Blanking Dies

[Valornor]

Honestly, I am somewhat of a swage addict now. I'll be shooting my .338 283gr and 291gr over a chronograph and get a rough BC estimates tomorrow. Pretty excited to see how they do. Along with exploring options in using spent .223/5.56 cases as jackets for .338 bullets I'm also looking at options for making those jackets from strip. Corbin wants quite a chunk of money for his jacket making kit. So I am looking at seeing what I can do with some research, Solid Works, and a few friends with fancy machines.

Obviously the first step in turning strip into jackets is the initial blanking. I am looking at using 0.025 or 0.020 copper strip. The debate I am having with myself is if the blanking operation is something I want to do on the press, or if it is an operation that I can do with a dead blow hammer. I can have the punches and dies made cheaper if I don't have to thread them for use on the press.

Any thoughts?

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Have them made for a swage press. That's my opinion.

[475AR]

Honestly, I am somewhat of a swage addict now. I'll be shooting my .338 283gr and 291gr over a chronograph and get a rough BC estimates tomorrow. Pretty excited to see how they do. Along with exploring options in using spent .223/5.56 cases as jackets for .338 bullets I'm also looking at options for making those jackets from strip. Corbin wants quite a chunk of money for his jacket making kit. So I am looking at seeing what I can do with some research, Solid Works, and a few friends with fancy machines.

Obviously the first step in turning strip into jackets is the initial blanking. I am looking at using 0.025 or 0.020 copper strip. The debate I am having with myself is if the blanking operation is something I want to do on the press, or if it is an operation that I can do with a dead blow hammer. I can have the punches and dies made cheaper if I don't have to thread them for use on the press.

Any thoughts?

I have been down this road except I do not have any way to make the dies... from what I have found out, the blanking die is the easy one. I have been told and seen on utube videos for the blanking die being used with a hand operated arbor press, the thing is to get a good clean cut the first time. I am not sure that couls be done with a mallet?
The hard part of doing jackets from strip is ihe actual drawing of the jacket, which depending on diameter, wall thickness and length requires alot of pressure and stroke length. This can be done using a manual hydraulic press that you can get from harbor freight or if you want to spend the money air powered or hydraulically automated. I will post some links to some of the stuff I have found later. It can be done manually but the entire process will be slow and a labor of love and accomplishment not for cost savings.
One thought for the 338 would be to draw down 35 caliber rifle jackets if you can find them in the length you need (or longer and pinch trim them to the length you need.)

[rbt50]

their is a guy on you tube that is showing how to make jacket making dies. looks like a lot of work.

[Valornor]

So the Mega Mite press that Corbin offers is suppose to be able to handle jacket making from the strip. At least that's what he claims. I know that I have enough stroke length to turn .375" copper tubing into .338 jackets that are long enough to make 300gr slugs for my .338 LM. I have the draw die needed to bring it from .375 down to .338 as I do that with .375 tubing already, its all the steps inbetween that I'll have to figure out.

At this point it's not so much about cost savings as it just something I enjoy doing. I usually set up the dies and spend the evening on one station any way, it's the only way to make large batches.

[bullet maker 57]

IMHO .020 or .025 thick strip 1in wide will not give you the length jacket you need. I use .030x1in wide and only get a jacket 1.1 in long after trimming. I use a hydraulic press. Your strip should be dead soft anneal as well. Remember every step work hardens the copper.

[Valornor]

I figure there will be a couple anneal steps in between the draws. Using hydraulic equipment I might be able to get away from the anneals, but with hand presses I think that dead soft is about the only way I can go. For me, .338 is not something I shoot in high volume and I am very used to just working in batches taking my time.

[GONRA]

GONRA believes when you're using relatively thin sheet stock,
might be worth the effort to make a double acting dieset.

Did this for a Corbin CSP-2 (his largest hand press) to
first blank 3 mil Aluminum sheet .393 inch diameter,
then one pulls out a "blanking trap" from the hollow punch so the "inner formng punch"
forms/draws a .315 inch diameter part with 0.055 inch height.
(Sorta like a small gas check.)

(Part is the Top Foil for 9mm Berdan primers.)

Same general die design can be used for thicker sheet,
larger diameter, "higher cups" that you would be interested in.