Homemade 44 mag jacketed bullets

[Bmi48219]

Just saw this youtube and thought it was interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O90Qqj7L6F4

[rbuck351]

I've been making 270gr bullets for my 41mag for about 5 years now using the 40S&W cases. The process is fairly simple but you have to make a couple of pieces for your press. I start by fully annealing the brass. I heat it in a cast iron pot in my wood stove. Then with a home made punch that fits the top of the press ram you push the case into a 308 or similar FL sizer die with decapping assembly removed until you have the taper/shoulder to the size you want. Then punch the case out and push it through a 410 or 429 boolit sizer. Flatten the end of a piece of 7/8 14 bolt or all thread and place a flat piece of steel on top of the press ram and install the all thread in the die hole in the press. Adjust the all thread so that a case on top of the steel plate will just touch the all thread at the top of the stroke. Heat a bunch of prepped cases on a hot plate or the top edge of your lead pot. Grab a case with pliers and overfill slightly with melted lead, quickly place on steel plate and raise ram to flatten boolit tip. You now have a hot core jacketed bullet.
223 cases make nice 358 bullets but a 22 jet die makes a better taper on the bullet for rifle bullets and you need to cut them to length.

Most important is you don't need an $800 set of swag dies.

[frkelly74]

I also have made 41 cal bullets sort of this way. I seated a 160 gr 38 bullet in an annealed 40 case and sweged it to expand the diameter in a 30-30 die I think, and it formed a small shoulder. They were not very accurate but I have not played with it any more for a few years. I may have to re open that line of experimentation .

[Bmi48219]

How would you expand the .424 diameter case to .429 ?

[Forrest r]

How would you expand the .424 diameter case to .429 ?

When you seat/smash the lead core into the case it expands the 40s&w cases diameter. The 40s&w case will also expand when it is formed into a bullet.

[GhostHawk]

I have had my best luck doing these by presorting the .4osw first by running them through the Lee .44mag sizing die first.

Anything that drops straight through is small, gets set aside for loading as .40sw.
If it takes minor to moderate pressure they go into the .44 mag pile.
If it takes a bit of force to run them through they go into the .45acp pile.

Most of mine use a .357 158 gr cast or a 125 gr. The 125 gr cast comes out below the brass. So I drop a #1 buckshot below it which raises it up a bit. Enough so you have a tapered lead before the tapered brass.

Mine are done on the shoestring budget. I use an old RCBS .270 win sizing die with the depriming pin removed.
Round is assembled, dropped in nose first. Followed by a punch. I whack the punch about 12 good shots which seats the lead and forms the front nose. Give it a whack base down on the counter and the completed round drops out.

Mine shoot well but do very a fair amount in weight between rounds. I think done right I'd assemble about 100 then weight sort into close groups.

OP thank you very much for posting. I now have a much better idea of exactly what these rounds will and won't do.
I shoot mine out of a .367 mag Handi Rifle, and they shoot well. Always get a few looks at the range. "Your shooting a boolit in a boolit?"

[charlie b]

Could make a cheap swage setup with an arbor press.

Use that old .270 size die (or whatever you have). Get a bolt that is the proper dia, maybe 3/8 or 7/16". Cut it so when the head hits the die you have the proper nose formed on the bullet. Put the die on the press, drop in the bullet, then the cut off bolt. Ram it down with the arbor. Done.

This is something I am going to have to try. :)

[Forrest r]

A 41mag expander die works like a charm. Toss you core in the 40s&w case and run it up into the 41mag expander die. The expander will not only expand the case to the right diameter. It seats the core in the 40s&w brass.

FWIW:
You can do the same thing using a 44mag expander and a core/40s&w brass to make .452 bullets.