Anyone swaging .225 all lead boollits?

[20-250ai]

Just getting into making boolits and would like to know if swaging .224-.225 all lead hollow points for a 22 hornet would be feasible?

I’ve used air gun slugs in several air rifles and even though Nielsen makes a .224 air gun slug, it says on his website that they are not for firearm use. Even though they might work if PCed, I’ll honor his wishes.

Have any of you made jacketless swaged bullets before and how did they do?

What was the process that worked best?

What did it cost the get started?

Oh ya, this is also my first post no this fine forum, so thank you for having me.

[rolltide999]

Well, there are several options and price points.

1. Richard Corbin Enterprises (my personal favorite) He has his Sea Girt Press ($325) and jacket bullet dies ($542) in stock at the moment. You can use jacket bullet dies to make bullets with no jackets. Top quality and relatively reasonable prices. Must generally use Richard Corbin dies in Richard Corbin press (although David Corbin does make an adapter kit to use Richard Corbin dies on David Corbin press.) Although he does not have lead bullet dies in stock right now in 224 caliber, I have purchased several of those die sets in various calibers and they are usually around $235.

RCE Sea Girt Press



RCE Short Ogive Jacketed bullet dies will make bullet below for Hornet (you may need to special request hollow point punch, but Richard is excellent about customer service.) You can make this bullet with or without the jacket in the same dies. You can use fired 22lr brass for jackets (very inexpensive) but you will need to purchase an additional de-rim die. (commercial copper jacket shown below)



RCE Lead Bullet Dies will make bullets below. Typically they include punches for round nose and SWC nose shapes, and a hollwpoint punch that can be used with either nose shape. Below is HP round nose, solid round nose, and solid SWC, (HP SWC not shown but can be made with same die set.)





2. David Corbin or BTSniper can probably provide dies but may be special order and long lead time. Must use David Corbin dies in David Corbin press. BTSniper dies use a reloading press. Reloading presses don't generally have the same leverage as short stroke swaging presses, but for short 22 bullets, it won't be an issue either way. These options can be significantly more expensive, but no better quality than RCE.



3. With a little patience, vigilance, and luck, you can pick up what you need on Flea Bay. ( All these were purchased on Flea bay in last 30 days with presses generally under $100 and dies sets from $40-$70.) Everything listed below is no longer made, and only available second hand.

Herters 9 ton press



Heters 9 ton dies



Herters Super Bullet Maker Press and die sets



Herters Reloading Press



Herters Reloading Press dies (must be used with Herters reloading press although they can be adapted to use with any modern reloading presses with alternative shell holders to hold punches).



CH Swag-O-Matic Press (Press in picture has a custom handle about twice as long as standard, for additional leverage, which is telling about the elbow grease needed to use these types of presses.)





CH Swag-O-Matic Die, Ejector Punch, and screw in Die Retaining Ring to hold die in press ram.



If all you want to do is lead bullets for the Hornet, for simplicity, price and quality, I think the Heters 9 ton press and dies would be perfect for you for lead only or half jacket bullets. Whole setup for under $150, but you have to find one. Flea Bay is best bet. Search on "herters 9 ton" and if you find something be sure to look at "sellers other items" to see if they have other relevant items in separate auctions. You may have to search daily for a few months before you find something.

Otherwise I would special order a lead bullet set from Richard Corbin for around $550 including press, and you will have the future capacity for jacketed bullets also. The difference in quality of the press and dies will make the Herters and CH stuff look like the stone age compared to quality of workmanship in anything from Richard Corbin (or David Corbin or BT Sniper for that matter - Those 3 have extreme pride in quality of work they produce and it shows in everything they make.)

Welcome to forum and good luck.

Hope this helps.

[BT Sniper]

Welcome to the forums. Lots of info buried here. What you ask is completely possible and can be a lot of fun. Can also represent a bit of an investment.

Swaging all lead bullets is pretty easy, even powder coated and/or gas checked.

Here is a look at some 40 cal PC swaged lead bullets. Process is the same for 22 or any caliber.


and here is a look at some 210 grain 30 cal powder coated (PC) and gas checked bullets.


BT

[deltaenterprizes]

I have a couple sets of 22 swaging dies and I have been pulling bullets from some 22LR ammo that went through a floood to recover the components.
I took some of the copper coated bullets and swaged them to try in my 22 Hornet but I have not had time to try them out yet!









lr to

[20-250ai]

Thank you all for the replies!

.224 and .225 dies are on my list to get now.

I’ll look into Cordin jacket dies, seems like a better investment as I would be able to make both types.

This place has loads of information.
You guys are awesome ��

[rolltide999]

That is what I would do (actually already did.) You may want to consider the additional investment to get the Walnut Hill press instead of the Sea Girt (I did). The Sea Girt has only a short stroke for swaging. The Walnut Hill presses have a long stroke and a short stroke so you can reload and swage on same press. The WH presses also develop more PSI.

[Dark Vaj]

Also, if Richard don't have the specific dies you need, I know for a fact Corbin Mfg. will make dies that is completely the same as Richard's dies to fit Richard's press. The dies are called "X" dies. It's pretty much the same. The "X" dies are a bit more expensive compare to Richard, also Richard will not make custom dies as he's just doing it for fun out of retirement. But now you know where to get custom dies should you need it.

[jimrk]

All lead would be very doable but also consider this would be soft lead and velocity of 22 Hornet would be a bit high I think. I have a few dies from Richard for lead only, both airgun and powder. Some options other than jackets would be some type of coating. Richard pointed me to Rooster lube some time back. Now there are fancy coatings like PC, and Hi-Tech that should do the trick. Enjoy!

[rolltide999]

Richard Corbin is always open to requests, but he is a one man shop. None of the guys that make these dies are getting any younger, and I don't see any younger guys, except maybe BTSniper replacing them. I am trying to get what I need or ever will need while I can.

[firefly1957]

rolltide999 I have a set of .224 swage dies of unknown make for Herter's press they do not work in modern press unless you change the ram out to a shorter one that is tapped 5/8" N.F. thread . (picture below)

20-250ai I have ran pointed bullets in this swage die I found the dies leave a bad base on the bullet however inserting the coated core into a spent large primer cup makes a good bullet . I have loaded these to 3000 f/s with some good accuracy and no leading.

[firefly1957]

P.S. bullet image:




These dies are made to use spent .22 rimfire cases as jackets ,since I have a large supply of those I have not done a lot of work with these -YET!

[rolltide999]

Wow, that is a VERY interesting set of dies. I cannot figure them out. I have never seen anything like this before.

Way cool.

[firefly1957]

Wow, that is a VERY interesting set of dies. I cannot figure them out. I have never seen anything like this before.

Way cool.

I have not been able to find out who made them even, they came from an estate sale near Davison Michigan it took a few times to figure out how they worked and the good luck of having recently got a pacific press (same as Herters ) for $10 . The hole in the unit is a bit smaller then is used for the old Pacific pistol swage dies . Those dies are designed to do half jacket bullets but work fine with just lead / lead alloy I modified a Lyman Orange Chrusher Press for using those dies .

P.S. The press when I bought it had a ram with a fixed shell holder for 30-30 size rim and a push though .457 sizing die , a odd combination but useful as I now load 45-70 .

[Sitzme]

I have cast using a Lee .22 Bator mold then run them through a point form die. I then powder coat and run them through again. Fairly quick and easy. Using them in modest loads in .223 Rem and they do OK. I do suspect something is not quite right with my dies as even using .22 jackets I don't get close to the same groups as purchased J-words. I do make cores from wire when swaging jacketed. The cast/coated are still good enough for plinking and less effort so now that is what I do 90% of the time.

[Huvius]

To the OP, I suspect that air rifle supply manufacturers insist that their products be used only in air rifles to avoid the FFL requirement.
There is no reason at all that their boolits could not be powder coated and used as you want.
IMO, you'd get the result you're looking for with very low $$ investment. I'd give that a shot first.