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Thread: 22 rimfire bullets start to finish

  1. #81
    Boolit Man Rat-Man's Avatar
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    TeddyBlu,

    Yes, after core seating the bottom 2/3 - 3/4 of the bullet length is .224 with the rest of the nose area still at .219. This goes into the point up die that is about .2245 as close as I can measure it and the ogive of the bullet point is formed.

    Most of the ogive is the empty space in the nose that doesn't have lead in it. I have started pushing the bullet farther into the point up die and that pushes the lead all the way to the end of the jacket. This has allowed me to be able to shoot these in my AR without the jacket point being deformed by hitting the feed ramp.

    I have noticed that doing this the bullet now comes out at .2245 best I can measure from the point forming die. They still shoot great this may not be the way a real bullet smith would do it, but it works for me.

    Rat-Man

  2. #82
    Boolit Master
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    How's your accuracy with them?
    George so I can:

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  3. #83
    Boolit Man
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    Rat-Man

    thanks that is what I wanted to know

    Larry

  4. #84
    Boolit Master

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    Rat-Man,
    thanks for the description of your dies and the way you do this. As I have posted elsewhere on this site, I have never actually seen any of this done and I have often wondered how the soft non-springy lead core is swaged into the springy copper jacket. But your description seems to say that the lead core is forced into the undersized jacket, expanding the jacket, thus the spring in the jacket is working towards holding the lead in place. Rather than crush the jacket down around the lead, the core forces the jacket to expand. I had no idea that was how it was done, and now I fully understand how the other blokes are getting .25 caliber bullets with .22 long rifle cases. Once again, thanks for the posting.

    Ron.
    WHEN IN DOUBT, USE MORE CLOUT!

  5. #85
    Boolit Man Rat-Man's Avatar
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    Georgeld,

    They shoot fine in the AR. I haven't done a lot of accuracy testing in the AR yet I hope to do some this spring. So far it seems to be 3-4 inched with iron sites at 100 yards, this a alot better that some of the Remington bulk bullets that I have tried in the past. Those Remington in my gun were at least 6-8 inches, it looked like you shot the target with a shotgun and buckshot.

    I have a scoped Ruger .223 that I have had very good results with. 1-1/2 to 2 inches at 100 yards. This gun shoots about 1 inch groups with its favorite load that I found so far, a 55 grain Hornady SP under 25.9 grains of Win 748 powder.

    So these bullets are not target grade, but then again I only have my time making them as an expense. I made a 3 cavity core mold from some scrap aluminum and cast cores of soft lead from scrap.

    I am pretty sure if I bought J4 jackets and used those instead I could equal or better the factory bullets but I bought these dies to have cheep blasting bullets that allow me to shoot alot with only the primer and powder expense.

    Even at current prices for a .223 this amounts to about 9 cents a round, I am very pleased with these bullets when I go to the store and see .223 at 45 cents a round.

    Rat-Man

  6. #86
    Boolit Master jameslovesjammie's Avatar
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    If people have used 22 short cases to make 39 grain bullets, has anyone used 22 mag cases to make a 69 grain? I think the mag cases are thicker copper. Could they be used to make a bullet that could go faster without coming apart at higher velocities? Or cut down to make the same thing at a lesser grain?

  7. #87
    Boolit Man Rat-Man's Avatar
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    James,

    I have save a few cases to try that in the future but they would have to be trimmed to fit in my dies for sure. I bet around 65 grains would be the max for my die set.

    I have not had any problem with these bullets disintegrating in flight at the max speed I have pushed them about 3200 fps. If you stick them in a .220 Swift or 224 Weatherby Magnum it may become a problem, I will never have that issue because I don't own a gun in anything like that.

  8. #88
    Boolit Master
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    SSon:
    Done right, the cases are not springy.
    They need to be annealed in the oven til dead soft.
    Then they're equal to soft lead.

    Ratman:
    IF you're not getting any better accuracy than that. AND you ARE a better shooter.
    Then you're using the wrong bullet/s wt in that barrel.

    Get the twist figured out, run a tight patch down the barrel, measure the distance on your rod between start and one full turn. That will give the twist rate.

    THEN you'll know what bullet wts to use. Re: 12-14:1==55-60gr max wt. Faster than 10" the heavier/longer you need to use.

    These are just general tips ok? My 14:1 will put 40gr v max into one hole all day. 55's to about half inch. Heavier? I wouldn't know, never tried 'em cause that's what a barrel maker told me.

    35gr, good to 200yds, then THEY lose control and scatter all over the hillside.

    Good luck, hope this helps you guys.
    George so I can:

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  9. #89
    Boolit Mold
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    Awesome thread

    Thanks for all of the great information.

    Looks like I now have ANOTHER expensive hobby, well at least getting started

  10. #90
    Boolit Master wonderwolf's Avatar
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    Any word on the magnum cases working or not? I'm looking to invest in a full set of dies but wanna know if I can make heavier bullets or not. I shoot a lot of longer range stuff and if I can make a 70gr bullet (boat tail?) I could practice without using my actual match bullets. Or I could just make my own match bullets if I did things right.
    My firearms project blog

  11. #91
    Boolit Master
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    No reason they wouldn't. All you need to do is make sure the final OD is correct.
    Though all the .22mags I've read about have been used for .24 or 25 cal stuff.

    I did pick up about 50 or so today at the range, first I've seen in yrs.
    George so I can:

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  12. #92
    Boolit Master wonderwolf's Avatar
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    My concern was with the wall thickness and resulting ID of the jacket if one could be formed using the same plunger?
    My firearms project blog

  13. #93
    Boolit Buddy MightyThor's Avatar
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    Shameless bump since it has been a while and this topic is still strong on this forum
    "let's go. He ain't hittin' nothin'.".... "You IDIOT, he's hit everything he's aimed at!"

  14. #94
    Boolit Mold Paul's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by georgeld View Post
    .....These are just general tips ok? My 14:1 will put 40gr v max into one hole all day. 55's to about half inch. Heavier? I wouldn't know, never tried 'em cause that's what a barrel maker told me..........
    George

    I would have to at least try a few heavier ones, just so I would know so.

    Some one told me years ago "100 gr. bullets in a 7MM REM MAG won't work"....... But one day years latter I tried 10 or 20.... works for me!... Have a Rem 700 BDL factory rifle since 1968..



    Also.... this has been a good thread to read, might have to start making jacketed bullets some day.



    Paul
    Use Camera before Gun.....

  15. #95
    Boolit Master



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    Did anyone ever address what you could do with the .22 mag brass ? Will same derimming die/punch work ? How to trim ? Anyone make a 75/77 BT bullet from 'em ?

  16. #96
    Old War Horse
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    Thumbs up

    I have years ago... Makes a very nice long bullet, I forget the weight, but I didn't load any because load data for a 100+ gr slug wasn't available... etc..

    The other thing is that a heavy blue pill like those are might (MIGHT) require a faster twist to stabilize and I didn't and still don't have the resources to experiment further...

    Might be worth looking at in a 6 mm aka .244 diameter however...

    Yes I used my solid carbide punch and the same exact derimming die.




    Quote Originally Posted by shooterg View Post
    Did anyone ever address what you could do with the .22 mag brass ? Will same derimming die/punch work ? How to trim ? Anyone make a 75/77 BT bullet from 'em ?
    Jim Fleming

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  17. #97
    Boolit Buddy
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    Fellers,

    I've got a set of Ted Smith dies that he gave me circa 25 years ago. I played with them a lot back then and enjoyed some success.

    A few questions were breached concerning velocity; I was shooting them in a 22-250. I found that when pushed much past 3,000 - 3,200 fps., the bullet left a trail like a Sidewinder missile and the bore was fouled all to hell with brass jacket material. Ted told me when he gave me the dies this would happen..of course, I had to see for myself. So, a word to the wise...unless you just have to see for yourself as well, hold the speed down. The brass jacket is extremely frangible and the end result on small critter flesh is devastating.

    I have not read where any of you folks using the dies have lubed your jacket prior to core seating. Ted Smith also gave me some lanolin based lube for this purpose and you just wet your fingertips and roll the jacket between them, imparting the finest film. He reco'd just doing this every 2 or 3 bullets....it does prevent stuck bullets in the core swaging die.

    I parked my dies after I mothballed 5,000-6,000 Winchester bulk softpoints. The dies are held in war reserve..hehe!
    I'm shufflin' thru the Texas sand..... but my head's in Mississippi

  18. #98
    Boolit Man
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    Rat-Man-

    Just curious as to what the inside diameter of the core seating die was so that you end up with .224 after seating the core. Is it over-sized to allow for spring back.

    Thanks
    Greebe

  19. #99
    Boolit Grand Master 303Guy's Avatar
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    If people have used 22 short cases to make 39 grain bullets, has anyone used 22 mag cases to make a 69 grain?
    One can make 67.7gr bullets using 22 LR cases. The trick is to cast the core directly into the jacket. The bullet should have a rounder ogive and some exposed lead.



    This one only weighs 67gr as the 'jacket' rim was slightly swaged in before casting the core. I used a sprue plate for casting.
    Last edited by 303Guy; 09-30-2009 at 01:41 PM.
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  20. #100
    Old War Horse
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    Thumbs up

    To be blunt... yes...

    I didn't cast my cores however, I swaged pure lead into the jackets...

    In fact my brass pills weighed about 70 grains...

    Have you ever heard of the "Hoxie" bullet? I duplicated it, and with the steel cored BB in the nose of the bullet, it weighed 70 grains on the dot...

    I didn't bother with trying, at that time, to make lead tipped bullets, nor did I try making any sort of hollow point...


    Quote Originally Posted by 303Guy View Post
    If people have used 22 short cases to make 39 grain bullets, has anyone used 22 mag cases to make a 69 grain?One can make 67.7gr bullets using 22 LR cases. The trick is to cast the core directly into the jacket. The bullet should have a rounder ogive and some exposed lead.



    This one only weighs 67gr as the 'jacket' rim was slightly swaged in before casting the core. I used a sprue plate for casting.
    Jim Fleming

    I will bleed, Red, White, & Blue forever.

    USAFR (Retired)
    NRA Endowment Member
    VFW Life Member

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check