257 Bullets

[bullet maker 57]

I got this box from a friend. Maybe someone out there will know how old it is.

[bullet maker 57]

I would have thought someone would have some information on this box of bullets.

[Harter66]

All I can offer is that Vernon Speer went commercial about 1945 and the boxes were the green box with the little "rivet strip" corner metal reenforcement . In 1970 so that's a guide . If there's no lot number on it I'd venture pre 1955 but that's more an industry gut guess than any solid information ......... I read an article some yrs ago about him and the RockChucker press being originally​ for swagging 22s from 22 LR cases and lead cores. Details have been lost since .......

[Hardcast416taylor]

As I recall that story of Vernon he worked in a small garage type building behind a laundromat making his bullets and an occasional press for his `Rock Chuck` varmit hunter friends. As his business grew he had to move to a larger building as he had to do several more times.Robert

[bullet maker 57]

Thanks for the information. I never saw a box like this before. there is no lot number on the box. I opened it and the bullets have a small depression in the base. The soft point is a lot larger than what we see on todays bullets. I will get some pictures when I get a chance.

[rockrat]

I have some of those in 25 cal. but 60gr round nose soft points. Was told made in the 50's

[ipopum]

I have several boxes of those in .257 cal. I think 100 gr and 120 gr. They shoot fine in my 257 ROBT.

[bullet maker 57]

Thanks for the info.

[Olut]

I too have a similar Speer box, but in .30 caliber. These "spitzer soft point bullets " also have the distinctive depression in the base. These must be from the late 1950's or early 1960's when I first started reloading hunting ammo for my 1903 Springfield ( I'd buy 8 round M1 clips for 25 cents, pull the full metal jacket and replace with either these Speer or Herter's jacketed bullets). As Vernon Speer died at the end of 1978, my 1979 Speer Reloading Manual has a nice dedication and biography of him. Pertinent details are that he settled in Lewiston, Idaho in 1944 and "in that year he set up his first bullet making press in the basement of an old grocery store" using fired .22 rimfire cases for the jacket material and in his first year sold $6000 of them "in candy sacks". In 1961 he perfected his "double swaged, hot-cores method of making high performance hunting bullets"

[Loudenboomer]

I've got several boxes of the same makings only 180 gr. RN .308. I wondered how old mine were too.

[Chill Wills]

When I think of the Rock Chucker press I think of Fred Huntington, not Speer. Is my memory bad? Getting old and a bad memory maybe.

[Olut]

When I think of the Rock Chucker press I think of Fred Huntington, not Speer. Is my memory bad? Getting old and a bad memory maybe.

The 1979 Speer reloading manual datails the "CCI-SPEER-RCBS" relationship ... In essence, "Fred (Huntington) invented the compound leverage system which uses leverage straps that give tremendous camming advantage at the bottom of the ram stroke where it's most needed. This concept - in conjunction with the block O frame and removable shell holder were the unique features of the RCBS 'A' tool which evolved into the modern Rockchucker press in 1969"