Lathe turning slugs

[Steven Dzupin]

Here's something else I'm experimenting with.

12 gage turned shells from 6061 Aluminium bar stock.
At 2 hours apiece ,I'll make 3 or so for testing.

Regards,

Steve

[lar45]

They can be made from 50 BMG cases also. Might save you some time.
When the 12gaFH project was first starting up, they were haveing a hard time getting a rim onto the rimless case. I turned the rim off, then took a piece of brass and turned it to fit the base of the case. I soldered mine in place, then chucked it back into the lathe and turned off everything that wasn't a 12ga rim. They worked great.
Ed Hubel and Rob the Gunbuilder took my idea and turned threads on the base instead of soldering it in place. The threads would probably be a better idea for high pressure applications.
On some of them, I drilled out the primer pocket and made an insert for a 209 primer.
Once you get setup, the stages go fairly quickly. The hardest part is anealing the cases and fire forming. I think Ed built a series of expanders to open them up instead of fireforming.

[55fairlane]

As a tool maker, I am most impressed.....please share more....and how well they work.....loading....ect......I made some solid 10 GA. Brass shells for a buddy several years ago, but they were just for display with the old BP shotgun.......

Nice looking work.......what kind of lathe you got?

Aaron

[Steven Dzupin]

I have a very old 1950's vintage SouthBend heavy 10" tool room lathe ,it's retired from the Packard Motor Company.
I'm retired too from Aerospace.

The plastic cases worked well enough,you can see the results.
Blue Dot seems to be the best and safest powder.
My Buckhammer copies shoot,well like the originals,but a bit slower.
Range has been closed for Archery Deer Season .
It's now open but the weather here in Merryland is not cooperating.
I originally wanted to use the Lyman Pellet style slug ,but it 's too small in diameter.
Guys here sent me some samples and wads but they didn't work out.
They saved me the cost of a mould.

I've been following the 12 gage from hell posts,alas but for the money.

My experimenting keeps me off the streets and out of the bars but broke.
The price of 1" Brass bar stock is chilling so I went with Aluminium 6061.


I'll post some more as time allows.

Regards,

Steve

[Steven Dzupin]

The Aluminium experiment!

[Steven Dzupin]

Finished round.

[Steven Dzupin]

Went to range today with high hopes the weather would improve,yeah,more rain.
Got wet and fired a few shots in spite of the rain.
Here's a shot of a before and after firing of an Aluminum case.
I did not have an SAMMI print so I copied the dimensions from a new Federal Plastic /Brass Plated Steel head cartridge.
The fit seemed loose in my Remington 870s' chamber ,you can see the result.
Next step is to make a chamber cast and see what I've got to work with.
Might try one or two cases that are .010" under the chamber cast diameter and have a slightly thicker case wall.
Maybe?

Anyone have a cheap piece of 1" diameter 360 brass to trade for Linotype or Pb?

Regards,

Steve

[Steven Dzupin]

My copies of a Remington BuckHammer
in once fired Federal Gold Medal Grand shells.
Aluminium cases is just for show.

Regards,

Steve

[Steven Dzupin]

The Speer .45 caliber 200 grain LSWC projectile works so well in the .45 ACP.
I increased the dimensions by + 400 % to give it a try as a 12 gage full bore slug.
It's almost full 2 ounces and will need to have a hollow base to lighten it down quite a bit.
Winter is here and it's quite cold in the workshop.

Regards,

Steve

[Traffer]

If you make a cylindrical mould of correct diameter to suit the bore then you can cast as many slugs as you want and vary the nose form and/or hollow base form to get solid slugs, HP slugs, HB slugs, any nose shape you want. I haven't managed HB with HP slugs but other than that there is no limit.

The only thing you can't do is add lube grooves but knurling takes care of that if you want to lube. You can also knurl for diameter experimentation... knurl over size then size back to whatever diameter you want. I make hammer sizers for that.

Once the mould is made making changes to nose form or HB plug don't take any longer than turning a slug.

However, turning the slugs works fine too if you are careful or make a form tool for consistency as county gent says.

Different strokes.

Longbow

This is also nearly the method I use for making 22lr bullets. Except with the cylindrical "mold" I just use a ram and swage the bullets. It is much easier than people think. You can make the swaging dies on a lathe. I have deep head 7/8 14 bolts that would work for this purpose. The deep head could be the swage die area. Then you could take any slug of the weight you desire and swage an exact slug from it. Changing the shape could be done with different point forming dies and base punches.

[BNE]

Oh to have a lathe.... the skill to use it also!

I had a machinist at work set me up and show me the basics. I made a pin for a hollow base mold that someone had lost the pin for it. It worked, but I realized I do not have the time to learn this craft. I read these posts with great interest and admiration for the skill.

[longbow]

Yup! Swaging works too but only with softer alloys so not suitable for higher pressure/velocity rounds unless paper patched... which of course also works.

I like the cylindrical moulds for their ease of manufacture, perfectly cylindrical boolit body, ability to change nose shape and/or HB/HP (can't do both!) size and shape. Basically they are a poor man's equivalent to swaging. Same idea but pour the lead in instead of squeezing it to shape.

I've made several in .301" for PP as is for .308 and knurled for .303 Brit, 0.316" for tumble lubing for .303 Brit, 0.421" for PP and 0.434" for my .44 Marlin, 0.62? for 20 ga. and several in wad size slug diameters (varies) and 0.729" for full bore 12 ga. In higher pressure rifle applications not PP'sd then harder alloy is used so probably not good for swaging.

Nothing wrong with lathe turning if you have the time or a CNC machine especially for experimentation just making a few of each type. It also allows for body shapes that cannot be cast using the cylindrical moulds or swaging (without follow up forming/machining anyway).

Its all good clean fun!

Longbow

[Steven Dzupin]

Yesterday and this mornings handy work.

Going to try to make a few of these in .732" diameter.

Regards,

Steve

[longbow]

Nice work! Remember to save the chips!