50 Alaskan (.510 from 45 ACP)

[BT Sniper]

Customer wished to make some 500 grain bullets for his 50 Alaskan (.510 diameter). This is what I came up with for him.

A 500 grain bullet, this one a flat point, made with a 45 ACP for a jacket. Has a nose length of .550" and a meplat diameter of .390". Should make for an impressive bullet!

500 grain from 45acp on the left with a 600 grain from cut down BMG jacket on right.





Good shooting and swage on!

BT

[EDG]

What did you do to expand the .45 ACP head?

If I were solving that problem I might try drilling through the primer pocket.

Then anneal

Then push a tapered punch into it to expand the head and the walls at the same time.

[BT Sniper]

Interesting idea.....

I simply sized up the mouth of the case to .505 then in the process of seating the core it will swage up to diameter of core seat die, then final bullet diameter is reached in point form die. The 45ACP has a thinner web then most cases and it swages up easily as long as you fully anneal it.

BT

[fredj338]

Nice BT. If I ever get a 500, I might just get some dies from you. Should be pretty easy to get 350-400gr out of a 45acp case?? Though I am a pretty dedicated lead bullet shooter in revolvers.

[ohnomrbillk]

What's the overall length of that Bullet?

i might need a set of your dies now...

[BT Sniper]

The bullet made from 45ACP brass is 1.00" with the flat point.

BT

[ohnomrbillk]

The bullet made from 45ACP brass is 1.00" with the flat point.

BT

so the nose is .550" long?

it looks shorter in the picture to my inexperienced eye

[BT Sniper]

That is correct. 1.00" long, .510" wide and nose is .550"in length. Meplat is .390 in diameter.

BT

[Metrobluing]

Customer wished to make some 500 grain bullets for his 50 Alaskan (.510 diameter). This is what I came up with for him.

A 500 grain bullet, this one a flat point, made with a 45 ACP for a jacket. Has a nose length of .550" and a meplat diameter of .390". Should make for an impressive bullet!

500 grain from 45acp on the left with a 600 grain from cut down BMG jacket on right.





Good shooting and swage on!

BT

I know this is an old post but being new to this craft I was curious to what diameter punch is used to seat the core for these boolits using the 45acp brass.

[midnight]

I have been thinking of doing this for a long time. I hate to cut down my precious 50 BMG jackets. To answer your question, for the lead tip bullet the core seat punch would be a close fit into the bore of the core seat die since the punch never enters the mouth of the jacket.

Bob

[BT Sniper]

Yep. Midnight is correct.

If you where using a lighter core that needed to be seated in the jacket with the top of the lead lower then the mouth of case, simple math....

Diameter of bore of core seat die minus two times the wall thickness of the jacket.

.508" - (2 x .12") = .484" would be the largest you would want to go. I was just guessing on the wall thickness though.

[Metrobluing]

Having never done this before what I’m trying to figure out is if I’m going to need a separate punch/die to do this. Have access to a jacket making die set with an ID of .436. So would a seating punch for that diameter be acceptable to make those lovely 500gr lead tip boolits?

[Dirtjumper895]

What was the approx jacket length of the 600grain bullet? I'm guessing it's about 1.25".

[Metrobluing]

Sure did get quiet here.

[midnight]

To try to answer Metrobluing's question about his 0.436 ID jackets, the core seat punch dia must be very close to the ID of the jacket at the point where the top of the lead will be when the core is completely seated. As you can see, this is variable since most jacket walls are tapered so the deeper you seat the lead (a lighter bullet) the smaller the dia the punch needs to be. Your best bet will be to use a punch a couple thousanths smaller than your 0.436 ID and keep seating lighter and lighter cores until you get no lead leakage past the head of the punch. This is your core weight for that punch. A smaller punch will seat cores deeper for a lighter bullet and a larger punch will make a heavier bullet. The ability to make your own core seat punches is a distinct advantage here. With any small lathe they are easy to make. I make them by the dozens and keep a stock of partially made blanks on hand to make whatever dia is needed at the moment.

Bob

[Metrobluing]

To try to answer Metrobluing's question about his 0.436 ID jackets, the core seat punch dia must be very close to the ID of the jacket at the point where the top of the lead will be when the core is completely seated. As you can see, this is variable since most jacket walls are tapered so the deeper you seat the lead (a lighter bullet) the smaller the dia the punch needs to be. Your best bet will be to use a punch a couple thousanths smaller than your 0.436 ID and keep seating lighter and lighter cores until you get no lead leakage past the head of the punch. This is your core weight for that punch. A smaller punch will seat cores deeper for a lighter bullet and a larger punch will make a heavier bullet. The ability to make your own core seat punches is a distinct advantage here. With any small lathe they are easy to make. I make them by the dozens and keep a stock of partially made blanks on hand to make whatever dia is needed at the moment.

Bob

Thank you Midnight that certainly gives me a much clearer picture on what I need to make this work. Fabricating punches is a non-issue, because I own a lathe and know how to use it. It’s like with any project, getting started is the hardest part. I do appreciate your insight .

Jay

[JRLesan]

Did the 45 acp rim swage up to full diameter or just the web??? Can't tell from the picture.