Home made cannelure tool

[Forrest r]

I’d like to start out by saying thank you to all of you that have put so much info out there for people like me. I like to tinker with things & swaging bullets definitely gives me all the tinkering I can handle. I don’t have the setups you guys are using or make the pure eye candy you call bullets but I do have a rcbs press, arbor press & a drill press & a couple old rifle dies to play with.

So I made a draw die to make 9mm cases into .358” jackets.
Made a trim die to trim the .358” jackets.
Turned an old 380acp expander die into a bump die to turn 40s&w’s into .430” jackets.
Made a trim die for the .430” jackets.

So with them I can play/make simple 38/357 & 44spl/mag jacketed hbwc’s and hp’s. I kept reading about cannelures & thought why not give them a try. So I’ve been collecting pieces & parts & finely got the time to put a cannelure tool together.

Attachment 59474

A close up of the home made cannelure tool.

Attachment 59473

Some of the simple 38/357 hp’s I make that I ran thru the cannelure tool in about 1 minute.

Attachment 59472

It’s nothing fancy but I don’t have a whole lot in it either, $20. The most expensive part was the can opener ($11) that I used. Can openers have the small toothed wheels on them that will cut/press/indent the bullet’s case.

[Awsar]

wow nice job looks like it works pretty good too and the price is right keep up the good work.

[deltaenterprizes]

I'll bet it would not take much to make an electric can opener into a powered canalure tool, nice work & good idea

[DukeInFlorida]

I like the long handle.
The CH4D version comes with a short handle, and it's literally a pain.

NIce work

[littlejack]

That is ALRIGHT. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.
Jack

[dragonrider]

I am impressed, very clever indeed.

[deltaenterprizes]

I like the long handle.
The CH4D version comes with a short handle, and it's literally a pain.

NIce work

I put a piece of steel tubing over the factory handle, I need to make a longer handle one day.

[Forrest r]

Thank you for the replies, it was actually pretty easy to make. It took about an hour to finish cutting the steel, drill & tap the holes & put it together.

I don’t know if an electric can opener would work, you need to have the cannelure adjustable for the different sizes/calibers of bullets & the different height for the different bullets. Besides it takes longer to put a bullet in & take it out than to turn the handle 5 or 6 cranks to put the cannelure on the bullet.

The experiment on making the tool wasn’t done out of necessity, I just didn’t want to spend $70 + shipping for something I wanted to experiment with. So instead of sending ch $70+$$$ I made one to play with. I’ve loaded/tested some of those shell case bullets that were loaded to the raggedy edge & tested. I wanted to test some “hot” loads in a couple of revolvers & thought it might be better to have a cannelure on the bullets.

[Boneguru]

This looks interesting,
could you post the details?
I would like to try my hand as well
Thanks,
Ray

[Forrest r]

There's really not a lot of details to give.

A cannelure tool need:
rollers so the bullet can spin
a screw to adjust the height of the bullet (tall/short)
A wheel that marks/engraves the bullets (can opener 1/2)
A screw to adjust the depth of the cannelure in the bullet (22cal/50cal)

[Cane_man]

Forrest, there you go again! making clever awesome things in the most simple and elegant manner... carry on

[Taylor]

There's really not a lot of details to give.

A cannelure tool need:
rollers so the bullet can spin
a screw to adjust the height of the bullet (tall/short)
A wheel that marks/engraves the bullets (can opener 1/2)
A screw to adjust the depth of the cannelure in the bullet (22cal/50cal)

What did you use for rollers?
What did you use for the crank handle?

[Forrest r]

For rollers I used some 3/8" stock cut into 1/2" lengths and drilled a hole in them to accept a 8-32 cap head screw.

The handle/body of the tool is nothing more than a can opener. The handle/drive wheel is on 1/2 of the can opener. If you take the can opener apart you will end up with a:
Handle
metal body/plate
Cannalure wheel (drive wheel)

After I used it for awhile I found some 10mm round by 13mm high bearing I had laying around and put them in for rollers.

[DukeInFlorida]

The Ultimate Cannelure Tool:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...Cannelure-Tool

[chuckbuster]

Have Wide Body UCT's on hand ready to ship...

[silvermane_1]

Believe it or not this thread is why i joined this site, i am interested in building a homemade bullet cannelure tool, also Forrest r if you every deside to build more bullet cannelure tools, let me know because i reload for 400 Cor-Bon and it was recommended that cannelured bullets are ideal for the .401 cal. that are used for the 400 Cor-Bon.

[Drm50]

I'm going to give this a try myself. I have several hundred 375 bullets I want to cannulure and been putting off buying a $100 tool just for them. The wheel is all I need. I have a 5gal bucket full of cranks, rollers and odd ball parts & screws that I have saved when scrapping out old IBM office equipment. I had thought of taking a cutting wheel from a pipe or tubing cutter and turning it down. I could live with a smooth groove but I like the can opener wheel idea better.

[danomano]

I like it!