Serious question about home swaging from rimfire brass

[MUSTANG]

Cuzz I Like To Do It.

[bullet maker 57]

What MUSTANG said. On top of everything else I like it. Keeps me out of trouble for the most part.

[Bills Shed]

I do not know what projectiles cost in the USA but here in Australia you can find cheap projectiles in .224" at common weights but if you do not want a 55gn projectile and want a 52,60,40gn etc we can expect to pay AU$45.00 which is about US$30.00 / 100. That works out to about 6000 projectiles to break even. That is not many at all! I have well and truely made my money back.
And what Mustang said....because I enjoy it.

Bill

[GONRA]

Loong ago GONRA used Lapua COPPER case fired .22LR cases (1960's) to make 7mm Nambu FMJ bullets.
Home made dies, CH Swag-O-Matic press. Shot Great!
BUT - scared to continue - feared busting CH Swag-O-Matic press.

One Pointless Retired Man Project is make a thead adaptor to use these dies in my Corbin CSP-2 Mega-Mite ™ press.
We'll see.

[lead chucker]

Im with MUSTANG. I made my own dies for the .224 and .308 bullets. Both will shoot an inch or better at 100 yards. Shot three deer with my .308 bullets last season. Fun stuff.

[BT Sniper]

I'll attempt to add my thoughts to the questions posted by the OP......

I can here some of you saying "oh no, but you provide these dies" so I'll try to keep it as un bias as possible.

The target market? Well ........ quite simply anyone that wishes to make their own quality bullets from readily available components.

The OP asks why one would purchase these dies when commercial bullets are available for a dime a piece? With this reasoning one could also ask "why would one reload their own ammo when factory ammo is available for only .25 to $1.00 each?"

Answers have already been given and I agree...... "because we want to" and "because we can."

And once you get past the initial investment of the dies..... "because it costs less!"

Then there is always the unknown future with the ever possible restrictions that threaten to take away from us everything we love about our shooting sport. Simply ask any 22 cal shooter back in 2013 how they felt about the availability of 223 ammo or reloading components or even 22lr ammo, now ask the same question to a 22 cal shooter that had the tooling to make and shoot their own. When everything is good in the world and there is plenty of cheap ammo and bullets for reloading, purchasing "dies that cost multiple hundreds of dollars to make .22 centerfire bullets out of fired rimfire cases" might not make as much since to those that wish to rely on others to supply them with their shooting component needs. But...... when history repeats it's self or.... let's hope not..... gets worse, being able to make your own gives one the freedom to get out from under those that will attempt to regulate our shooting needs in the future. This ability to being self sufficient to fulfill 100% of your shooting needs is an incredible feeling of freedom!

Speaking of "feelings" ....... I go out every spring and shoot 5-10,000 rounds of 20 and 223 caliber rounds at the sage rats. I think the 20-223 or 204 Ruger with a 32 grain bullet at 4100 fps may be the best and most accurate round for the sage rat shooting I do out to 400yrds. It is so accurate it actually gets boring. But ...... my favorite rifle has always been my trusty 223rem shooting 22 cal bullets I have made from 22lr brass. It doesn't matter to me if it isn't shooting as fast or as flat, the feeling of success in hitting your target will always be greater when using a bullet you make yourself vs. any factory bullet.

As for the OP's question of brass being as good as guilding metal for jackets? ............. for an answer to the OP's question I say it is BETTER and here is my reasoning..... the OP asks why one would buy costly dies to make 22 cal bullets. For the person that buys these dies and wishes to recover their investment and shoot a lot without spending a lot of additional cost, 22lr brass jackets are FREE, commercial guilding metal 22 cal jackets costs almost as much as the commercial bullets they are made from, with this simple fact alone I feel the free brass jackets are better. Now for the real answer, I'm sure a J4, Sierra or Hynes Tactical jacket will probably always shoot better then a 22lr jacket but when I can put 4 out of 5 bullets made from 22lr jackets threw the same hole at 100yrds and make hits on sage rats out to 300+yrds why do I need to worry about "which one is better"? For my needs and my budget 22lr jackets are perfect. As for the physical and chemical properties of guilding metal vs. brass jackets...... they both contain the same components of copper and zink just a bit more zink in the brass. I see no difference and feel no fear using either jackets made from cleaned brass or made from commercial available guilding metal jackets for making bullets in my dies.

What about cost! We all know the dies are an investment, the same price range or sometimes even less then some of the rifles that are being used to shoot these bullets but again the OP asks "why" and I break it down like this....

Commercial bulk bullets in times of excess = 7-10 cents a piece
Home swaged bullets from 22lr brass = always free!
Commercial 223 ammo in times of excess = about 20-30 cents a piece for bulk cheap stuff, who knows how accurate?
Commercial 223 ammo in times of panic, like after 2013 = up to $1 each and again who knows how accurate?
Commercial 223 bullets in times of panic, like after 2013 = may not be available at all!

My own 223 ammo with bullets I made = 3 cents a piece for primers and 6.5 cents a piece for powder (25 grains of H-335)! That is under 10 cents a piece total for my own custom tuned ammo no matter what the future has in store for us.

How about the ability to make any weight bullet you wish? If one wishes to try a different weight bullet they are forced to buy an entire box. When one has the tools they can try out a few different bullets of any weight with just the simple twist of the dies.

How about the ability to make uncommon weight bullets that are not typically available or cost a lot, I realize a 22lr case has it's limits on how heavy a bullet it can make so simply insert a jacket of any length you wish made from a 22 mag case, with dies one is able to make bullets as light or as heavy as they wish.

To the OP's comment of "Making .22 bullets out of fired rimfire brass strikes me like the prospect of reloading fired primers--something you'd only do as a last resort" .......... well, we are all entitled to our own opinions, I suppose one could view making bullets from 22lr brass as an unnecessary task "when factory bullets are about a dime each" but there are plenty of shooters out there that enjoy reloading their own ammo vs. buying factory ammo, and there are those shooters out there that enjoy making their own projectiles instead of buying factory, and should the day come again when the "factory" stuff becomes scarce in times of panic or worse regulated by government........ those that have invested in tooling will continue to shoot with a smile when others may not.

One only needs to mention RCBS or Speer in the times of WWII. Bullets made from 22lr brass where nearly their own form of currency. Granted those might seem like drastic times that one hopes to never experience again but.......

I say to all, "good shooting" no matter who made the bullets and when factory bullets become hard to find, I say to those that making their own.... SWAGE ON!

Brian

[M.A.D]

Dont laugh, I re prime my BMG primers twice for my 700 HBH.... Those babies cost $1.25 each in lots of 1000 and then theres 4 hours of driving ad tolls. I can re prime them for 20 cents in materials...
Getting BMG primers here isnt always easy due to ITAR laws..

[ofreen]

One of the great luxuries of swaging my own bullets, besides not having to worry about running out, is not having to justify it to anybody. If somebody has to question it that much, it isn't for them and I doubt anything said in this thread will change their mind. I've been making bullets out of 22LR cases using the same dies since 1984, so I admit the price for current dies doesn't concern me much. I have to admit for the dirt shooters out there who go through 500+ rounds in an outing, swaging is probably not for them unless they have a lot of spare time to pull a handle.

[clodhopper]

"dirt shooters"
Nice description.

BUT! did you see that? I got a worm!

[BlackoutBuilder]

We shot up a pumpkin last fall in the woods leaving a nice trench in the dirt. So, I got the seeds, laid them in the trough, folded the dirt over them, and have thus turned my sword into a plow. This year, I should have grown a few fresh targets, and this time, I won't have to carry them.

[rcslotcar]

I'm retired now,house paid off,only truck payment now. I have reloaded since the early 70's. Iv'e been casing for a couple of years. I bought some BTsnipers swaging equipment and enjoy the time I spend doing my enhanced hobby. It isn't a fast process but I am doing something that keeps me busy with a ton of bullets at the end of the day. The initial cost of the dies is expensive but so is everything in reloading. Once you have acquired the equipment, use it and enjoy it. Swaging is not!!! for everyone. Those of us that do it understand why.