BT created a monster

[b2riesel]

So, I get my .40 swage die in the mail Monday. I've already had my mandrels for case expansion, my core seater...and my crimp die..and made a buttload of soon to be boolits just waiting on the swage die. I sit down and start going to town with the swage die on a Rock Chucker IV. Then I think...'WAIT...maybe I should load some of these up and go to the range before I make 10,000'.

So...I load up 100 and drive to the range with 100 175gr truncated cone, 100 155gr XTPs, and some 180gr XTPs and compare all these to the boolits I made using recycled 9mm brass, and recycled lead from range scrap.

I was slightly worried about my boolit being .6895 long and seating it deeply to run in a semi-auto. I use Bullseye powder which is pretty fluffy and this doesn't leave much room inside. I ran 4.5gr for a 184.6 average boolit weight. I don't have a chrony and I was simply interested in accuracy and cycling.

Shooting the first few rounds made me realize I should have gone with the 4.9gr that two of my manuals listed for a 190gr JHP. They cycled perfectly but the feel was soft. However, the accuracy was very good on paper at 7, 15, and 25 yards and the steel targets at 100yards were ringing so I guess you can't ask for more than that. Compared to the other loads..the accuracy is good on all..about the same really...just have to adjust my sight alignment due to bullet weigh differences and I was good to go.

I then proceeded to try and trap a boolit and see the expansion. First I tried a 1gallong milk jug filled with water...figured it would blow thru...hit at an angle and be pretty close to the top of the dirt. I noticed this boolit caused a MASSIVE entry and exit on the jug and there was no hope to find anything. Next I shot thru 2 water jugs...same thing....a lot of force was applied..it wasn't no 9mm like slicing thru with high fps...there was a lot of action going on. Next I shot thru two water jugs into a 5 gallon bucket of sand...and inside the sand I found some very nice...still intake mushrooms that look exactly like some have posted in other threads about this boolit.

I'm very impressed. This will lower my cost... A LOT!!!! Now my costliest item will be primers. I'm getting about 1400 rounds per lb of Bullseye...so my big investment per round was bullets...now...now I got that covered. If anyone is on the fence of whether to buy a set of these dies or not...YOU GOTTA DO IT! I mean besides the cool factor of making your own, the performance of these things...and the huge cost savings...you will be delighted with this die....plus Brian is a great guy and we need to help him get things off the ground and rolling.

Now, I'm back to making more...I'm already ~3,000 into my first run of 10,000 :)

Thanks Brian!!!

[Jailer]

Nice work. Are you using the factory ram in your Rock Chucker?

[b2riesel]

Yes, using the factory ram for now...BT ordered me some threaded punches and a cannalure tool...which just got screwed down to my bench. Tomorrow at work I'll take my ram I made a few weeks ago..but didn't drill and tap...and I will tap out the threads for the threaded punches then swap out the ram.

[BT Sniper]

Your welcome! Yep your on your way. I new you would be loving it! The length of your bullet is good especially when you start using the threaded base punch to make a slight BT on it. I have found as long as we keep thebullet length under .700 we are good. I am positive you will have no problems there using the 120 grain cores, notched jacket, and a cutom BT punch. It all adds up to a better and shorter bullet without having to trim the brass.

Only one more thing you need now... an ejector so you don't have to swing a hammer 7,000 more times :)

Keep us posted on your shooting. Those guys at the range are going to get a kick seeing the bullets you are making and the performance you are getting.

Your goign to have the rest of the bullets made by the end of the month or sooner, PRICELESS!

Good shooting and Swage On!

BTSniper

[b2riesel]

Brian,

When I went to the range yesterday I actually carried my set of dies with me. After shooting and capturing some bullets we went inside where the owner had a Rockchucker set up and I showed some of the old timers how the bullets were made. We made about a dozen and I left each of them a sample to take home. I also left some samples of the mushrooms. I heard a lot of 'well I'll be damned'..and 'never seen anything like it'...some head shaking in amazement and some 'where did you get these dies from again?'.

I imagine that if in the future I buy another set of dies...I could sell them fairly quickly. Hopefully some of these guys will be sending you an email and ordering some dies. Now, tonight at work I need to make me an ejector after I thread that bottom punch into my other ram.

One other thing: My lead isn't the softest....it's a 12bhn...truncated cone and sometimes...sometimes the ogive will have a visible groove where the lube grove on the lead is. It seems that the brass wants to roll into the groove instead of the lead squishing down. I've played with moving slower....moving faster...lube...no lube...different kinds of lube...but to no avail. If you run your fingers across the groove you can't feel it...but you can see it. It shoots fine...it just isn't the prettiest...not that I need the prettiest bullets mind you. I'll be switching to a tumble lube mold I guess.

[sargenv]

My cores are about 12 bhn and they expand really well when they hit AR500 plate steel (pepper poppers from MGM). Usually all that is left is about 30 gr of lead connected to the very mushroomed brass case.. the lead fragments and goes wherever it goes when it smacks the steel. Every time I hand a recovered bullet to someone, they get that "***" look on their face.. :)

[b2riesel]

Don't get me wrong...they mushroom great when they hit the target...it's the filling out inside the jacket when I'm swaging that seems to be the problem...and I found the same...about 30 grains of lead still attached to the brass when banging steel....I love shooting steel for some reason...maybe it's the sound...maybe it's the laziness of not having to go set up targets...I like shooting hanging steel. I also like laying down canvas below the steel and recovering all my lead too.