First shots with swaged bullets

[contender1]

Well, today,, I was able to get out on my range & test fire my first batch of swaged .223 bullets.

I used a Ruger No. 1 rifle.

I used some Mil-Spec std .223 ammo as a base line for my test.
I loaded (3) lots of ammo, of (10) rounds each with just bullets being the only variable. All brass was identical, and trimmed and charged & primed the same.
Lot #1 was using Xtreme FMJ 55 grn bullets
Lot#2 was Hornady 55 grn Spire Pt. bullets.
Lot #3 was my swaged .55 grn HP bullets. I purposely pulled bullets out of my batch that did NOT look perfect. I wanted to see what happened with the less than perfect ones first.

My results were;
Military ammo, gave me a group of 1-3/4" . This established a base for me.
Lot #1 gave me a 1-3/8" group of 9 shots,, with one flyer. That flyer was out about 1-1/4" from the otherwise good group.
Lot #2 gave me a group of 3-5/8". (6) of those were in a group at 1-1/4" but the other 4 were all away from that bunch.
Lot #3 gave me a group of 2-3/4" with 9 shots. I had (1) primer failure. (8) of the 9 were in a group that was 2".

Conclusion? My less than perfect bullets performed in the same spectrum as other bullets. Once I make a few more,, and refine my swaging,, I expect to be able to reduce the group size.
I was very pleased.

[wilecoyote]

...Have you had similar satisfaction with pistol/revolver bullets, obtained by recycling spent cases as jackets?

[Three44s]

That's encouraging!

Congratulations, the "Baby is born!"

Three44s

[dverna]

That looks promising.

Weigh and measure 20 bullets from each lot to get an idea of how consistent the bullets are. Doing an ES and SD might shed light on the "flier" problem.

But your results with swaged bullets are not bad at all for the first time out.

I am really surprised the Hornady bullets shot so poorly. It makes me wonder if there is another factor in play.

Looking forward to your next test.

[contender1]

Thanks all.

I haven't made any pistol bullets,, YET,,, but I do have swaging stuff for .40 cal & .44 cal. It's in my future.

This was my first test. So,, I chose the worst bullets, and didn't weigh them. My plan will be to pick some good looking ones, AND weigh them into batches. Plus,, I'm going to try things in better conditions. When I was setting up,, it was VERY humid. And then it rained a little, followed by sun, which made the humidity climb a lot more. Between the sweat, my astigmatism, I had a little trouble with focusing on some shots.

I too was very surprised at the Hornady bullets. In general,, those bullets are what I'd expect to be the better ones in a test. That was why I chose them. I will be re-doing some testing AND including the Hornady's again.

Oh, my bullets,, I did sort my RF brass by brand. So all my bullets are separated by the brand of brass used.

But overall, I was very pleased.

[MUSTANG]

TO achieve tighter weight ranges/deviations for .224's made from 22LR, I do the following:

1. Sort all 22 LR brass by head stamp. (After picking up from range/head stamp sorting I place them in saved plastic nut containers from Costco. )

2. I prep a single head stamp case type for jackets in each session. (consistency enhanced? Maybe/Maybe Not). After making .224 jackets; I weigh each jacket and sort by weight (ie. 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 10.0, 10.1, etc.. grains) and place them by weight into plastic spice containers (once again from Costco or Grocery Store Spices used). Each container marked and put on shelf with the weight of jackets displayed.

3. I cast cores in Corbin core mold, and then swage cores in a Corbin Core die. Each core is weighed and segregated into containers by weight (to o0.x grains, ie. 49.8, 49.9, 50.0, 50.1, etc... grains).

4. Most of my swaged .224's are made to 60 grains. I take jackets from stores (See #2 above) and cores from stores (see #3 above), where added together they make 60 grains. I swage cores into the .224 jackets. When I am really being RIGOROUS, I will weigh the final product and segregate into 5 Bottles - each labeled by weight; 59.8, 59.9, 60.0, 60.1, and 60.2. It's amazing to see visually the 5 containers looking like a six sigma curve by volume (Like the 6 sigma pic below):

Somewhere on the spectrum of "Just Make them from what you got without Sorting"; to the description above, Swagers will find their own personal choice and comfort factor.

I do most of my swaging during the Winter when other "Play Options" are more limited. So the time spent would have gone to TV watching or star gazing.

[Three44s]

It seems like I read that sorting out bullets during swaging that did not feel the same as the larger group also weeded out bullets that might not fly as true as the majority and thus enhance accuracy.

Three44s

[contender1]

As my journey into this progresses,, I will be doing things, testing etc to see if I can improve the quality, the accuracy etc. The journey is part of the fun!

[dimaprok]

Well, today,, I was able to get out on my range & test fire my first batch of swaged .223 bullets.

I used a Ruger No. 1 rifle.

Was this at 100 yards?

Hornady 55gr SP (soft point) is one of my most accurate bullets Recently I tested in EABCO 24" barrel (AR15) 1:9 twist and it put 4 out of 5 in same hole at 50 yards.

Also I picked up older Remington 700 in .223 and finally managed to shoot sub MOA groups with swage bullets. I believe slow 1:12 twist is what made a diffrence in fact 1:14 twist from 221fureball produced even better groups albeit slower velocity.

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[contender1]

Yes,, I was shooting at 100 yds.

I too was surprised at the Hornady bullets. But I also feel the gun may be the reason many of the bullets didn't do very well.
However,, I didn't try to "work up a load" for the gun. I just used a medium level charge, and did the same for all the bullets. The only variable was the bullets.
If I get off my duff & build an accurate load for the rifle,, THEN try the swaged bullets,, using the load data that performs the best,, I'll get a better idea of things. It's in my future.
But I just wanted a general idea of performance of my swaged bullets against some factory bullets.

[dimaprok]

I've found that 25gr of several powders worked. TAC, Benchmark, 4895, SW AR Plus, H335. In my latest batch I was using 24.7gr of AR+, it was giving me 3200fps with 55gr from a longer 26" barrel.

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