308 bullet from 9mm brass?

[mroliver77]

Fragile being the ample lead nose. I would think it would slump upon launch if given too much shove. At 3000 fps you dont need much lead tip to upset a bullet!

I realized jacket would thicken up some but 4 times as thick.....Wow!
J

[Mountain Prepper]

Fragile being the ample lead nose. I would think it would slump upon launch if given too much shove. At 3000 fps you dont need much lead tip to upset a bullet!

I realized jacket would thicken up some but 4 times as thick.....Wow!
J

OK, now I get it...

And yes, the base is extra thick - check BT photos, it makes a thick funnel shape on the base.

[BT Sniper]

Just got back from another sucessful deer hunt. Score another nice Oregon mule deer to the FN5.7x28 cased 176 grain 308 bullet.

I'll post all the details and pics later. I do have the recovered 308 bullet, from water jugs, made from a 9mm. It is pretty impressive yet only weights 97 grains recovered weight. Certainly a tough bullet the 9mm makes when sized to a 308.

More later.

BT

[SSGOldfart]

Sweet boolits

How well did they shoot???

[BT Sniper]

Recovered 176 grain 9mmx308 bullet on left. Weight was 97 grains. Recovered weight was nearly identical to those recoved from bullets made with FN5.7x28 brass in my experience. This recovered 9mmx308 bullet was shot into water filled milk jugs @ 3000FPS while the 5.7x308 bullet on the right was shot into wet newspaper. Maybe the results would be different with water jugs vs. wet newspaper? The 9mm did have a longer shank behind the top of the mushrommed bullet and a larger diameter mushroom. Obviously a credit to the thicker tapered walls of the 9mm 30 cal jacket vs. the 5.7 30 cal jacket.

The 9mm certainly make swhat looks to me to be a great hunting bullet. I imagin that with a bonded core the reuslts would be even better. The bonding process would also help to soften the jacket back up again after it was drawn so many times to form the 30 cal jacket. I did not anneal the jackets after the final form and I think it would have helped in teh bullet formation process and potential better accuracy. As far as accuracy goes................. well ......... I did not spend any time on load development, just the same 73 grain load of RL-22. I did not anneal the brass after I formed the jacket which lead to different final diameter bases to the bullets from 308-306 and that may have been a concern? The process of drawing down teh 9mm to .308 can have many factors and may lead to jackets with one side heavier then teh other. I did not let the small barrel of my Stevens 300WM cool while I shot for a group. There could be many factors. I'll experiment a bit more with them all and shoot the next group out of my larger barreled Savage 112 BVSS 300WM.

Here is my first group (if you can call it that) with the 176 grain 9mm at 3000 FPS. I suppose if you threw out the two fathest holes left and right the remaining group is about 3.5 inches. It will be somthign to work from. I will bet I can get the 9mmx308 bullet to shoot 1moa or better, just takes a bit of experimenting.




Good shooting,

BT

[BT Sniper]

Video of the 176 grain 9mmx308 bullet hitting the water filled millk jugs. Fun starts around 14 seconds into the video.

Bullet was recovered in 5th jug.



BT

[DukeInFlorida]

WOW! Brian, WOW!

Amazing, and ...........

WOW

[cgtreml]

If you have these die sets figured out I would be very interested. Possibilities are endless. I have a boat load of 9mm brass.

Thanks
cgtreml

[daschnoz]

Depending on the price, I would be interested too!

[Swageocast]

Hey Brian,,,

Very NICE results.

Interesting how the cartridge case used as a jacket seems to lend itself well to controling expansion due to it's natural taper.

[BT Sniper]

I might have to revive this thread and attempt some of these 9mmx308 bullets again.

I found an good deal of fouling in the thin barrel of this 300WM as I was cleaning it last. I think it had more to do with a rough bore then the bullets I was shooting. I also noticed groups would open up considerably as the barrel got hot. Even with my proven accurate loads with the 5.7x308 bullets. I was able to get under 3/4" groups with the 5.7x308 bullets when fired from a cool barrel but when it got hot things spread out which makes me think I maybe able to do A LOT better with the bullets made from 9mm brass in my bull barrel 300 WM.

I still have yet to shoot bullet in say a 145-155 grain weight, which looks to just about ideal with jackets made from 9mm brass.

As I get more customers inquiring about making 30 cal jackets from 9mm brass I will reattempt to put together the necessary set of sizing dies needed for the task of using 9mm as 30 cal jackets.

I'll say this up frount about making 30 cal jackets from 9mm brass ........ it is a lot of work with a standard reloading press but with a bigger, more powerful press it may be just the thing for making very good jackets from cheap scrap 9mm brass.

BT

[ghost2vp]

Brian,

Would you be able to do a boat tail on those bullets?

I am all for the 9mm - 30cal jackets. Love the spear tip soft point.

Availability? Time line?

Thanks,

Ghost.

[BT Sniper]

That is a pretty solid base of brass. Trying to form a boat tail on them ........... well I say anythign is possible but it would generate an aweful lot of pressure IMOP on both yor press and the dies. With that much brass you could turn/machine down the base as well.

I'm hesatent to put HPs on bullets made from brass cases. From what I read a HP doesn't show it's advantages till beyond 300 yrds. If your trying to shoot bullets made from brass beyond 300 yrds ....... well I haven't tried yet

Sizing down 9mm to 30 cal takes a bit of work. A strong press will certainly be a benifit. To be done on a regular reloading press would probably take an additional anneal step between each reduction.

I have the neccessary components to put the needed sizing dies together.

First step is not to difficult or expensive. Simply push a 9mm case backwords threw a 9mm taper crimp die and that takes it down to .360. Then I recommend 3 additional reduction steps in sepperate dies with a reduction of about .020 per die.

[garandsrus]

BT,

Would the dies basically be the same as Lee push through sizing dies? I would think so.

Great work, BTW...

John

[plmitch]

I have never tried to do this before but after reading this post I want to learn.

[badluther]

Nice work Brian!

[DukeInFlorida]

It's about time you showed up.

Nice work Brian!

[badluther]

It's about time you showed up.

I couldn't resist another BT Sniper creation...

[BT Sniper]

Finished up a set of draw dies for a customer. Looking at these previous posts and resulting group on target I assume I was getting some pretty good air pockets in the seated core of the finished bullet. Also had a lot of brass fouling in the rough Stevens 300wm barrel on that shoot by the time I shot that group. I redesigned the cores with a custom tapered core swage die to match the inside of the jacket and got much better results from formed bullets. With a 175 grain bullet the core will complete fill the 9mm case in the core seat step then make a nice lead tip point of course.

Some day soon I will shoot these again and see if I can get a decent group out of them.

BT

[rasto]

I am looking forward to see the results.
The final bullet looks great at the first sight.