New BTSniper 44 cal dies

[BT Sniper]

I got a couple dies I'm finishing up for customers. Should have them ready to ship in a day or two.

This is my new style 44 cal custom die. The main difference between it and the previous Ch die I offer is this one of mine has a .250 meplat with a bit more of a curve to the nose shape to maintain teh ssame nose length. If the .250 nose is to small for anyone I can open up the nose of the die to any larger size you wish very easily.

The bullet are forming up perfectly with 175 grain 40 cal cast boolit cores and 40 S&W brass for jackets. That gives you a bullet in the range of 255-260 grains.

For those that also may have the core seat die or wish to purcase on in future I think it may just be possible to make some very good looking 245 grain bullets using same core but with 9mm brass. I made one that had a nice lead tip and it looks very good. Matter of fact you could probalby make very good bullets even lighter in weight using the 9mm brass with a core seat die to seat the core and expand the 9m with.

I'll have pic to post soon.

Good shooting and Swage On!

BT

[lukewmtdew]

How much are the 44 die set?

[BT Sniper]

$300 for the one point form die that works just fine to form bullets in one step from 40 S&W brass. Or if you want the complete two die set that includes the cores seat die, it is $485.

$10 S&H

I'll have pics up as soon as I can.

BT

[BT Sniper]

Sent out first two customer orders today for these 44 cal dies. Got lots of pics to post too.

BT

[BT Sniper]

Normaly I would reduce the size of the pics but this one just looked to good to fool with.

Here are two Hornady 44 cal 240 grain XTP bullets. The one on the left I reswaged in my new custom 44 cal dies. Should give you a good idea of what my new 44s will look like.

BT


http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070402.jpg

[BT Sniper]

More pics.

All 44 cal bullets pictured are made from 40 S&W brass with cast boolit core from 175 grain 40 cal mold. Use of my universal die with expanding mandrel and XTP notch insert worked great. Canalured with Corbin cannalure machine.

Good shooting and Swage On!

BT

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070379.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070380.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070405.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070373.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070376.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070384.jpg

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/P1070386.jpg

[nighthunter]

I already make 44's using 9mm brass with the one step die. I use a .357 cast bullet in a belled 9mm case and run it into the swage die. Perfect bullets without the core seater.

Nighthunter

[BT Sniper]

Cool! Any pics?

BT

[TJF1]

Brian those b00lits sure look good
hope i can make some look as good.
Terry

[BT Sniper]

I have no doubt you will be able to make bullets "exactly" as the one pictured. The majority of those bullets where formed in your exact die while I was setting everything up. Only thing you might consider is a cannalure tool. CH is decent for a hand powered cannalure tool.

Now I got to send you some instructions.

I'll see if I can put somthing down in simple terms.

You should have the die Wednesday as well as teh XTP die and threaded addapter for your RCE Press.

Good shooting and Swage On!

BT

[BT Sniper]

Steps to forming 44 cal bullet from 40 S&W brass in BTSniper one step die.

1. Start with fully annealed brass and expand in either a 40 S&W expander die or the expanding mandrel in the universal die I provided you with. For fun try to expand a case that is not annealed and notice the difference. A properly annealed case will fill like little if any work is being done. A regular case will feal much different and stick to the mandrel. This will be the first chance you have to catch "problem" brass/jackets before you attempt to form such a case into a bullet. Don't! Set it aside to be reannealed.

2. While case is still in shell holder after expanding drop a 175 grain 40 cal cast boolit core in the case and push it to the bottom with the expanding mandrel. Use as soft as lead as possible. All you need to do is push it to bottom of case. You don't need to "swage" it. When bottomed out there should be about .1 clearance between the top of the lead and top of the case. See pick above!

3. XTP notch the top of the jacket. See pick above! With the shell and seated core in the press run it to top of the press stroke. Insert XTP punch in universal die and tighten die down in press till teeth contact the top of the jacket. Then retract the ram and tighten the XTP die down up to two additional turns depending on amount of notch you desire. Be careful not to notch to deep as it will swell out the sides of the jacket and if too big it will not fit in the point form swage die.

4. Form bullet. Do not adjust the top stop bolt of this die. It controls the depth of the HP and the resulting formed bullet. I got it set just right. If curiousity gets the best of you and you have to take the die apart, make an ink mark so you can reset the die to orginal setting. The ejection bolt I provide you with is of EXACT length too that will allow you to reset the die as well.

Use one of the bullets I provide you with and apply a bit of lube to it. Use this bullet to set initial starting postion of your die in your press. Adjust your die till you feel a bit of pressure yet are still able to cam over the press with the test bullet. Then you are close and ready to try your own bullets to form. Always use lube with every bullet formed. You should be able to form these bullets while sitting down single handed. If not you need to back die out a little. It will still take a good amount of pressure. Any adjustments to the heigth of the die in the press needs to be small, it only takes a small adjustment to make major changes in the pressure applied to the bullet.

The rim is the last thing to expand to final bullet diameter. Measure your formed bullets, when the rim starts expanding above it's orginal diameter you are good and no additional pressure needs to be applied. Typically any rim diameter from .426-.430 will be just fine.

Try to use only enough pressure that is needed to successfuly form the bullet. You will develope a feel for how much pressure is needed from one bullet to the next. All should be pretty close and feel similar to teh previous, if at any time you get one that feels different, or requires more pressure STOP! eject the bullet and set it aside to be remelted. Figure out what was wrong before continuing, usually it is a case that did not recieve full anneal that snuck in to your stack.

Use standard reloading precautions. I typicaly recomend published starting loads for next heavier bullet of what ever bullet you make. In teh case of these bullets at 255 grains I would use starting loads for 265 grain bullets.

If you have any questions please feel to let me know.

Good shooting and swage on!

BT