Mold with copper jacket inserts?

[Wolfdog91]

Found this while cruising around the interwebs, very interesting [emoji848][emoji848]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240530/c89690cab29bbef3c50a0ba3eb4275cf.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240530/f6e3d5c390b5c91d7e62b2705f13864c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240530/ffc57beeaf08379efa168e0f5973b1ef.jpg

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[M-Tecs]

I've seen a couple of different variants of this but this one piques my interest since I am currently looking for cost effective 375 bullets. Thanks for posting.

Swaging 375 bullets with 223 or other brass is one of the easier ones.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?403799-swaging-375-from-223-cases

[35 Rem]

I would think you would have to pause each time you loaded a brass tube into the mold to reheat the mold and brass either on the pot or a hot plate. Otherwise, that cold brass is going to freeze the lead as soon as it hits it. Poor fill out and wrinkles would be the result. With experimentation you could figure out the time it would take to heat everything up and make it work I'm sure. Would sure be a lot cheaper than swaging to get jacketed bullets.

[K43]

Perhaps swaging lead into copper tubes would be faster and more efficient.

[35 Rem]

Perhaps swaging lead into copper tubes would be faster and more efficient.

Every time I've thought of getting into swaging I look at the upfront cost and it's thousands of dollars and any time you want to add another bullet to your capabilities it is many hundreds of dollars again. Sure I'd like to do it just for the experience but there is a limit to what I'll spend. When I look at how many factory bullets I could buy with just the initial investment I always walk away from swaging. Even the relatively cheap tooling to make .224 bullets using 22LR brass is prohibitively costly when you consider that you can buy the big Hornady 6000 count boxes of 55 grain soft points for something like $600.

[Wolfdog91]

I would think you would have to pause each time you loaded a brass tube into the mold to reheat the mold and brass either on the pot or a hot plate. Otherwise, that cold brass is going to freeze the lead as soon as it hits it. Poor fill out and wrinkles would be the result. With experimentation you could figure out the time it would take to heat everything up and make it work I'm sure. Would sure be a lot cheaper than swaging to get jacketed bullets.

Seems a guy could make it easy by just running. The lead really hit and have all the jackets sitting in a toaster oven. 725 lead 400 jackets , , would be a lil slow but not too bad imo.

[Wolfdog91]

Every time I've thought of getting into swaging I look at the upfront cost and it's thousands of dollars and any time you want to add another bullet to your capabilities it is many hundreds of dollars again. Sure I'd like to do it just for the experience but there is a limit to what I'll spend. When I look at how many factory bullets I could buy with just the initial investment I always walk away from swaging. Even the relatively cheap tooling to make .224 bullets using 22LR brass is prohibitively costly when you consider that you can buy the big Hornady 6000 count boxes of 55 grain soft points for something like $600.

Still lokkinga d at getting I to it for some custom .17cal heavy pills

[ascast]

That looks nice, but - is not tubing sized on inside diameter? It seems workable but a lot of fussing around. I think you would size before inserting n the mold.
I recall a old story about mil-surp ammo where FMJ bullets were fled off on the tip to make soft points. Problem was they were not FMJ but had an open base, resulting in core blowout leaving the jackets in the barrel. I think it was 6.5 Sweed ammo. Looks kinda like same potential here. Maybe just a myth.
I wonder who made the mold? and by hand or on a CNC program?

[JSnover]

A new twist on the 'driving band' method, where you insert two or three copper rings into the mold. I first heard of it in the 70s and even back then I don't think the idea was new.
Copper tubing might make sizing a little more difficult, more like swaging.

[relics6165]

Do any of y'all remember the old making "soft points" out of FMJ bullets by cutting off the nose? Then jackets started sticking in the bore as the core blew out, causing a kaboom on the next shot? Maybe this isn't exactly the same, but it's pretty close..........

[gwpercle]

I would think you would have to pause each time you loaded a brass tube into the mold to reheat the mold and brass either on the pot or a hot plate. Otherwise, that cold brass is going to freeze the lead as soon as it hits it. Poor fill out and wrinkles would be the result. With experimentation you could figure out the time it would take to heat everything up and make it work I'm sure. Would sure be a lot cheaper than swaging to get jacketed bullets.

You keep the copper tube jackets hot , a little pan on the hot plafe and insert Hot Jackets into hot mould with tweezers ... close it up and cast .
Double cavity mould lets you get the tube-jackets in place before cooling .
Gary

[stubshaft]

Veral at LBT made me a similar mold years ago. Cast the bullet out of pure lead and threw the tubing pieces in the pot to keep them warm. Copper conducts heat so easily that there were very few wrinkled bullets.

[Texas by God]

Do any of y'all remember the old making "soft points" out of FMJ bullets by cutting off the nose? Then jackets started sticking in the bore as the core blew out, causing a kaboom on the next shot? Maybe this isn't exactly the same, but it's pretty close..........

We did that a lot with .308, 30-06, and 8x57 fmj ammo and never had a problem with jacket/core seperation.
That is not to say it won’t happen, but it didn’t through several hundred shots from OUR rifles.


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[Thumbcocker]

Check out the Wilk gas check. Variations on the theme. There were also wire wound bullets, zink washers etc. Interesting but never caught on.

[Nobade]

A buddy of mine got the last set of those molds that Walt Melander made before he died and they work quite well. .375 is unique in that regard as there is the proper size tubing made for it, only .500 would be the other. The trick is to use a tubing cutter to cut the jackets so you end up with a burr on the inside, and tin the interiors first so the lead solders to them when it is poured. They shoot quite well, and the expansion is pretty impressive. They are definitely not deep penetrating bullets but are pretty spectacular on game the size of a deer or smaller.