40 cal from 9mm easiest by far and cheap!

[Del-Ray]

Being in the dark for years what does this type of bullet do to the pressures

They should be the same as an equivalent weight hollow point jacketed bullet.

I got both his 44 and 40 dies months ago. I've only made a bunch of the 44s up. They shoot great. I going to make some 40s no that I just found a glock 23 gen4 EXO. These will be my carry bullet. I'll post progress pics.

Though I've already annealed the brass, and its soaking in citric acid right now.

[Del-Ray]

Alright, went shooting and retreived some nice samples from the dirt. Pretty nice mushrooming. I'll post the pics along with some before shots later today or tomorrow.

[BT Sniper]

Took some new pics today. I'm really trying to simplify the process to the most basic of tasks. I really believe this is by far the easiest and cheapest bullet to both make and shoot.

Here is a look at the tools with the point form die, universal expanding die and mandrel, and BTX notch die. With these three dies you are able to make perfect XTP copy bullets. The labels you see in the pics is the same labels customers will see on their dies when they receive them. The samples of each step of the process you see here is also the exact same samples the customer receives with their purchase. The process couldn't be easier in my opinion to turn scrap 9mm brass into perfect 182 grain JHP bullets. Here you go....




Here is a look at the 4 basic steps required.













So 4 easy steps to perfection but for truly 1 step operation try a RCE 40 cal quality commercial jacket drop a 158 grian (IIRC, might have been the 148?) cast boolit core and swage in one step in the point form die for perfect bullets too! I'll have pics of these bullets soon too.

If I had my way everyone would be shooting a 40 or 10MM using scrap 9mm brass for jackets. Certainly is a pretty easy bullet to make the results on target are pretty impressive too!

Good shooting and swage on!

Brian

[badbob454]

anyone have the web address for c&h dies , i want to make some 40 cal ? never swaged before ...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

CH4d
http://www.ch4d.com/

You might want to call them...
read this thread if you haven't already.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...5607-CH4D-dies

[badbob454]

thanks, JonB..... ill give em a call .

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Do the CH dies allow for hollow pointing?

[BT Sniper]

Yes.... but only with a exposed lead tip. Unless CH has changed their designs you can only make lead tip bullets with their dies.

BT

[Short Range]

I have looked at the pictures posted above many times, but the old brain cells just locked in on the mention of using a core seat die and base punch or universal die with mandrel in step 2. What is the advantage of using the core seat die? Does it seat the core and expand the case to just under finish size to make point forming easier and more consistent?

[tiger762]

Yes, exactly. It swells out the jacket to finished diameter and in doing so, when you let off the pressure, the jacket springs back a little bit now you have the jacket tightly grabbing the core. So it's for two reasons. If one were to just put the core in the jacket and point form and call it a day, the diameter would be all over the map and the core would be loose as heck.

What is the advantage of using the core seat die? Does it seat the core and expand the case to just under finish size to make point forming easier and more consistent?

[BT Sniper]

Yes, exactly. It swells out the jacket to finished diameter and in doing so, when you let off the pressure, the jacket springs back a little bit now you have the jacket tightly grabbing the core. So it's for two reasons. If one were to just put the core in the jacket and point form and call it a day, the diameter would be all over the map and the core would be loose as heck.

First statement is correct but the second may require a bit more elaboration. Are you using brass or commercial jackets? Are you using CH dies or BTSniper 40 cal one step?

Yes, the core seat die does a lot of the work, it swells the jacket to nearly final diameter so all the point form die has to do is form the point.

Now as far as simply dropping a core in the jacket and point forming I can tell you that it does hold on to the core every bit the same and the diameter of the bullet will be exactly the same every time!


There is nothing loose about this core and jacket formed in my Improved CH Heavy Duty one step die.







Here is another sectioned view, as you can see absolutely no voids or air pockets, lead as even bled into the flash hole of the case. You can actually see a single grain of walnut media in the lower left of the case that I missed and got swaged in there.



and certainly nothing loos about the recovered combination of jacket still holding on to the core in these BTSniper formed bullets recovered from wet newspaper. You would not have found these in one piece if the core was in anyway loose in side the jacket.










Granted using a core seat die first is always going to be a good choice but there is certainly nothing wrong with the results from a good quality put together one step 40 cal die!

Good shooting and swage on!

BT

[Short Range]

First statement is correct but the second may require a bit more elaboration. Are you using brass or commercial jackets? Are you using CH dies or BTSniper 40 cal one step?

Thank You tiger762 and BT Sniper for the replies.

I am on the bottom end of the learning curve when it comes to swaging and have been doing a lot of reading in the old posts on the swaging section of the forums trying to learn what I can to make the end product better/easier.

Seems like I read somewhere that it is better to have the point forming die just expanding the bullet the last couple of thousands while forming the point. I have been playing with an expanding mandrel, but quickly learned that there is no way to expand 9mm brass consistently with the large variance of internal profiles. Then when I reread the instructions for step 2 in the pictures the brain cells picked up on the use of a core seat die and got me wondering if there would be some advantage to doing the extra step. If it would expand the brass out and make the finished bullet more consistent/uniform, more accurate, make the point forming die last longer, etc. then I think that would be a good way to go. If the only gain is making more work of the project, then doing the 1 step would be better.

Will be using 9mm range pickup brass and the BTSniper one step dies,,,,,,,when they are done .

Thanks again.

[Utah Shooter]

Yes.... but only with a exposed lead tip. Unless CH has changed their designs you can only make lead tip bullets with their dies.

BT

Not true and you know it. Sure the 105 series is made for a half jacket but the 101 series you can make them hollow point without a lead tip.

[ncbearman]

anyone have the web address for c&h dies , i want to make some 40 cal ? never swaged before ...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...101-swage-dies!!!

[BT Sniper]

Not true and you know it. Sure the 105 series is made for a half jacket but the 101 series you can make them hollow point without a lead tip.

With the stock core seat base punch they "used to" provide (not sure what may have changed) it was impossible to seat the core inside the jacket with the core seat die. Yes I know how to make Jhp bullets with no lead exposed using CH dies but it required a specific core seat punch. Are you telling us we can now seat the core inside the jacket with no exposed lead using the 101 die as shipped? Has ch changed the design of their core seat base punches?

[BT Sniper]

Maybe I read it wrong.......or we may be confused. Yes I see the lead tip bullets with the hollow point, I know that is possible, so is a flat point bullet with a lead tip. I'm talking about making bullets with no exposed lead on the ogive of the bullet, like a xtp without the notches.

[ncbearman]

Maybe I read it wrong.......or we may be confused. Yes I see the lead tip bullets with the hollow point, I know that is possible, so is a flat point bullet with a lead tip. I'm talking about making bullets with no exposed lead on the ogive of the bullet, like a xtp without the notches.

Brian,
I got my 45 set in. I will try it tonight and let you know. I think it can be done now. I will have to reduce the size of my core and maybe lengthen the case/jacket.

[ncbearman]

For what its worth swaging info from a newb with the #101 CH4D .45 set with a full jacket hollow point. The core seated inside the .40 case/jacket. First I spent most of the day figuring out and understanding what is going on inside those dies when I pull that lever down (newb). Always lubing every time I ran a case up in there. This is where I am at now. I trim .40cal case to .760 de-burred then annealed until that sucker was bright red. I pour my cores to a length of .495 using soft/range lead. I am not using the core seat punch.... In fact this is where I may need some wisdom and knowledge from those of you that have been doing this longer than me (which would be all of you) As you can see my core is almost the same length as my jacket/case. I saw no benefit even using the core seat punch. Now when I build an exposed tip, yes I could see it then. But for the full jacket I decided to bypass that step. So I then ran my HP die down until it crushed the jacket somewhat and then backed it off. Then I ran the jacket with the core in it all the way up and ran my HP punch down until it contacted the core. At this point I kept adjusting down until the the core completely swaged the jacket to the .451 finished od. There is a bearing surface of .310 and the boolit weighs right at 230gr

Below are some pics I took. Please, please let me have it. I want to hear any and all comments/suggestions. I didn't "clean" these jackets but now that I know where I am and once you guys agree I am on the right path I will do a batch thoroughly and load em' up and head down to the backside and see how they do. Thanks.

Attachment 130930 Attachment 130931 Attachment 130932

[Short Range]

Been making 40's from 9mm brass for less than a week and I am like a kid at Christmas time



Got the Lee turret set up for doing case prep work. One die for case expansion, one to seat the core and the last is the BTX notch die. Doesn't take long to get a pile of parts ready for swaging. Some day it will be set up on a progressive press to cut down on the amount of handle strokes.



Made over 1k of these already. My new 'plinking' round . I machined down a 124 grain Lee mold and it now drops a 112.5 grain core. That is making a 170 grain bullet that is .650 long. Prefer them over the heavier bullets that are .700 long that I was getting with the 120 grain core.



Made these with the teeth using the CH4D die. They just look mean .



Starting to play with frangible rounds. A modified CH4D core seat die, some 7-1/2 shot and the airsoft BB's. Don't have any pictures of assembled rounds cause they all got shot up already .

[tiger762]

That is excellent!!!!!