Swaging .224 cal bullets - Part2

[Hickory]

After you have swaged all the cores, the lube must be removed to insure a tight grip on the jacket when the core is swaged inside of the jacket.
Place them in a clean container until you are ready to form the point on the bullet.



Now comes the tricky part of swaging your bullets. If you have exercised good quality control and annealed your cases properly 99.5% of your bullets will turn out looking really good without the nose folding upon its self. When you are ready to form the point remove all lube near the mouth of the case where the point will be. If you don’t it will cause wrinkles on the point. This will make a very nice hollow point bullet. If you have a lead tip point forming die, you can run the bullet into the die just enough to force a little bit of lead out the end.

This is an update. It shows the gradual forming of the point of the bullet. This is what happens inside the die that you don't see.




When you have finished with your bullets, now is a good time to put them in the tumbler to make them nice and shinny.

[ANeat]

Quality work Hickory, well done.... Im about to venture into this so its good timing.

[Hickory]

ANeat;
I saw you press, and am impressed!
What caliber are you thinking about
running on your press?

[ANeat]

Hopefully 22, 6mm and 30 cal jacketed, 45 lead. who knows what else

Probably try the rimfire jackets on the 22 and 6mm.

I always thought this was a facinating aspect of shooting that I wanted to try

[Hickory]

I like making these bullets. After my orignal investment, it cost very little to make these bullets.
If I sweep up the brass at the local shooting club, the cost is -0-.

I have nearly 1/2 ton of pure lead that I have aquired over the years at almost no cost.

If I count the cost of electricty to melt lead and not use the lead wire, the cost to produce a 1000 bullets would be less then $10.00

Provided I don't count my own labor.

[DLCTEX]

Thanks for posting Hickory!

[scrapcan]

Another thanks from me on part 2. I too hope to venture down this path.

[cumminsnut76]

Very nice Bullets!!

[jixxerbill]

thanks hickory for the pics and the great info...bill

[warf73]

Thanks again Hickory, I just wish the cost wasnt so much for the die set to make 224 bullets, I dont shoot them small pill enough to justify the cost of getting started maken them.
Those are great looking bullets I bet they shoot GREAT also.

[jdjframes]

Nice bullets. I use an old Hempstead die set from the early 70s in an RCBS RC press to make a spire point bullet. Got a set of BSS dies and press from Larry Blackmon a couple of years ago. Good products in my opinion.

Hardest part is derimming the 22 hull. Try to make them in 1 pass puts a big strain on the press and my arm. Set the derim die about 2 threads into the press top - no problem, but the jacket is stuck in the die. Try to push it out with the next and get some damage at jacket mouth. Knock them out, lower the die and run them again - no problem, just a pain to do. Any suggestions?

I like your anneal process. That has given my problems in the past.

Anybody interested - give it a try by all means. It doesn't cost thousands $.

Jim

[Hickory]

Jim,
I have to be away form the computer until late tonight.
I'll comment tomorrow about deriming.
I had the same problem.

[Hickory]

Jim,
The problem is one I had when I first got started swaging bullets. The press I was using at the time was a RCBS Rock Chucker. I soon realized that I could not remove or swage off the rim of 22 rimfire cases without a lot of effort.

The problem was that the ram was only half way up in its stroke. It should have been at the very top of the stroke, whereby the most power would be exerted in the last ½ “of the stroke.

The first thing I did was to buy a reloading press with a larger opening. That would allow the ram to be closer to the top of its stroke when it came in contact with the draw die. You only need to push the 22 case into the draw die just enough to remove the rim. The only reloading press with a large opening at the time was Lyman’s Orange Crusher.

This did not totally solve the problem but it helped. The next thing that helped quite a bit was to reduce the length of the pin that 22 case slides over. You can shorten it by grinding it of a little at a time, being careful not to get to hot or else it will lose its temper, (not that it will get angry with you) but that the pin will become soft and will wear out faster than normal.

The next thing to do is to check the diameter of the pin itself. Dave Corbin in his book Rediscover Swaging, pages 158-159 calls for the diameter to be at .199-200” but I’ve found that .198-.199 is best. And it helps to have a slight radius on the end of the pin, so that the sharp edge doesn’t push off the top of the drawn jackets.

[jdjframes]

Hickory:

Frank Hempstead made a shortened ram for the RCBS RC when he made my dies so I'm already working closer to the top of the ram travel. I can imagine the hassle of using the full length ram!

Think I'll measure the pin and maybe shorten it a bit.

Swage On!

Thanks.

Jim

[scrapcan]

again more good info. Thanks

[Smokin7mm]

Hickory, why is it that you only run the casing in just far enough to de-rim? This requires you to knock the de-rimed jacket out the bottom. I just push mine through. When I was doing this on my rockchucker it was a little tough but still pushed them through. To make it a little easier I took the handle off my swaging press and put it on the rockchucker. It is a little longer and has a bend in it which with the die set up in the rockchucker to where the 22lr case would completely enter the de-rim die so the following one would push it out. The handle would be at about 90 degrees (horizontal) and I could stand over it and push down whiched helped with leverage. Now I have a de-rim set up for my swaging press which has much more leverage than the rockerchucker and is like a hot knife through butter.
Bret

[Hickory]

Bret.
Do you push the jacket through the die in one stroke or just enough to have it strip off of the pin, and force it through with the next one?

I can’t see how it is possible to do it in one stroke, so you must do the ladder.
I use to do the second method. But I found that when forming the point, the mouth of the jacket was deformed enough that it was hard get more than 80% good bullets without something going wrong.

Yea, it takes a little longer, but I try to protect the mouth of the jacket.

[jdjframes]

I get some damage if I try to push a jacket out with the next. So I tap them out, lower the die and re run. Makes it much easier on the press and arm. If I get the adjustment right on the second run, air pressure will pop a jacket out as the next one is rammed in behind it.

It is kind of neat to take a peice of scrap (22 hull), a bit of lead, some precision tools and make a bullet. I also use J4 jackets to make serious bullets - will shoot as good as any bullets short of benchrest quality and pretty darn close to BR bullets.

Any of you guys in Arkansas?

Swage On!

Jim

[Smokin7mm]

I push it through in one stroke. With the rockchucker it is a mater of leverage thus adding the longer handle. Now that I have a set up for my swaging press leverage is not an issue but stroke is as the swaging press has a much shorter stroke than a loading press. I push the case in so it is past the radiused section of the de-rim die and fully in the straight portion. If you leave it hanging part way the next casing to push through will damage the mouth which forms the point. It is a fine line but if it is in far enough there is no resistance pushing it out as it is already fully drawn down. With your current method what is your % of good bullets where the cases dont fold on point forming. I use the oven clean cycle method of annealing jackets.

I also make 6.5mm & 7mm bullets with a process I have worked up using 22mag casings. Have a few more rejects but free jackets are free jackets.
Bret

[felix]

Yep, Fort Smith ... felix