Faster way of seating cores ?

[RP]

Well I have some dies to make 224 bullets out of 22 rimfire brass and really slow part is placing cores in the brass. I have see one fellow post a pic of a series of plastic drilled to hold the brass and shakes the cores into them. Not sure if hes hand placing the brass in then shaking the cores in. We all the people that are coming up with great ideals I am sure someone has come up with a good way of getting the cores in the brass. Out of all the steps of making bullets this for me is the worst part of the process. So lets share some ideals or pics.

[nhrifle]

Got any kids???

[BT Sniper]

Yes it has been done and you are absolutly correct in the time it takes to simply put the lead core in the jackets.

I have seen the product you are looking for. It does exactly what one wishes, pore jackets and they magicaly fall into little slots like the ammo trays, then dump a bunch of cores on top and they magicaly fall into the jackets. You are left with 100-200 jacketts with cores inside all lined up and ready to grab and seat the core.

You can see a pic of these trays in this link, matter of fact if one wants to know how to make match grade bullets and what it takes, this guy does it!

http://www.precisionballisticsllc.co..._My_Bulle.html


The magical trays you seek are not cheap though. The last ones I saw offered way back when where over $200!!! might have been closer to $300. Wait.... found the old thread... back in 07 the ones I saw where $375!! held 200 jackets.

I have been thinking for more then a year now to have some of these handy tools made. I still am looking into it!

BT

[BT Sniper]

Kids Yep that is the second option. A lot more expenive though

[supe47]

While awaiting the remainder of my dies from BT I've had time to ponder this situation. I too was inspired by the site in BT's reply and I came up with these. First, the jacket/core production aid beta model. I used two pieces of 1/2" plywood, drilled a few holes in them and countersunk the top piece just enough to allow the heavy end of the jacket to fall in. It's a balance thing you have to play with, open end will slide across but the closed end will fall in. A handful of derimmed brass into box, shake until all holes are full, remove excess. Cores, the same thing. Remove upper piece of plywood and VIOLA,105 jackets and core united, standing at attention and just begging to be seated.


This worked so well I next tackled the dilemma of case stamp separation. This time I used 3 pieces of 1/2" plywood. The bottom 2 allow the case to fall in rim down. I place the third piece on top first two and flip it over, remove top 2 pieces and low and behold, there stands 225 cases head stamp up waiting for sorting.

Both work great. It did take a lot of experimentation with drill sizes and an extreme amount of drill press handle pulling to achieve these homely production aids but the effort was worthwhile. First test of the case sorting block tonight, 3000 cases sorted in a couple hours while watching TV. The jacket/core uniter was pretty straight forward but the case separator block was a bit trickier. HINT: a 45 degree countersink is not extreme enough, angle needs to be steeper. I used a stepped hole to increase angle. The key to the whole thing was making the holes just wide enough and the angle steep enough to allow the heavy end to tip in but the open end to bridge the hole. Have fun.
Supe
PS Total cost.....a couple of bucks for both production aids. But there was a bunch of head scratchin' and handle pulling.

[BT Sniper]

YEP! Thats perfect! A lot of pulling on a handel of a drill press but should be worth it.

Any pics with the cases and cores in it?

Nice work!

BT

[clodhopper]

What species of wood did you use? Just sitting her thinking maple or birch. Then again plexiglass looks good too.

[dbosman]

For this type of wood working, something like ApplePly works great! Thin veneers with no voids. Some lumber suppliers stock it for cabinet and furniture makers. Others will order it at about double what you'd pay elsewhere.
Normally it comes in 60" x 60" sheets.

This site sells smaller sizes.
http://www.buyappleply.com/

[GerryM]

BY the time you place all of the jackets in the loading block , then the lead cores in the other loading block
you will have spent a bit of time. Then when your done you have a loading block full of hulls ready to go.
The real stumbling block is how close they are to each other.
I hope you have small hands to get them out.
Ive seen these sets go for quite a bit of money.
I guess it just depends on how fast you want to make bullets
Sorry to be negative but I tried it and it works butt...... not as well as one might think.

[Lizard333]

I get my wife to do it. My six year old is being groomed for the job. It defiantly sucks.

[supe47]

Still laughing. No kids and a landlady that says " is no my yob". Blocks were a must for me. Tiny bullets, big old knarlie fingers and arthritis dictated the production aids. While a pretty piece of wood is desirable, I went for CHEAP. When making prototypes material loss is expected. If I had a CNC I'd make the next one out of plexiglass. Seeins I don't, these cheap plywood models are going to have to do. I'm sure there is someone out there with machinery more advanced than a drill press that will make blocks prettier and more precise than these. I made these just to see if I could.
Brian, I'll post some pics (smaller) later on today. "When you stop learning you are dying." Agreed!
Supe

[RP]

Man I got to say that is some fine drill press work. I have tried making my own loading blocks out of wood and have to say somewhere down the line I get a hole off center. I would think the guys making molds or something like that could punch out some trays at a price that would not break the bank. I really like the tapper part I can see how that would help out a lot. I know the holes do not have to be perfect but my OCD on that kind of thing always kicks in. Thanks for sharing and as far as kids I am working on my grandkids now but she gets tired fast 4 year old and its not fun lol.

[supe47]

Opps, sorry Brian. All my experimental cores (swaged to 45 grains) have unfortunately been recycled back into melting pot so pics of jackets with cores inserted are not available at this time. I made the 45 grain cores to get the "fall into the hole" balance point just right. I haven't tried the block with heavier cores so it may not work as well as with the 45 grainers. The block has holes drilled 1/2" center to center and it's not hard to grab the jacket/core even with my fumbly fingers.
GerryM- Agreed, placing jackets one at a time into block and doing the same with core would be time prohibitive not to mention a pain in the posterior, ergo the funnel on the top. The block sits snugly in a box to keep the cups and cores from spilling off the side as I shake and jiggle until most of the holes are filled. I do hand seat the few remaining holes the shaking did not fill. Jackets first until all holes are full, cores next, remove top piece of plywood that has the funnel part and they end up like this, only with cores inside and ready to swage. Sorry I didn't have cores to show in this pic. "Sorry to be negative but I tried it and it works butt...... not as well as one might think." Mine works for me. YRMV

Supe

[Lizard333]

I use the plastic case that my CCI 22LR bullets came in. I don't fill every hole because I have fat fingers. I put a spacer under top plate to get the jackets up higher.

[BT Sniper]

They sure look good all lined up there supe! Keeps them clean if anything! Someday I'll attempt one or contact someone with a CNC mill.

BT

[supe47]

A CNC mill is the way to go. Trying to keep all them holes lined up is a PITA. The only reason I had to drill the holes so many times is I didn't want to make 'em to big and ruin the whole project. I started small and increased the size of the holes 1/64th at a time. If I do it again I know what size to start with. Drill holes once and chamfer, done. Brian, I know you understand what trial and error is. At least my working media was cheap plywood, not costly steel. And, my mistakes can be ground up and used as flux for the casting pot.

[coleman]

Supe, Great job on drilling the holes.
Coleman

[supe47]

Holes be holes. Doesn't matter if they're not aesthetically pleasing as long as upper plate holes line up with lower plate holes. Locater pins and holes positioned first solved that problem. I knew them bamboo skewers would come in handy someday. KISS and field expediency solves a lot of problems.

[alfloyd]

supe47:
What size did you drill the holes, if I try to make one for myself?

Thanks
Lafaun

[Utah Shooter]

^^^^^^ Who is this guy up here? Nice to see you are still at least making it to the cpu once in a while ALF.

I have seen these blocks before. I thought that someone already manufacturers some nice plastic ones.

I know.... I know..... Don't shoot me just because they are not home made.

Here is a design for some that I can find.

http://bryantcustom.com/images/Carraway1.jpg

http://bryantcustom.com/images/Carraway2.jpg