BTSniper Custom Tools and Dies

[lukewmtdew]

What does the 44 reamer get us?!?

[DukeInFlorida]

I'm already loving my rebuilt .40 set, and the .44 set works as good as ever.
Can't wait to get the .500, .308 (you haven't mentioned those in a while now), and the .224.....

[PhilOhio]

The benefit comes from the gas deflection as the bullet exits the muzzle.

Not exactly. The reason for a boat tail, rebated or conventional, is to smooth air flow over the rear of the boolit, reducing turbulence and therefore drag, as with an airplane. It makes a very significant difference, which is why all .50 BMG ammo used in aircraft guns during WW-II used these projectiles. Ranges were long and they wanted to reduce trajectory drop and energy loss as much as possible. You can keep velocity up, over a much longer range.

A few years ago, I spent a lot of time trying to make dies to produce a good .30 boat tail. To do it in the point forming die, you need a very delicate, fragile base ram. So some guys try to make the ram to form a rebated boat tail. You can keep the ram metal thicker where it's mouth meets the die side wall. I tried it both ways. The rebate ram is more durable, but the bullet does not look as good and it also is not as aerodynamically effective as a smooth boattail profile. So then, the question becomes, why bother?

Which is why I stopped making them. I don't shoot at German ME-109s from 500 yards.

Note that with the .50 BMG boolits, the boat tail is actually machined, rather than swaged, which makes it a lot easier to get that nice, smooth, air-flowing profile.

The major boolit manufacturers can make fine swaged boattails in these smaller calibers, but they are spending a ton of money on the special tooling. For you and I to get those results at home, it is hardly practical.

[MIBULLETS]

Phil,


You are correct about the reason for a boat tail in general. Let me clarify my earlier post. I was only talking about the supposed advantage for the rebated boat tail. The rebated part is supposed to direct the muzzle gas more perpendicular to the bore and keep the gases escaping from the muzzle out of the bullets path of flight. The gases are moving faster than the bullet and will fly in front of the bullet and it will have to travel through that with a normal boat tail.

In most cases a normal boat tail of similar shape will have a very slight advantage in the ballistic coeficient but not much, but the rebated boat tail should have a very slight accuracy advantage. In the end the differences are probably small enough that it is a wash.

[PhilOhio]

MIBULLETS,

Very interesting, and what you say makes a certain new sense to me. I never thought of it that way. A rebated boat tail would be something of a compromise, giving you the sharp edge of a conventional rear end, to allow gases and pressure to vent instantly and evenly all the way around, to avoid asymetrical "cant", theoretically enhancing accuracy. And after the step, the remaining boattail would still help to smooth air flow as the boolit continues down range on inertia.

I see some possible similarities between this and the design of step hydroplane hulls.

Ballistics are fascinating. I think I have as much fun, or more, with boolit making and reloading than actual shooting. And it is as BT's signature line says.

[sargenv]

I received my 9 into 40 new die set today and they look fabulous..

Personally, the only use I have for a boat tail on 224 cal bullets is the un-needed step to chamfer the cases when loading ammo.. if you have a boat tailed bullet, you can seat them much easier than any flat based bullet, since the .224 is so small, I wind up pinching my fingers with flat based bullets..

[lukewmtdew]

I was looking at those bullets u sent with the dies which case was used to make which bullets? I glanced at that big bullet and didn't get a chance to measure any if them....

[sargenv]

Yeah, I saw some samples in there.. I'll take a look..

[MIBULLETS]

MIBULLETS,

Ballistics are fascinating. I think I have as much fun, or more, with boolit making and reloading than actual shooting. And it is as BT's signature line says.

I totally agree!

[sargenv]

Yeah, not what I was thinking for a boat tail to aid in seating.. I like the way the other gent does it.. he has a punch that you upend the bullet into, and you put it tail end into the point forming die "Just a tad" and enough to start the butt end towards being pointed.. They will then seat really nice just like regular 55 FMJ boat tails do.

The one problem that I found out the hard way of, is that it is pretty fragile (and I was warned) and I went and screwed it up doing the wrong operation by mistake.. my bad.. He is making another punch up for me..

Previous to my screw up, I boat tailed about 1800 Remington FMJ flat based bullets into FMJ-bt's that I had been looking to sell for some time since I HATE flat based bullets in 224 due to pinched fingers.. I had also boat tailed a bunch of my home rolled 22 lr into .224 bullets and forgot to remove it from the press.. I won't do THAT again..

[mdenz3]

Do you have any 9mm to .40 and the crimping dies in stock?

[BT Sniper]

I have both my BTSniper version and my improved CH version.

Here is the standard offer I send to anyone interested in this great set of dies.

The 40 cal bullets made from 9mm brass is by far my favorite bullet to make and shoot. It is incredibly easy, and by far the cheapest, to make and shoot of any bullet. One stroke in the press and you have a perfect 180 grain bullet that rivals anything available on the market. Load it up with as little as 5 grains of powder and you are shooting 40 S&W cheaper then 22LR! This is the swage die I recommend to everyone and anyone that is just getting into swaging. For very little intial investment you will be shooting your own bullets in the least amount of time with the least amount of effort.

I just put the final touches on a dozen of my improved CH 40 cal one step dies. I have one all boxed up for you and can ship it this week. If you are looking for one of my BTSniper custom 40 cal dies I have severial of those to offer as well.

I now offer the one step die with my universal die and expanding/case prep mandrel as standard issue. I feel this universal die and mandrel is necessary to achieve the best results and as such I now offer them as a set. Should you not wish to purchase this addition die remove $75 from total bill.

Cost and options is as follows,

$300 CH improved 40 cal one step die including case prep/expanding mandrel and universial die

$400 BTSniper 40 cal one step die including case prep/expanding mandrel and universial die

Recomended options,

$150 XTP notch die

$20 S&H

Here is a look at my universal XTP notch die and case prep sizing mandrels.



Here is a look at the Ch version bullets made in my improved CH swage die next to a similar commercial offering.









Here is a look at my custom BTSniper bullets made in my custom die next to similar commercial offering








here is the two bullets I offer side by side,


notched!




no XTP notch








I supply everything you need to get started. The XTP notch insert works slick and makes an incredible 40 cal bullet that rivals any of the comercial offereings in my opinion.

With either one of the dies I have to offer you will be able to make yourself a life time supply of nearly free bullets.

If you ever have any questions please feel free to let me know, I am always happy to help. I am positive you will be very happy with either die you chose and I back it up with life time warranty as well as 30 day money back if your not happy.

I will be happy to accept personal check, money order or Paypal. If using PayPal please add their %4 fee to total bill.

I look foward to hearing back from you and getting you one of these great die set ups.

Good shooting,

Brian Thurner
PO Box 1783
Hood River, OR.
97031

BTSNIPER llc.
541-436-4095

PayPal address is BT_Sniper@hotmail.com

[ratboy]

any progress on the 44 dies? i have a bunch of 40 brass and no 40 so i need something to do with it.

[BT Sniper]

Currently machining 44 cal dies for those of you with one on order, thank you for your patience. They are looking very good.

I have severial other dies ready to be assembled that I will be getting to ASAP for the rest of you with orders.

Thanks

BT

[kend]

Brian, I think I may need some .50 dies for my latest project, what brass do they use? What is the cost of the die set? Thanks

[BT Sniper]

500 cal bullets made from 45 acp brass

$475 + $10 s&h

bt

I must have been sleeping. I quoted the wrong price for the 500 dies. They are my custom BTSniper dies and I quoted for CH dies. The correct price for the 500 2 die custom BTSniper die set is $475. Same as listed on page one of this thread with any of my custom 2 die sets.

Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks

BT

[frank martinez]

I am in for the 45 acp dies.
I will use the paypal to pay for them like before.
Thanks again
Frank

[0verkill]

I wish precision wasn't so expensive. Free, or almost free, bullets is awesome though. Those 40 calibers look great too. Gotta go wrap pennies.

[0verkill]

BT, have you tried swaging any lighter 40 cal bullets? I was wondering if 165's could be made from 380 brass.

[midnight]

Looks like I'll be needing one of your 308 three die sets. Point form, core seat, and a die to size down the 5.7x28 brass jackets. If I understand correctly, the size die can also be used to form copper tubing jackets from 5/16 copper tube. From an old post, the bullet profile is 7.5 ogive and 0.093 meplat and thats fine with me. Let me know how much this is going to set me back and an approximate timeline. Once I get that done I'll work on the .223. These dies will work on my Walnut Hill, right?

Bob