.500 bullet from 45 ACP

[BT Sniper]

Thanks,

I'll happily "ship" to OZ. In the mean time I'll continue to enjoy the cool and damp Pacific NorthWest of the good ol USofA

Good shooting and Swage On!

BT

[scarry scarney]

BT
By trimming the length of the annealed 45 brass, and using a lower weight piece of lead. Theoretically, I would have a shorter in length and lighter weight bullet? I'm thinking about bullets for a 50GI. The light bullet is 185grns and the heaviest is 300grns

Thanks
Scarry

[BT Sniper]

YEP! No problem! Figure about 75 grains for a trimed 45ACP, then add a .358 148 or 158 grain core or just keep going up in weight till you achieve the deisred bullet. Heck, we could use an 8mm airsoft BB for filler if need be, anything is possible.

BT

[scarry scarney]

BT

You are going to chase me into the poor house!

[Wolftracker]

I use gas checks and spent primers sometimes in my 308 and 224 cal bullets. You can do several combinations of things like bonding the 1st core, seating it with a gas check and then put a second core on top or do it without bonding. I seat cores slowly and this seems to avoid air trapping problems. Accuracy has not been adversly affected, near as I can tell. I haven't taken a game animal with one yet though. I don't know if you'd get much benefit from this technique with handgun bullets at much slower velocities. I use a 6.5 MM gas check in my 308's, by the way.

[BT Sniper]

The custom reamer cuts a perfect die! I am ready to continue filling orders for this great set of .500 dies. I'll be happy to take additional orders at this time. You all will be very pleased with the results.

I'll need to make a few more bullet to show you guys what is possible with the different size meplats with options for .250, .281 and .312.

Here is a pic of three bullets all at a weight of 335 grains made from 45 ACP brass jackets. .458 .475 and .500. I'll be able to clean them up a bit as these where just simple reswaged samples of some bullets I allready had and may not be as pretty as if I had formed them straight out of their corisponding core seat die.

[DukeInFlorida]

I am polishing 45 ACP brass today!!! It's unfortunate that the vendor's shipment never made it, but it;s looking like it didn't put you too far behind on this project.

[DukeInFlorida]

BUMP

Can't wait.

This subject came up in chat this morning, and I wanted to get others excited about this.

One of the cast boolit group buys is dragging on past a year. This option is better, and happening sooner.

[BT Sniper]

I'll be sending these dies in to heat treat with the rest of the dies just as soon as I can.

BT

[scarry scarney]

Looking forward to smashing more lead!

[Awsar]

not a swager "yet" but just have to say you guys make some awsome looking stuff just so cool . keep it up and thanks for pics

[5shotbfr]

i'd love to try a few of the .475 bullets , at 335 grains i could launch them at near warp speed out of my bfr .

[Andrew Mason]

is there any way i could use rifle brass like 30-06 or 308 to make these so i could end up with a thicker jacket?

[BT Sniper]

With a strong enough press ..... and a good anneal...... yes, I'm sure any of the standard .473 cartridge brass would work for making .500 bullets.

But looking at the few I have made with the 45 ACP brass...... WOW it allready looks like a heck of a bullet!

BT

[DukeInFlorida]

I have test fired some of the .500 samples made with the .45 acp brass. They are rugged enough, and the brass is plentiful enough that it;s the perfect donor for this size.

[BT Sniper]

I'm fine tuning this process of making perfect 500 bullets from 45 acp brass.

I Think I have it! YES it is perfect, easy, cheap, and simple! And OH BOY! What a bullet it is too! Makes me want a 500!

The perfect cast boolit core is a 250 grain 45 cal! That is perfect! I just cast 40 lbs worth of cores from a Lee 250 grain 45 cal 6 cavity mold. I used pure lead, yes PURE LEAD! It sure made it a LOT easier formign the bullet. I recomend everyone use pure lead when ever possible when swaging. Trade that wheel weight alloy with the cast boolit shooters here for pure lead.

My resulting cast boolits where 265 grains..... PERFECT for the 45 acp case when used for 500 cal bullets.

Resulting .500 cal bullet is 355 grains average depending on varing weights of 45 ACP brass.

What an awesome looking bullet! With the pure lead core it would certainly make a BIG hole in something...... JUST AWESOME! Wish I had a 500 now.

All of you waiting for these 500 cal dies I highly recomend you start casting some pure lead cores using a 45 cal 250 grain mold, I used the lee 6 cavity mold. THe results where easy and perfect. Also anneal those scrap 45 ACP too. You all will be shooitng your 500s for nothing more then the cost of a primer and powder!

Thank you for your support and patience. These dies will be worth your wait! I'm impressed for sure so you should well be.

BT

[DukeInFlorida]

does this mean that we should see them soon?
I'm on a strict "no strenuous" order from the doctors until my surgery completely heals. That includes no swaging, no reloading, and worse yet..... no shooting.

But, I hope to be off of that strict order soon enough, and I'd love to be building 500 mag projectiles. Brian, come and visit, and you can shoot my 500 magnum (with swaged bullets) all you want.

[scarry scarney]

Duke-I'm following your ordeal closely, and have been including you in my thoughts. I just finished an 18 month battle, and I'm the recovery stage. I'm lucky, the Dr said no house work, no gardening, not even cutting the lawn with a riding mower. No woodworking, no metal working. My wife asked (hoping he would say No) about reloading, shooting and swaging, and the Dr said it would be ok! I wish you well on speedy recovery, and I am looking so forward to smashing those 45 cases into 50's!

[475AR]

I'm fine tuning this process of making perfect 500 bullets from 45 acp brass.

I Think I have it! YES it is perfect, easy, cheap, and simple! And OH BOY! What a bullet it is too! Makes me want a 500!

The perfect cast boolit core is a 250 grain 45 cal! That is perfect! I just cast 40 lbs worth of cores from a Lee 250 grain 45 cal 6 cavity mold. I used pure lead, yes PURE LEAD! It sure made it a LOT easier formign the bullet. I recomend everyone use pure lead when ever possible when swaging. Trade that wheel weight alloy with the cast boolit shooters here for pure lead.

My resulting cast boolits where 265 grains..... PERFECT for the 45 acp case when used for 500 cal bullets.

Resulting .500 cal bullet is 355 grains average depending on varing weights of 45 ACP brass.

What an awesome looking bullet! With the pure lead core it would certainly make a BIG hole in something...... JUST AWESOME! Wish I had a 500 now.

All of you waiting for these 500 cal dies I highly recomend you start casting some pure lead cores using a 45 cal 250 grain mold, I used the lee 6 cavity mold. THe results where easy and perfect. Also anneal those scrap 45 ACP too. You all will be shooitng your 500s for nothing more then the cost of a primer and powder!

Thank you for your support and patience. These dies will be worth your wait! I'm impressed for sure so you should well be.

BT

Already got a bunch of cores ready and a bunch of range brass

[DukeInFlorida]

I understand that I will be seeing these dies soon, and wanted to bump this thread up front for reference.