.338 Bullets

[seppos]

Here is the first test batch of light cheap paper punching and varmint bullets for the .338 .
Jacket is annealed .32 S&W case and core LEE:s 312-160-2R boolit..
In this first batch I did not weighted the cores or the cases, as I will in future when I get some more of the cases..


Weight is about 218 to 219 grains with these boolits that I used.

S

The lead tip is a bit deformed and the reason is that with this jacket it was not possible to put enough pressure without deforming the ogive.
The set is actually designed for much thicker jacket, so it did not come as surprice that this occured..

[BT Sniper]

Those look very good. I will be paying attention to your posts and range results.

Good shooting,

BT

[mrwhite]

Looks good,looking forward to hearing how they work for you.

[Got-R-Did]

If I save my cases for you, will you sell me some for plinking with my rifle?
Got-R-Did

[seppos]

He he.. Why not.. Unfortunately the shipping costs might turn to be the problem.. Otherwice the idea is good..
Here some food for my TRG..


Hopefully tomorrow I have time to punch some paper with them.

S

[BT Sniper]

Those are going to be awesome! Should EXPLODE! When I looked into doing the same thing as you I had checked into using the 32 as well.

Got me an idea!

With this swaging hobby I have always seemed to do things in an order a bit a head of myself. Like buying the buggy before the horse sort of thing. I started collecting potential jacket material for the .338 long before I even had the dies. Heck I have dies for calibers I don't even have guns for. You get the idea. So as it seems you are the "tinkering" sort I'll share some ideas with you and let you be the .338 guni pig . Let you figure out what works for me before I get a set of .338 dies. I like this idea as it seems I have been the guni pig for many other projects.

So here is what I got for you. Even posted some picks in a thread a while back. All we need is a reducing die. I know a guy. Possibly even use drill bushings. Here is what you need to find in my opinion. Check out the 30 carbine cases!!!!!!! They are .338 at the mouth and like .358 or so at the base. A prime subject for jackets. Guess who already has a couple thousand of them. Now check out the length of our very good SMK 300 grain .338 next too the .223 brass!!!!!!!! Man if I had your dies the fun I would have!!! Like I said you just need a jacket reducing die.

Let me see if I can find the pics. You'll like them. Let me know if your interested in a jacket reducing die I can see what I can find. There is a lot of potential trade customers out there shooting .338s, maybe some of them have some 32 brass or, 30 carbine, .233 is easy enough to find. You should get atleast 10-1 if not 20-1 in trade.

Only thing I can see about your potential bullet from what I have read is the long unsuported exposed lead nose may tend to "bend" in flight causing acuracy problems. Think I read this on corbin's sight but certainly have no experience first hand. Hopfully you will be pleasnetly supprised with the results as I have been with all my bullets from brass.

You know the FN 5.7x28 would make a perfect bullet in the weights you are making. Think I may have to PM you. COuld send you some potential jacket material and see what you can come up with. Do start thinking about the 30 carbine and .223 for potential jackets. The 30 carbine is a bit hard to find and could be a bit expensive but possibly free if you work your trades right!

Good shooting! Love the pics keep them coming!

BT

[BT Sniper]

Here is some previous discusions about the .338s that should intrest you. I'll still see if I can sind some pics.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=44434

[BT Sniper]

Found a pic for you to spark a bit of intrest. May be you will perfect it by the time I get my .338 die



30 carbine case, 300 grain .338 SMK, .223 case, 5.7x28 case, my custom 180 grain 5.7x.308

[seppos]

Yes..
I dont mind of doing some guni piging..
In a matter of fact I do have a stock of .222 and .223 cases but no gun for them..
I know the problem with the .32 case. It limits the weight to these lightys.. I was going to do it even lighter, but as I had those 160 grainers in hand, I just dropped them in and swaged down.
I will propably get couple of thousand of those .32 S&W cases as trade..
The major intrest lies in the heavyer bullets though..

S

[BT Sniper]

Light is still going to be very cool! Kind of like my 125 grain 308s from 300WM @ 3500 fps = SPLAT!

Give me a couple weeks I may be able to get you some jackets from the 30 carbine and 223. Then we shall see what can be done, maybe work out a trade as well. I'm sure you will need some help with testing these bullets.

Love the big 338 by the way (338-300RUM). Check out the typical groups I get from mine with the 300 SMK @ 2850fps.



Good shooting.

BT

[seppos]

I can not do that tight with my .338 TRG as my load duplicates our militarys load.
Still.. best group with that has been 114 mm from 800 meters.

S

[seppos]

I dont know if I make it to the range today.. I confess that I started to tinker a bit..
I tooked couple of 9mm cases and annealed them. I cut the rim from the first one in lathe and left it to another..
Then.. Dont do this at home gentlemen.. I lubed them and pushed to the core seat die with the core swage punch.. and..

The one without rim was like butter and formed a perfect jacket cup with slight flare in mouth.
The one with the rim was a bit harder to swag and was bent from the base, so that I would not use it as bullet jacket.. The core swaging might level the base, but I seriuosly doupt that it will not give anykind of accuracy..
In pic there is 9mm case and .32 S&W case as comparison..
the one without rim is now .858 inches long, so the bullet from it would be really light.. unless it is used as half cup with harder alloy.

The regular set is too short to produce longer jackets.. One could see that from the swaged 9mm cases: the one without the rim has a slight flare and the one with it has already pritty generous flare.. that is about as long as possible with the set..
Well.. Have to order some more dies from Richard then..

S

[seppos]

Good dam it..
I did not belive that it is not possible, so I took a triple deuce case.. Annealed the neck; opened up it with 7.62X39 reloading die and cut the base in lathe so that there was 0.065 left and set the core swage punch to low.. And it is a GO..


In pic there is 300 grainer, copper jacket and triple deuce case as comparison..
I will still need a die from Richie, because the jacket is so long that I had to remove the punch before get it out from the set..
But.. No more commercial jackets needed.. Just some range scrap and time..

S

[Three44s]

This has been interesting ........ and it looks like the hits are going to keep rolling in!

Very good work gents!!!

I've got a .338-06 I've been playing with and a .338 Win mag barrel collecting dust waiting for it's turn on a Savage 110 ........ so this .338 swaging thread makes for good reading.

I don't have any swaging equipment but I may have access to a boat load of .223 cases if we can get the $$$ to work out!

With a good catapult ....... I can dang neart mail them to Oregon for cheap!

Three 44s

[BT Sniper]

NOW WE'RE TALKIN! You got the right attitude, anything is possible! Now you got to "doll" up your jackets a bit for the picture. Shine it up a bit with some steel wool then the WOW factor will really kick in.

So the factory copper jacket at the length shown will make the 300 grain pill next to it, no need to trim? Then it would certainly look like we can get the 300 grains from the 222/223 case as well?

What do you mean you need another die because jacket is to long? A bit confused on my part?

That is one heck of a press to reduce that case in one step but do be carfull with the dies. I am sure they are not "bullet proof" and can be damaged should to much pressure be exerted on them. Get you a cheap (compared to corbin) but good reducing die so you will not feel bad if somthing happens to it. I'm looking into drill bushings and should have a pretty good idea of the possiblites in a couple weeks.

Check the diameter of the new formed jacket from the 222 case. It is probably going to be about .0005-.001 larger because of brass spring back. That can casue some difficulties if it is getting really close to final bullet diameter when it is formed in swage die. Does not eject quite as easy. Just be carefull with that good equipment of yours. As you can see anything is in fact possible I would just recemend looking into a jacet ruding die of some sort to get the jacet to about .330 or so before core seating and swaging, but man your on your way! Yep I'm a bit jelious or proud. Nice work.

Lets see the 338-222 bullet if you get around to forming it up.


I have not shot for groups out at the ranges you have so 114mm at 800m is pretty darn good IMO. Like about 4" or 1/2 MOA right? just like a 1/2" group at 100yrds. To get groups way out there I'm sure the ability of the shooter plays a large roll in the size of the group not just the riffle.

We'll here is what we know reguarding possible trades. You are not living state side from the sound of it. Standard issue 338LM for military and you're not backwards with the inches and yards system like we are. So yes shipping may be a bit of a challenge. So where is home at the moment? I think Canada issues 338LM, I'm sure other countries too, heck probably the US I'm not sure.

Keep us posted. Just imagine the jacket possiblities using the 5.56/222/223!!!!!!!! I allready have 5 gallons of the stuff and no .223 riffle Can't wait.

Good shooting,

BT

[BT Sniper]

[QUOTE=

With a good catapult ....... I can dang neart mail them to Oregon for cheap!

Three 44s[/QUOTE]


LOL! You know I'll be paying attention to thread too You know there is quite a few of us living all fairly close in the NW. We should have a get to gether, do some shooting, some BS, and show off some of these different projects we are working on. Could be an annual thing.

BT

[seppos]

Yes.
I was sceptical about this reducing thing after my previous tests with Rock Chucker.. But Walnut Hill is a real monster compared to it.
Slight taper in the base of the case and the annealing and the .222 and shurely the .223 goes down the drain easily.
Yes.. The jacket is so long that I have screw out the upper punch from the press so that I can take out the "product".
The original jacket needs some trimming for the 300 grainer.. BUT.. I think that the .222 is almost exactly the right lenght for it..
I was trying to make one 250 to 300 grainer with the RBT but as I ordered the punches for thicker jacket so with these thinner jackets the lead bleeds little from the sides..
Can not put enough pressure to form proper RBT..
I could do a flat base though as it does not require as much pressure.
What I checked about the diameters of the bullets, they are 1:1 with those that I received as samples from Richard..

About my location.. well.. it is about 4778 miles towards north from Portland, Oregon..

[jonblack]

On a side note, but related to some of the posts in this thread:

You need a Type 06 FFL to make and sell bullets or loaded ammunition. You can make and shoot them all you want. You can also send out samples for testing. Stated differently, selling loaded ammunition or bullets without a Type 06 FFL is against federal law.

Just wanted to pass this info along to help others understand the rules and regs.

Take care
jonblack

[seppos]

Well.. Maybe that is th case in the states..
Anyway.. to the test shoot..
I put together my TRG yesterday evening.. I was doing some stock work and needed the stock as sample..
Today it was pritty warm autum morning so I headed to the range with my TRG and some ammo.
I had my regular load as example and 4 different loads plugged with my .32 S&W bullets.
I shot first the "Ball" load.. First cold bore shot went a bit high and the next four in regular size of group.. about an inch or so from 100 m.
Then the .32 S&W..
First five where loaded with 80 grains of N560.. I pressed the trigger and.. pam-KABOOM
Good dam it! .. I had patch of cases loaded with regular large rifle primer for the cast bullet loads with quicker powder.. Somehow I mixed the cases to those that I use with slow powders.. They require a magnum primer to give proper ignition..
I just had to make a mental note to concentrate even more to hold stable shooting position..
The 80 grains gave about 4 inches with 5 shots..
Next in line was 82 grains.. giving 1,2 inches
84 grains was even more promising.. giving almost exactly an inch..
Last was 86 grains.. With wide spread.. 1.8 inches..
Later on I noticed that the supressor was loose... I just wonder how much did that spread the grouping..
Still.. Interesting experience and needs a bit more research..

The overwiew.. "Ball" load in the middle

The upper one was the cold bore shot.. Always remember to run a dry patch thru the barrel before you shoot..

I just wonder if I would have used the Magnum primers and.. the heat protection in the supressor.. After one or two shots it was like in sahara.. Heat mirage made the target to float...

S

[BT Sniper]

Awesome! Good shooting. Looks like you won't need to buy factory any more