Bonding 22LR jackets

[Ironduke]

If a person forms jackets from 22 LR cases, can the terminal performance be enhanced by bonding the core to the jacket? Essentially, you are just melting the core with some flux in the case to allow the core to adhere to the jacket. his would serve to soften the jacket a bit too, I'd think. Since the brass jacket is not as tough as a copper jacket, I'd think bonding would help the bullet hold together on hogs and the like.

What am I missing?

[Wolftracker]

This is something I've been intending to try. Bonding is kind of a pain, requiring very clean jackets and cores and it is hard to get the inside of an RF jacket all that clean. Perhaps someone at this site has already tried it. I use Corbin's bonding compound of weak Hydrochloric acid and have an electric furnace. Just need to take the time. I don't hunt much game with my 223 and it is a lot of trouble to go to for gophers. I've heard it said that bonded bullets can be more accurate though so it might be worth a try, just for curiosity's sake!

[Ironduke]

Well my thinking is an ultrasonic cleaner or running the cases in a thumler with ss pins might get them clean enough. Spray the cores with gun blaster or acetone to remove any oil. Should be able to get a good bond. This is my theory anyway. I'll just do mine with a torch and ceramic plates so I don't have to lay out the cash for a furnace.

[Wolftracker]

Yeah, cores aren't hard to clean. I have an ultrasonic cleaner and it does a pretty good job on the jackets. Possibly run a Q-tip or something around inside the jacket as well. Probably not perfect but good enough to get a bond of some kind. I lucked out and got a furnace and a bunch of other swaging equipment for about 1/3 of what it would cost new a few years ago but the furnace isn't necessary. It just gives more consistent results, jacket to jacket.

[Chuck Walla]

Not sure you want to go there. I've been reading a lot of past posts and it came up a few times that you really need to use flux to get a good bond, and the acid can damage your dies if your not really careful. Is it worth the risk? If good hunting bullets were impossible to get, maybe. I don't think it's going to help much anyway on hogzillas.

[Wolftracker]

There is that danger. After bonding, boil jackets in water with baking soda, seat cores and wash again before pointing. A lot of hassle.

[runfiverun]

what happens is you bond the core but soften the nose of the jacket.
I made a wooden jig to do this same thing a while back, so I could get the soft nose for varmint bullets.
as soon as I got some lead at the nose [combined with the re-softened case] they went hyper explosive.

for penetration I'd suggest a mechanical lock, let the cases work harden, and use a core that's got some antimony in it.
keeping the core just short of the tip will help slow down the expansion too.
for things like pig's I'd suggest upping the weight into the 70 gr range too, which could mean using a 22 mag type case and trimming.

[Wolftracker]

I use 17HMR cases to make .257's. They are heavier and I bet they'd make an effective bonded .224, especially with a harder core or even a spent primer inside as a partition.

[Lizard333]

Not sure you want to go there. I've been reading a lot of past posts and it came up a few times that you really need to use flux to get a good bond, and the acid can damage your dies if your not really careful. Is it worth the risk? If good hunting bullets were impossible to get, maybe. I don't think it's going to help much anyway on hogzillas.


This isn't the case. No flux is needed. I bond all of my 40, 44, and 45 bullets and adding flux is a step that is wasted and puts your dies at risk. I bond and anneal my bullets at the same time in a Dutch oven over a propane turkey fryer burner. Once the pure lead turns blue, I shut it down. The bullets I have recovered have a 95% weight retention.

I considered trying to bond my 224's but ending up dismissing it after finding no benefit after limited testing. Your results may vary.

Btw, if you do decide to flux, clean the heck out your fluxed cores after your done. Reloader3006 had a bad experience, causing some rust on the inside of a set of his dies. NOT something you want to do.

[rasto]

Everybody is afraid of bonding etc. I lube the cut lead wire before core forming. I am not decreasing before core seating and so far I have had no problems at all. Yesterday I shoot a hole in hole with my Norinco M4A1 at 50yard.

[Wolftracker]

I will have to give it a try without flux. I've always thought the flux was necessary to get a true molecular bond. It wouldn't be the first time that common belief was wrong though. Simple heat does do things and I don't especially like the risk of using flux.

[Chuck Walla]

I always thought flux was necessary too, like when soldering copper pipes. I guess it's worth a try to get it to bond without it. Who knows, I've seen stranger things.

[SquirrelHollow]

It isn't a .22 LR jacket, but here's something to look at:


.40 S&W case used as a .44 jacket (.432" finished diameter).
Tumbled in rouged walnut media for cleaning. (lots of contaminants, including Flitz polish)
Paste flux from some cheap soldering kit I bought 15+ years ago (applied liberally inside the jacket with a small brush).
Heated over a turkey fryer burner until the flux stopped boiling out and the carbon/soot stopped floating to the surface.

Initial weight: 275 gr
Recovered weight: ~184 gr (doing this from memory, based on a known 67% weight retention)
Recovered from an Elk's neck after 11"+ penetration through bone and muscle, including the near-side hide that was over 3/4" thick.
Fired at 2,332 fps. Impact was less than 75 feet.

You can judge for yourself whether it bonded well.
Some days I say, "yes." Other days, I say, "hell no!" ......

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I lied!
Just after I submitted my post, I remembered that's the unbonded version. But, the performance is EXACTLY the same as the bonded version.

I'll see if I can find a photo of the bonded version (fired into wetpack) and add another post.

[SquirrelHollow]

Okay, these were the bonded version, and fired at 2,200-2,520 fps into wetpack at 5 feet.

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