I assume it's a non-issue) has to do with that much brass blasting down the rifling. Would rifling wear be increased somewhat, as compared with regular j-words?
-jp

[jhalcott]

There is a situation called "comet effect", where exposed lead is burnt /blasted from the bullet tip at very high velocities. These exposed lead particles will continue on to the target and leave evidence of impacts. Usually they are microscopic in size, so small as to be nearly invisible to the naked eye. Scratches or bumping the nose can worsen the results on target. BUT, are these TARGET or hunting bullets?
It would SEEM that rotational forces will spray the particles in random fashion doesn't it?

[mroliver77]

If I had to give an opinion based on experience I would say the boolits from the 9mm cases are too fragile for .300 mag. velocities. It might hold up fine in .308 and almost definitely in 30-30. I would like to see pics of the bullets from the water jugs.

There is not all that much unsupported lead out front but I would like to see a little less driving them in the neighborhood of 3000fps.

I would like to play with some. I need to spend some more time getting my shop finished and my lath skills refined.
Jay

[Mountain Prepper]

If I had to give an opinion based on experience I would say the boolits from the 9mm cases are too fragile for .300 mag. velocities. It might hold up fine in .308 and almost definitely in 30-30. I would like to see pics of the bullets from the water jugs.

There is not all that much unsupported lead out front but I would like to see a little less driving them in the neighborhood of 3000fps.

I would like to play with some. I need to spend some more time getting my shop finished and my lath skills refined.
Jay

So far all I have formed from 9mm cases have been excessively thick, and at the bases almost 4x the thickness of my J4 jackets I have in .308.

Without question the jackets are more than strong enough for .308 and 30-06, accuracy is an additional issue to deal with.