Fitting a Cast .223 inside a prepared .22lr

[jabilli]

So I've been trying to think of a way to shoot cast bullets in .223 without vaporizing the projectile, or having to shoot the projectile successfully at the cost of tons of fps...While retaining the cheap factor...I'm sure someone else has done this before, I'm curious the result.


I had successfully put a metal dowel inside a .22lr case and ran it through a Lee .224 sizer. Result- the crimped "rim" is no longer there, you essentially have a brass sleeve with a cap on the bottom.

I then flared out the mouth a bit, then ran a sized .223 into it. It worked. A cast .223 with a spitzer nose for feeding, with a brass jacket around the sides and bottom.

Mind you the case is just about as long as my bullet, so I did not seat it all the way down in there (Thus a cavity of air...I'm thinking under such pressures this is undesirable so I may either place lead spacers/studs down in first, cut the case shorter, or use .22short cases.) If the cavity IS an issue I'd lean towards favoring the cutting of the case, as .22lr cases are vastly more available.

Anyone try this? Am I just being silly and wasting my time?

[jabilli]

I'll also throw out there that I favor the cutting of the overall length of the sleeve as it brings the OAL down...Thus keeping pressures down. Shorter bullet= Ability to do so. :-) I'm thinking if I continue with this I'll keep it the same length as the cast bullet normally is and compensate for the extra however many thousands of an inch while seating the bullet in the cartridge.

[DukeInFlorida]

Check out the swaging area of this forum. We are making .224 bullets from 22 brass. But not the way you tried.

[NSP64]

what jabilli is thinking of is the old half jacket bullets made by Speer and others.
Cutting those little cases are a pain ,but he can do it. I think you would still need to keep velocity and rpm's down to keep the jackets from comming apart. Try it and let us know how it works.
You would need to size again after jacket installation.

[jabilli]

@DukeinMaine- Ah thank you, I'll poke around there. I've seen those Corbin dies, but I'm looking for an alternative to buying expensive swaging stuff- ($180 for die or $800 for the kit IIRC)

@NSP64- I'm thinking a good way to go is use a .225 sizer for the case, and use a .224 sizer for the bullet both before seating and after for final product. Good idea?

I'll tinker with it soon and post up results/pictures.

[nhrifle]

Found this vid awhile ago, sounds like what you are trying to do. There are many ways to get shootable projectiles, I think you are on the right track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkAU5ekbPLA

[jabilli]

Alright I made a very rough one for show and tell:

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I'll scrutinize this one here: You'll notice the case trim isn't level, just simply Dremeled it- I'm sure I can find some pipette cutting device easily... I'd also run it through a crimper to get rid of that rough edge (Yeah, I did flare out the mouth before seating.)- Fairly certain it could snag otherwise while chambering. The whole thing isn't terribly concentric as I somehow lost my .223 bullet seating die after moving (GR!) so this was wedged in with a vice....

BUT forgetting all of that, I wanted to show you guys what I'm tinkering with.

@NHrifle- YES, I was trying to think of a way of molding points into the cases- I was thinking about taking clay, pressing a bullet into it nose down several times, firing the clay, then after hardened, placing the cases mouth-down and having channels feed lead into the cavities- It seems this guy did that with a mold! I want one :-p

[jabilli]

For reference- a picture of the cast boolit. You'll notice the one that has the "jacket" has a flat nose, again that's from using a vice rather than a seating die as mine is lost- I dare not try shoot this one. :-)

58490

Also: Haha I like how NH chose to phrase the fact that these bullets might really suck, in a kind way. :-p

[DukeInFlorida]

Not looking to start any fights here.....

But......

You should be mindful that the video that you referenced was done by a fellow who showed up a year or so ago in the swaging area, danr.
It's obvious that he quickly gave up on this method of casting bullets into place inside the jackets. danr started making "low cost" swaging tools, and then realized that low cost tools didn't work well, and disappeared after selling a few.

You'll probably also find that this method is a dead end.


Found this vid awhile ago, sounds like what you are trying to do. There are many ways to get shootable projectiles, I think you are on the right track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkAU5ekbPLA

[jabilli]

Figured why not.

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Threw it into a magazine and it fed right in 5/5 times I tested. (It's a dummy, neither primer nor powder)

[jabilli]

So I'm shelving this for now:

The .22lr case walls are 7/1000's each- If I place that over the bullet which is sized at .224 , I get something too fat to try and cram into the sizer yet again. I looked and it seems Lee can make custom sizers by request for 32$...I'm thinking I'll order one in .210.

I was asking in another thread in this section of the forums about the advantages of having a full jacket over just a gas check... Supposing the end product works and I have a jacket for the sides and the bottom, what kind of performance (in terms of cold fps) might one expect from a 3/4 jacket rather than the full monte?

[nhrifle]

Duke, I know that is Danr and that he caused a commotion around here. I was only trying to offer another insight to the OP's idea. I am an eternal tinkerer and if someone has an idea I try to offer whatever I can to help that person succeed, even if the information did come from someone who caused problems. I don't want to cause any problems with you or anyone else who may have a personal stake in the swaging die foible, so please forgive me.

What I saw was an idea that could progress into something that someone with limited tooling, funds, and machining experience could use to produce shootable projectiles. No, they would not be match quality. No, they would not win any beauty awards. However, they would be homemade and exit the barrel, and that is saying something. So here's to the spirit of invention and creativity -- Jabilli, run with this idea until you achieve what you desire or get completely disgusted with it.

Just a thought, maybe try running that jacket/boolit combo back through the sizer you mentioned after seating the boolit in the jacket.

And Duke, I'm sorry.

[saint_iverson]

To swage, or not to swage, that is the question.

[DukeInFlorida]

Nothing to be sorry about, my friend.
Just wanted to get it all out on the table.




And Duke, I'm sorry.