Airgun Pellets Swage Help

[sasquatch200269]

Hey guys, i need all the help i can get, i want to play around in swaging my own Hunting pellets, seems like all hunting pellets for airguns are not accurate and also dont transfer the energy to the target, so im off to try and make my own pellet, i just dont know how, hahahaa,. here is what i was thinking,

airgun pellets are .217 in dia, so i cant use .22 rim fire swage dies, im thinking of buying a .204 ruger die and then reaming it to .217,

i want to make the pellet a hollow point, with a thin back wall so the pellet basically disintegrates or breaks up on impact.

could someone point me in the right direction in finding dies? maybe some one has already tried this? what do you guys think would be the best design for sub sonic bullets/pellets Thanks in advance for any help.

Jovan

[MIBULLETS]

I know Dave Corbin makes them to fit a reloading press.

http://www.corbins.com/pellets.htm

[MightyThor]

Made my own die with some limited success, Flat nose 22 cal. Problem was that the slug is very small compared to what I am doing with other bullets and I did not have a satisfactory way of getting uniform weight from the swaged pellet. I started looking into casting the pellets instead and then got busy on other projects and this one go buried. If you go further, take pictures and be sure to post so we can benefit from your work.

[martin]

sasqatch200269,

I will jump in here and provide you a little information based on my experience:

A few months ago, I bought a used Corbin pellet making die for 22 pellets. The design is similar to a core forming die that is used to make cores for jacketed bullets. It has a top punch formed for the point of the pellet and a bottom punch which makes the skirt of the pellet. The center portion of the die is a squirt die with three 1/32 inch bleed holes. to make a pellet, a small piece of lead wire (about .200) is inserted into the die and the punches crush the lead inside the die to form the .217 diameter pellet. Any excess lead is bleeds out the 1/32 bleed holes. In this way, consistant weight and size is achieved and can be varied based on the depth the punch is allowed to go into the die. I can make anything between 10 grains and 25grain pellets with the die set that I have.

Now with all this being said, the pellets are stright walled with no conical shaped skirt. They are very thin and fragile but that could be modified with another punch. I believe that when commercial pellets are made, they either use a 3 part die or roll the pellets in a seperate operation to form the conical skirt.

The bottom line is that what you are considering with modifying a commercial die is possible but you will have to start with a slug that has an accurate weight (.1 grain) or you will have to put bleed holes in the die (which I think may be difficult). To do this otherwise in my opinion will result in difficulties due to volume and force required.

If I can provide additional information, please let me know.

Thank You,
Martin