Anyone ever see copper boolit bands?

[mikenbarb]

I got a bunch of boolits from a widow of a caster and there are a bunch of odd .30 caliber boolits. Theres a copper band around the boolit body and looks like it was cast in place. Im wondering if anyone has ever seen these things or if their still made because it seems like a great idea. I will post a pic in a bit.

***Please see pics below.***

[Willbird]

Over the years I have seen more than 1 article where the author cut driving bands from copper pipe, pre heated them on top of the lead pot, dropped them in the mold with tweezers, and cast a bullet around them.

I also remember reading an article about bullets that had a jacket or patch made by winding a cotton covered copper wire tightly around them. The bullet itself was nearly pure lead and very soft

Bill

[BABore]

Or punch holes in gas checks and set them in place.

[redbeard762]

Corbin used to make a "driving band" cutter. This would slice off exact lengths of tubing to make cast in driving bands for lead bullets. This was supposed to reduce leading and allow higher velocities with softer alloys.

[Russel Nash]

No... but I did see Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band one time.

<rimshot>

[Maven]

Those may be Wilk gas checks. Check out this thread: castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26923

[bobk]

BABore,
Where can I get such a punch?

Bob K

[mikenbarb]

Thanks and im glad noone thinks im nuts and never heard of them. Im going to research this furthur because it seems like a great idea to have a copper driving band to get higher velocities and may cut down on some lube. Its on the second band and takes up the whole width of it and looks like it will aid with sealing and cleaning the bore when shot. Its definatly wider than a gas check sidewall.
Maven, The link dont work.

[mikenbarb]

[JSnover]

The article I remember reading was called "The .380 Rook Rifle"....... I think. The author lived in England and came up with the idea back in the 80s.

[Slowpoke]

Floodgate sent me a magazine article from 1922 and it showed a picture of a boolit with a copper band on the middle drive band, I guess nothing is really new, the designer was Charles Gebhard.

Handloader's bullet making annual Vol.1 1990 has a good article on the Wilk check.

good luck

[garandsrus]

I have an old Handloader article on the Wilk gas check (which is what they called it). It is a very interesting article and they claim great things. I haven't researched it more than that.

John

[tommag]

Andrew375 wrote an article about casting for the .375 H&H in the 1997 Handloaders Digetst where he cut 3/8" copper tubing for driving bands and cast them into his boolits.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have a couple boxes of "Barnes Driving Bands" for the SAECO "Henninger-Barnes" boolit design. According to the instruction sheet, the Bands were made by James Barnes of the Barnes Driving Band Co., PO Box 391, Long Beach California (no zip code). Mr Barnes worked for three years to get these Bands precise enough for accuracy, after discarding machined copper tubing and pierced gas checks as inaccurate. Individuals could order the Bands directly from Barnes, and they were marketed to dealers by Santa Ana Engineering Company. A Mr. Henninger apparently designed the mould, Mr. Modisette of SAECO made it, and they were "extensively tested" by Henninger, Barnes and somebody named E. B. Workman. If you have a three-cavity SAECO No. H-B, that's the mould. I've never come across one myself. SAECO claimed chronographed velocities of 2625 with the 170-gr, 2700 with the 150-gr and 2950 with the 130-gr boolits, all cast of normal lead/tin/antimony suitable for gas-checked designs. No groups, though, or mention of group size. A Patent was allegedly Pending, but I don't know if they ever got one.

I later found a Lyman copy of the 150-gr H-B to try them with, although it turns out that the Bands will also fit the 311291, among other designs. You cast until the regular boolits are perfect, then insert a Band in one or both of the grooves in the mould, close it up and go on casting. Afterwards, fit gas check, size and lube as usual. The boolits do look "different," for sure.

It may be that the SAECO mould is a good deal more precise in dimensions than any Lyman copy or any other design that just happens to fit them, but my experience with these Bands has thus far shown no particular enhancements in accuracy or velocity. The boolit without the Bands is nicely accurate, but no more so than other .30 caliber designs. As the two characters said about the lion trap in the movie The Ghost and the Darkness, "In point of fact, it didn't work; but it was a very good idea nonetheless."

[mikenbarb]

I would love to find some .30 calibers for my one Lyman mold. They just have the look of having some extra grab with that band for higher velocities.
Thats a .30 caliber flat nose in the pics and weighs 185 grains.

[madcaster]

I thought it was a .375 caliber,just by the looks of it!
Oh well,I will probably be wrong again about something before I leave this ole world!

[jimkim]

Here is an article on this. http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_CastingjacketedBullets.htm

[mikenbarb]

Jim, Very good reading, Thank you. Now my curiosity is up on this and im going to the hobby shop and buying some telescopic brass tubing and running it thru the arrow cutting machine. Im gonna give this band a try and see how they work but im quite sure I will be able to gain some velocity and hopefully better accuracy using them.

[garandsrus]

Look what I found....

John

[docone31]

I like.