3D Printed Bullet-Jackets

[HollowPoint]

Over the past few years that I've been a member of this forum, I've lurked here in the Paper Patching section with some interest. I've even tried Paper Patching of a few occasions, but with less than satisfactory results and during that time I've read posts of all the different types of materials that have been used to wrap cast bullets with in order to get them to perform like store bought full power rounds.

"Satisfactory Results," to me would have been an inch or less at a hundred yards with full power loads. I know some guys here have claimed such success but I'm not one of those guys. I guess if I had a little more patience and put a little more effort into Paper Patching I may have come close to the "Satisfactory Results" I envisioned as being successful with Paper Patched bullets.

Lately I've been contemplating the purchase of a 3D printer. My reason for doing so originally had nothing to do with bullets of any kind, but having thought about it, I figured I could just as easily print some Jackets of the appropriate size and simply slip my cast lead bullets into these 3D printed jackets. The grease-grooves could coincide with strategically placed rings on the interior of my 3D printed jackets to lock my cast bullet into place.

I'm not talking about 3D printing a "Sabot;" although this could be done as well. I'm talking about 3D printing a bullet jacket with which ever material would serve this application the best.

Of course I most likely would have to use a cast bullet the next size smaller in order for this to work, but the principle is still the same.

I think eventually this same technology will get around to being able to 3D print molten lead so we can print and test our own bullet designs without having to go through the expense of having a custom bullet mold made only to find that it didn't perform as hoped.

I wasn't sure if this was the correct section of the forum to post my intentions. Since it deals with wrapping a bullet in order to get it to shoot faster I thought I'd post here.

There have been times when I've posted my thoughts or intentions and I'm afraid they were interpreted as asking for permission to do something. This is not the case here. I'm posting this as an alternative material with which to "Patch" our bullets with and, to ask which of the various print mediums available you think might work best for this application. There is one Print-Medium that contains wood pulp that is said to give a wood/paper finish.

HollowPoint

[Smoke4320]

I think with enough time and experimentation it will work .. we do PC now which is a Polyester Coat.. You will be printing a cover/jacket and fitting a lead slug into it.. foreseeing the issues as being controlling the Internal Dia of jacket, mating the core to jacket..

But hey it may just be the answer we need to bust the velocity ceiling all to pieces

[Hardcast416taylor]

When I first started paper patching some of my results would have better suited being in a version of the "Mummy" movie for all the wrinkles. You just need to continue working on the technique of patching, the results will come along with practice as will working on loads for the appropiate rifle that is using these boolets. Good luck on future attempts.Robert

[Whiterabbit]

maybe for swaging. If the jacket were thin enough you could cast cores then use a press to one-shot seat the core and form the point. Would be more like a sabot though, sort of. half sabot half jacket. lead only past the ogive.

Maybe.

[texassako]

maybe for swaging. If the jacket were thin enough you could cast cores then use a press to one-shot seat the core and form the point. Would be more like a sabot though, sort of. half sabot half jacket. lead only past the ogive.

Maybe.

I could see something similar to this. I got to play with a couple of the hobby machines last year. They are not the most precise of instruments with the hot plastic leaving an uneven surface. I could see a thinner, sabot like piece being printed, but there are a lot of experiments going on with different materials and printing heads.

[HollowPoint]

I think it can work myself. I've checked into the the resolution of some of these 3D Printers and some of them can put out less than one micron in layer thickness with a glass smooth surface finish. I guess it depends on which 3D Printer you buy and the amount of detail you put into your design.

I've also seen some 3D printed items that showed distinct uneven-ness just like has been mentioned. These were generally printed in that Printer's economy or quick mode.

A few months ago, the latest and the greatest of these bench top consumer 3D printers had resolution that was clearly uneven. With every passing few weeks it seems that more improvements are made to their resolution and user friendliness.

Think about it. A short time from now we may be able to just print out our cast bullets. I have a Tikka T3 with a plastic magazine that only holds four rounds. I think I might also be able to draw up and print out a magazine that will hold a couple more rounds; but that's another subject all together.

HollowPoint

[Janoosh]

Printing out a "patch", or "sabot", or "wad"....for a cast boolit is entirely doable .
A printed wad, slit for a.cast boolit, loaded in a shotshell.....
the same idea for a sabot in a straight wall rifle or pistol case..
do-able..

[Whiterabbit]

Pretty sure a jacket is doable. I can easily imagine a printed cup, plunk in a cast core, then swage to final dimension.

I'll bet it can be done with good results.

[longbow]

I don't doubt that you can 3D print a jacket/sabot that a core could be slipped into. Two of the problems I see are:

- maintaining tolerances which certainly isn't impossible but might be impractical when one considers that variations in diameters of less than 0.001" can affect accuracy ~ consistency is everything in the accuracy game.
- probably more importantly, availability of a material that can be printed to desired dimensions and tolerances and will have the containment and support characteristics required. Again, not impossible but may be difficult to achieve.

Doable yes, but unless there is a large enough market to support development this sort of technology is unlikely to progress. If it spins off from another technology or industry... or if the military (or suppliers for the military) develops this sort of technology then yup, it'll be a go for sure.

Printing molten lead boolits though I do not think will happen. A lead based "ink" that can be used to make 3D solids then sinter them (or similar) I could easily buy into.

Back to the jacket/sabot, this one is entirely doable now but materials and cost of production would be the determining factors. We already have injection moulding processes than can crank out masses of product quickly and cheaply. Equipment and dies are expensive but they last a long time and have high production rates. 3D printing is slow by its nature of thin layers in multiple passes so unless that is changed significantly the process will remain slow. No dies required but a fairly complex machine is still required.

I am just kind of thinking out loud here. Interesting ideas and possible. We'll see how things develop.

Longbow

[Janoosh]

If the material for the Paper Patch were thin or flexible enough, wouldn't it be possible to just "pop" a cast boolit into the Patch. I'm thinking thin, like mylar.
+1 Longbow...if I had one of those machines I'd have to try out the idea..

[longbow]

Yup, that would probably work. I recall 303guy making paper "jackets" for his .22 Hornet cast boolits by winding paper onto a mandrel, gluing the edge to make a sleeve that wouldn't unwrap, slip the sleeve off the mandrel, then soaking in water which made it swell enough to slip a boolit in, then dry for tight paper jacket. It seemed to work for him and this would just be a different way of making that sleeve.

Longbow

[Alferd Packer]

kind of exciting watching your ideas flow!
And the person who said,"ya can't do THAT because...."
After he threw down the challenge, the ideas started coming.
Thank you one and all!
Paper patching is fun and this just gets better. Please keep kicking this idea around!
Don't forget wrapping them in teflon tape.

[texassako]

I had a thought the other day and let it stew a bit. Combine a cnc egg printer(it can handle odd shapes, egg-bot is a good example) and a 3D printer's extruder. I bet something like the 3Doodler would already fit in the egg-bot. Print your patches right on the lead bullet.

[HollowPoint]

I was, and still am sure it will work. My only concern was using the correct material or print medium.

There is one called "Laywood." Google it. (LayWood Filament) It's made of wood pulp or wood fiber; as is paper. 3D printers with enough resolution can easily handle this task.

One Hundred microns seems to be the industry standard at the high end of the resolution scale. One Hundred microns equals 0.0000393700787402 of an inch. Even a cast bullet cast in a perfectly built bullet mold with perfectly regulated temperature and the purest lead or lead alloy would be hard pressed to achieve this degree of accuracy so I'm not really sure why there would be any concern over tolerances.

Some of the higher end consumer grade 3D printers can achieve even higher resolution.

In regard to 3D printing lead bullets directly from a modified print head on one of these 3D printers, think about this; some of the print mediums or print filaments that are being used right now, melt at a higher temperature than certain kinds of solder. With filament diameters that are only 1.75mm-.8mm, lead wire of this diameter would be easier to liquify than the lead billets we picture in our minds when we think of melting lead in our pots in order to cast our bullets.

Mark my words; it's only a matter of time before some of us will be telling some of you, "I Told You So."

HollowPoint

[deepwater]

I thought that the price of desk top 3-D printers are several (5-18) thousand dollars. What would be the cost per unit (jacket)?

deepwater

[HollowPoint]

The price of 3D printers vary from as low as four hundred dollars or lower for DIY open source kits to as much as you want to pay. Given these pricing parameters, it's nearly impossible to answer your question with any kind of certainty.

As far as the print medium or filament; there too the price varies considerably depending on where and how much you buy. There are also DIY and Desktop filament extruders that allow you to make your own print filament out of discarded plastic bottles as well as ABS and PLS pellets for a tenth of the price of ready made store bought rolls of filament.

This technology is evolving so rapidly that I believe it's only a matter of time that the Nay-Sayer, the Know-It-Alls and Internet Trolls will be left with no excuse but to get a 3D Printer themselves. Only then will they come to find out how empty their arguments were.

HollowPoint

[Treetop]

If, 10-15 years ago, someone had told you that you could manufacture an AR lower at home, using a printer; what would you have told him?

You've got my attention, Hollowpoint! Tt.

[Nrut]

The price of 3D printers vary from as low as four hundred dollars or lower for DIY open source kits to as much as you want to pay. Given these pricing parameters, it's nearly impossible to answer your question with any kind of certainty.

As far as the print medium or filament; there too the price varies considerably depending on where and how much you buy. There are also DIY and Desktop filament extruders that allow you to make your own print filament out of discarded plastic bottles as well as ABS and PLS pellets for a tenth of the price of ready made store bought rolls of filament.

This technology is evolving so rapidly that I believe it's only a matter of time that the Nay-Sayer, the Know-It-Alls and Internet Trolls will be left with no excuse but to get a 3D Printer themselves. Only then will they come to find out how empty their arguments were.

HollowPoint

You seem to be very defensive..
I have read all the posts on this thread and I don't see where anybody is coming of as a >Nay-Sayer, Know-It-All or Internet Troll <..

Chill out HollowPoint ..

[HollowPoint]

You seem to be very defensive..
I have read all the posts on this thread and I don't see where anybody is coming of as a >Nay-Sayer, Know-It-All or Internet Troll <..

Chill out HollowPoint ..

I didn't think I was coming off as "Defensive" but, from your perspective you're most likely right. Different folks interpret things in different ways. Sorry for any offense. Being defensive or offensive was not my intent.

HollowPoint

[texassako]

Have you seen that they are also making DIY open source laser sintering machines? I think that might be a better medium than 3D printing for materials that flow like molten metals.