45 acp

[randmplumbingllc]

Nothing special. I just really changed all the settings on the dies, to really make the ojive and meplat smaller. They come out at between .450-.451 range. They weigh about 228 gr +/- 1 gr. I used Federal brass and annealed them.

They shoot pretty good with a light target load of 4 gr. Titegroup.

http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab195/randmplumbingllc/IMG_1738-1.jpg

http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab195/randmplumbingllc/IMG_1739.jpg

[BT Sniper]

Glad to see it is going well for you. Lots of possiblities isn't there. Sure do like the look of the loaded rounds with these custom bullets. Looks like the recovered bullet has some good potential too. You guys must be having a blast! It's got to be a kick going to the range and showing your own custom bullets to the other shooters.

Swage On!

BT

[randmplumbingllc]

Glad to see it is going well for you. Lots of possiblities isn't there. Sure do like the look of the loaded rounds with these custom bullets. Looks like the recovered bullet has some good potential too. You guys must be having a blast! It's got to be a kick going to the range and showing your own custom bullets to the other shooters.

Swage On!

BT

Yeah, had to pretty much change everything on the setup. Took the hollowpoint punch all the way out, til I got the ojive I wanted. Made the hollowpoint about half the size as yours.

Like I said, they measured in the 450-451 range, so the rifling is in the bullet.

We shot a couple of hundred at some steel and recovered what was left. They really opened up, leaving about a half dollar sized case, rim, with a small amount of lead at the bottom.

Maybe will post a pic later.

[DukeInFlorida]

Brian, I apologize for that fellow coming in and bashing your good work. He didn't keep in mind that all of this stuff is EXPERIMENTAL.

Maybe he should be contacting one of the big guys and spending $2000 on a production set of tools, and then get the $25,000 machine to run them in.

I mean, come on now...... BT makes great tools, but all are experimental. They are what they are, and that's BETTER than the CH4D version, for sure!!!

Just my opinion.

Anyways, Brian, pay no attention to the flack. I'm very happy with what you have done for me so far, and only wish that my wallet allowed me to acquire more of your great work!

[Sailplane]

Long time looker, First time poster,
I've been reading this forum for a long time and have enjoyed the back an forth exchange of ideas and information for well over a year. I appreciate the time and energy all contributors place here into public. Over the past years I have delt with many people on different sites buying and selling and as always misunderstandings, mis-communication and unrealistic expectations have been a part of life. I have found that almost all of those situations can be resolved if given a reasonable and honest chance. Hats off to Brian an all the great work and exchange of ideas he brings to our world. Thanks to all.

[BT Sniper]

The best thing I love about this sight is the people and there ability to keep things cool! On other sights I would have been banned allready for my lousy spellin.

Lets all do our best to keep this sight as enjoyable as possible for everyone and enjoy the post and pics everyone takes the time to share. Certainly make it welcome to all the new and potential future members.

I look foward to seeing more continued pics and range results from these 45 cals from 40 S&W brass.

Good shooting and Swage On!

BT

[jixxerbill]

Brian, I apologize for that fellow coming in and bashing your good work. He didn't keep in mind that all of this stuff is EXPERIMENTAL.

Maybe he should be contacting one of the big guys and spending $2000 on a production set of tools, and then get the $25,000 machine to run them in.

I mean, come on now...... BT makes great tools, but all are experimental. They are what they are, and that's BETTER than the CH4D version, for sure!!!

Just my opinion.

Anyways, Brian, pay no attention to the flack. I'm very happy with what you have done for me so far, and only wish that my wallet allowed me to acquire more of your great work!

???????? what "fellow" ?????? am i missing something here ??? or is this thread missing something ???? i thought i read it a few days ago and there were more posts in it ???? my eyes bad maybe ??? rofl nah, i smell a cover up maybe ??? ^^^^^^^THATS NUMBER ONE^^^^^^^ imma try to keep track for you !!!!

[ReloaderFred]

There were some posts that should have been handled in private conversations, so my guess is the moderators just either moved them, or deleted them.

Don't make more of it than it is. I haven't seen any black helicopters flying around this site......

Hope this helps.

Fred

[MIBULLETS]

I agree, we don't have all of the info anyway and besides there are so many positive results we are seeing.

[BT Sniper]

Sorted things out via PM. All is good! Hope to see more results from these 45

Swage On!

BT

[buck1]

EVERYTHING I have got from Brian has been 100% +++.
And I think all the regulars here know it. I couldnt be more happy with with my gear and keep in mind ,I am fairly pickey and opinionated as he77! LOL!!...Buck

[Dave18]

everytime I come to this site,

brian has something new going on, and gets a person thinking, :wink:

keep up the good work brian,:drinks:

[randmplumbingllc]

We shot a couple of hundred at some steel and recovered what was left. They really opened up, leaving about a half dollar sized case, rim, with a small amount of lead at the bottom.

Maybe will post a pic later.

Here is a pic of what these bullets look like AFTER hitting my IPSC targets. I thought it was kinda cool, so I thought you might like to see them too.

For someone finding one of these and not knowing any better, you would think someone blew up their .40 cal. That is what I would be thinking anyway.


http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab195/randmplumbingllc/IMG_0119-2.jpg

http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab195/randmplumbingllc/IMG_0133.jpg

[BT Sniper]

Great stuff! Those steel targets look like a lot of fun! The bullets split perfect right allong the notches from the look of it. Six petels very cool! The rounded nose of the bullets looks good loaded too. Weather certainly looks better for you guys down there then the rain up here.

Good shooting,

Swage On!

BT

[randmplumbingllc]

Great stuff! Those steel targets look like a lot of fun! The bullets split perfect right allong the notches from the look of it. Six petels very cool! The rounded nose of the bullets looks good loaded too. Weather certainly looks better for you guys down there then the rain up here.

Good shooting,

Swage On!

BT

LOVE shooting steel ! Best money I ever spent. Nothing like confirming your hits with a "ding".

Yeah, the weather in the southwest lets us shoot mostly all year long.

[skeet1]

randmplumbingllc,
That bottle shaped silhouette target back by the hill looks familiar can you tell me what kind of target it is.

Skeet1

[randmplumbingllc]

randmplumbingllc,
That bottle shaped silhouette target back by the hill looks familiar can you tell me what kind of target it is.

Skeet1

It is just a standard paper "Q" target used by FBI, DEA, etc.

[Intel6]

Funny when I saw this thread I thought I have shot steel with my BT .40 bullets and never found these "brass flowers." THat last time I did I actually looked and didn't find them. I went back out to shoot last weekend and found a bunch of them. They had just bounced off to one side of the steel plates and weren't right in front of them. I took a pic of them because they look cool.

One thing is these were my regular JHPs without the notching die and they still turned into brass flowers? I wonder if they split on the rifiling or just symetrically?

Neal in AZ

[BT Sniper]

Yep they split on the rifiling groves.

[randmplumbingllc]

Funny when I saw this thread I thought I have shot steel with my BT .40 bullets and never found these "brass flowers." THat last time I did I actually looked and didn't find them. I went back out to shoot last weekend and found a bunch of them. They had just bounced off to one side of the steel plates and weren't right in front of them. I took a pic of them because they look cool.

One thing is these were my regular JHPs without the notching die and they still turned into brass flowers? I wonder if they split on the rifiling or just symetrically?

Neal in AZ

Yeah, I think they look cool too. Mine fly about 5-10 feet away from the steel. They are kinda hard to spot. They seem to blend in, in the desert.

It is interesting that you didn't notch yours..... It is cool, either way. I tend to believe it must be caused by the rifling too.

Thanks for sharing the pic.

[par0thead151]

how long does it take to make 100 of these projectiles?
is there a long learning curve on how to operate it?

[randmplumbingllc]

how long does it take to make 100 of these projectiles?
is there a long learning curve on how to operate it?

The learning curve is pretty quick. I had some bullets made after a few days of trial and error. Was kinda fun trying to get the process down.

As far as your other question........it takes some time to make the 45's. I can't say how long it takes to do 100, because I never have sat down and did 100 straight through.

I do it in steps. I do these steps until I get sick of doing them, then I switch to another one. These are the steps that I do.

1- Sort the brass by headstamp.

2- Cut the brass

3- Anneal the brass

4- Cast the cores

5- Seat the cores

6- Notch the cores

7- Swage the cores into bullets

8- Deburr the bullets

9- Round over the nose of the bullets

10- Deburr again

11- Tumble, to clean them up

12- Quality control, to weed out any mistakes

So....I can't tell you exactly how long it takes to make a 100 bullets. I can tell you that it takes "a while".

I can also tell you that it the "cool factor" rating is a 10+, don't you think ?

[par0thead151]

The learning curve is pretty quick. I had some bullets made after a few days of trial and error. Was kinda fun trying to get the process down.

As far as your other question........it takes some time to make the 45's. I can't say how long it takes to do 100, because I never have sat down and did 100 straight through.

I do it in steps. I do these steps until I get sick of doing them, then I switch to another one. These are the steps that I do.

1- Sort the brass by headstamp.

2- Cut the brass

3- Anneal the brass

4- Cast the cores

5- Seat the cores

6- Notch the cores

7- Swage the cores into bullets

8- Deburr the bullets

9- Round over the nose of the bullets

10- Deburr again

11- Tumble, to clean them up

12- Quality control, to weed out any mistakes

So....I can't tell you exactly how long it takes to make a 100 bullets. I can tell you that it takes "a while".

I can also tell you that it the "cool factor" rating is a 10+, don't you think ?

agreed, the cool factor is most certainly there.
im just trying to get a handle on how long it takes to do the entire process after the cores are cast.
i can cast very fast with a 6 cavity lee, so i dont really count that. plus i really enjoy casting.
just trying to gauge how long it takes to make these.
would you say a hour to do 100?

[BT Sniper]

I would agree, about an hour per 100 with the complete process as rand mentioned above.

I made 400 the other night in 40 cal in a little over two hours. Got a new insert for the universial die that speads things up a bit. Like belling the mouth of the case but better. Expands the entire jacket just perfect to drop in core then use same thing to push the core in place a bit. A simple core seat I guess you would call it.

So in 2 hours I did,

1. expand 9mm brass
2. drop in and seat core
3. XTP notch
4. swage final bullet
x 400 :)

pic of the loaded rounds with airsoft BB crimped in HP

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/2011-1-26003.jpg

[randmplumbingllc]

agreed, the cool factor is most certainly there.
im just trying to get a handle on how long it takes to do the entire process after the cores are cast.
i can cast very fast with a 6 cavity lee, so i dont really count that. plus i really enjoy casting.
just trying to gauge how long it takes to make these.
would you say a hour to do 100?

I guess, if you already had all the brass sorted, cut, annealed and ready to go, it would take an hour or so, to do a hundred.

Like I said, if you are looking for fast.....this probably ain't for you. You can knock off some of the steps( like notching, deburring, sorting brass by headstamp, etc) and it will make the procee alot faster.

I, personally, want to make the looking and shooting bullet possible, so I don't skip any steps,......but that is just me.

.

[par0thead151]

I guess, if you already had all the brass sorted, cut, annealed and ready to go, it would take an hour or so, to do a hundred.

Like I said, if you are looking for fast.....this probably ain't for you. You can knock off some of the steps( like notching, deburring, sorting brass by headstamp, etc) and it will make the procee alot faster.

I, personally, want to make the looking and shooting bullet possible, so I don't skip any steps,......but that is just me.

.

what is the benefit of sorting by the brand of brass?
for plinking rounds i would skip the notching.

[BT Sniper]

I made a video of the steps in making "simple" 45 cal bullets with lead tip HPs. Should get you a better idea. Posted in a "just that simple thread".

BT

[Daywalker]

what is the benefit of sorting by the brand of brass?
for plinking rounds i would skip the notching.

Depending on what your looking for, seperating the brand of brass will give you a better consistant in weight. Each case can weigh different, however, each brand can weigh differently by more...

I try to group all brands with each other. I find that Winchester 40 brass works better than Remington and Federal. They trim better in my case trimmer and doesn't want to gall up or anything.

I also get more consistant weight out of Winchester brass...

[randmplumbingllc]

what is the benefit of sorting by the brand of brass?
for plinking rounds i would skip the notching.

Daywalker is right. If you want an accurate bullet, you need to be as consistant as you can be in making them.

Different headstamps in .40 brass can vary as much as 10 grains, or more.

I do it the same way as Daywalker. Even though the brass is the same headstamp, the weights still can vary from different lots of brass. They seem to only vary about a grain or two by sorting this way.

That is good enough for me.