338s from 3/8" copper tubing!

[BT Sniper]

Pics posted below!

Been working on one customer's order for the better part of 2-3 weeks now but the results...... ........ well I'll try to stay humble and let the pics speak for themselves.

Got a 338 set of dies ready for a customer. He sent me some nice jackets that where 1.5" long and .030 thick. I made some very nice bullets for him up to 300 grains with those jackets. I also supplied the tools and dies necessary to use cut and sized down 223rem brass as well (posted a few of those pics a while back). Also got him set up to make jackets from copper tubing. I attempted using 5/16" (.312) copper tubing and bumping up to .338 but it presenting to many challenges so.... away I went with the 3/8" copper tubing. Worked out very well, once the .375 jacket was formed I simply used the same draw dies for the 223 to bring down the tubing jacket to .338. This guy should be set, 338 bullets from commercial jackets, scrap 223 brass and 3/8" copper tubing!

These bullets look just like what I imagine a Sierra 250 grain "Game King" SPBT,YEP lead tip and boat tail! This will be the first set of BTSniper boat tail dies I will be sending to a customer. It has taken me years to perfect the tools and dies necessary for boat tail bullets, I am certainly happy with the results and sure the customer will be too. Maybe one of these days I'll get to make me a set of these 338 dies, I got a 338RUM imp. (338 edge) that is hungry.

I'll have pics soon!

Thanks for all your support and patience,

Good shooting and swage on!

Brian

[GRUMPA]

ALRIGHT!!!! PICS.... GIMME the pics

[BT Sniper]

Pics!


This is just the first .338 bullet I made from the 3/8" tubing. I'm sure I'll be able to improve a little on it too. Only had time to make the one today. We need to figure out a good tool/machine to accurately cut copper tubing!



Factory Sierra 300 grain MK, my 338 from 3/8" copper tubing and a 22 from 22lr for compare.





Had to put a little piece of lint on the paper to keep the bullet from rolling away
[URL=http://s636.photobucket.com/user/BTSniper/media/fa45c7be-3f46-42b9-a526-dc7a936051c0_zps1070e21b.jpg.html]

[Swede44mag]

BT Sniper
Good looking boolit you got there.
Will the customer be able to make a boolit with the copper tubing all the way to the point?
Will his/her set include a tipping die for lead tipped boolits?
I have shot factory bullets that have exposed let tip but they always seem to get deformed I think this will affect accuracy on distant shots.
I shoot a Remington 300 Win Mag and a Winchester 300 WSM Each like different bullets weight due to the difference in rifle twist.
What weight range will these dies make?
Enquiring minds want to know.

[BT Sniper]

Thanks!

Actually I was attempting to make a bullet with the jacket to the tip, I applied a bit too much pressure and sheared the jacket in the core seat step so it became a lead tip.

This here is a 6s ogive with a .095 meplat, it will make for good hunting bullets and probably pretty good accuracy too. I am in the works of machining a 338 9s with a .062 meplat, should match the Sierra 300 grain match king and make for a great long range bullet.



These three bullets where all made in this same die. Left to right, commercial jacket, scrap 223rem jacket and the 3/8" copper tubing jacket.

Yes no problem making bullets with jacket to tip of bullet. No lead tip die needed. The bullet comes out of the die as pictured. If one wanted to round the sharp edge of the lead tip a few minutes in a tumbler with some ceramic media would do it.

Made a 338 bullet that was 350 grains in this die. That is 50 grains heavier then anything commercially available that I know of.

BT

[BT Sniper]

Found some of the pics to this thread.....







Pictured with a 300 grain Sierra Match King

Man! Those look pretty good, a customer's die set from a long time ago, I should make me one!

[Valornor]

BT Sniper those are some good looking bullets. I have a 3/8 to 338 jacket tubing maker kit from Corbin and those jackets look better then what i have been able to turn out. Are you using soft copper? What sort of thickness variation do you measure on your jackets?

I bought a roll of soft copper but haven't broken into it yet. Dave Corbin really balks at the idea of using the soft copper for bullets but I'm not sure I buy into his claims that it cannot be used. I've been working with the hard copper "precision drawn" tubing which Corbin sell and I see about .002-.003 variation in jacket thickness. I also have to anneal prior to drawing the jacket down to diameter. My first batch of bullets I made came apart when I shot them out of my 338LM, I think I narrowed it down to staking too hard. I would definately love to see what kind of results you get on the target with those.

[runfiverun]

I don't know how hard you can push the hard drawn copper.
I have pushed soft tubing to around 2300 but that was with a lot of lead exposed above it.

[uncle dino]

Val why do you have to anneal? Are you pushing through the base or cracking jacket? I use hard but never have had to anneal jacket. D

[Valornor]

If I remember correctly the force needed to draw the jacket is uncomfortably high (I am on a Megamite Press). It's been awhile since I've made tubing jackets, but I don't remember punching through the bottom of the jacket. Corbin also states that you should anneal because the subsequent steps in the jacket making process rely on the copper hardness being a "known" quantity, I figured this known value was "dead" soft.

[BT Sniper]

Valornor,

Thanks for the comments.

It was simple soft coiled copper tubing purchased at the local hardware store. Had no problems making great 338 jackets from them. Didn't have tooling exact enough to measure any runout of the formed jacket afterwards.

No annealing was necessary at any point and no excessive force was required to draw down these formed jackets, pretty easy as I recall.

Swage on!

Brian

[clodhopper]

post 6, the flat point bullet 3rd from the right is what I have been trying to get for my rifles, no one understand what fun that would be on bone.

Just take a boattail and load it backwards.