Using .22LR Cases to make your own jacketed .223 bullets

[plumber]

Duke, I assumed ( yeah I know about assumptions ) that people would be rinsing thouroughly after cleaning. I've cleaned buckets full of brass with no issue months later. If you don't rinse, what Duke desribed will happen very quickly.
When I clean .22LR brass, I use the low foam, rinse, 50/50 water/white vinigar, rinse, water/1 tbsp baking soda, rinse, boil, dry. Severe overkill, but it sure beats replacing $200 dies and punches and waiting over a year for them.

 

[EddieCoyle]

When I clean .22LR brass, I use the low foam, rinse, 50/50 water/white vinigar, rinse, water/1 tbsp baking soda, rinse, boil, dry. Severe overkill, but it sure beats replacing $200 dies and punches and waiting over a year for them.

Why are you cleaning .22LR brass? Are you making your own bullet jackets?

 

[plumber]

Why are you cleaning .22LR brass? Are you making your own bullet jackets?

Yes, I make bullet jackets out of .22LR brass. They make a cheap (read free) projectile for .223 or any thing else you would need a .224 bullet for. You can use them to make 6mm as well. They need to be cleaned inside and out to bare shiney brass. The priming compound is very abrassive, and will eat the dies and punches. Also if there is leftovers inside the new jacket, it will be a flyer because it won't be balanced.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Yes, I make bullet jackets out of .22LR brass. They make a cheap (read free) projectile for .223 or any thing else you would need a .224 bullet for. You can use them to make 6mm as well. They need to be cleaned inside and out to bare shiney brass. The priming compound is very abrassive, and will eat the dies and punches. Also if there is leftovers inside the new jacket, it will be a flyer because it won't be balanced.

NICE!!!

Not to hijack the thread, but how much do they weigh, and how do they shoot?

 

[plumber]

EC, I can make them anywhere from 30-80 grains. The beauty of swaging is you can make what you want. Lighter bullets work better using .22 shorts up to 40 grain, the LR makes the best from 40-65, and above 65 use .22mag. I make a open tip flat base, but can make boat tail with my dies if I add a step. With another die I can make a lead tip.
As far as how they shoot, well they shoot great! As long as you keep them below 3000fps. They are a great varmint round because they explode when they hit. They are great paper punchers as well, sub MOA.
When I first got into it I was concerned about having wierd brass fouling, but my barrels come nice and clean with a little Kroil.

 

[R1ch]

EC, I can make them anywhere from 30-80 grains. The beauty of swaging is you can make what you want. Lighter bullets work better using .22 shorts up to 40 grain, the LR makes the best from 40-65, and above 65 use .22mag. I make a open tip flat base, but can make boat tail with my dies if I add a step. With another die I can make a lead tip.
As far as how they shoot, well they shoot great! As long as you keep them below 3000fps. They are a great varmint round because they explode when they hit. They are great paper punchers as well, sub MOA.
When I first got into it I was concerned about having wierd brass fouling, but my barrels come nice and clean with a little Kroil.

This sounds pretty cool.. how about starting a separate thread on this (I never knew it could be done) and give us all the details, pictures... how to's, etc!

 

[EddieCoyle]

This sounds pretty cool.. how about starting a separate thread on this (I never knew it could be done) and give us all the details, pictures... how to's, etc!

Good idea. I broke this out of the 'Primer Pocket' thread.

Hey Plumber,

What are you using for lead? Do you cast your own slugs or are you cutting lead wire?

 

[plumber]

Right now I'm casting my own cores. Cutting lead wire is much quicker and easier. To use a 55 grain for an example, the "jacket" weighs 10 grains, so you need a 45 grain core. So if you were using lead wire, you would get 1555 cores per spool, at $35 per spool that's not bad, $32.50 if you buy 4 spools. That works out to about $20 per 1000 for 55 grain bullets. However, having an unlimited supply of lead is a occupational fringe benefit, I'm casting my own from pure lead so all my .224 bullets are free. For those of you who cast allready, this is a good use of the stick on wheelweights. The core mold I use is a bit of a PITA to use but once in the swing of things, I can cast about 1000 per hour. The one thing that's nice is the mold is adjustable so I can change the weight of the core.

When I get back to the workshop, I'll get some pics up and hopefully I can have my wife help make a video.

 

[bpm990d]

Very interesting. Looking forward to reading more.

B

 

[center442]

plumber, looking forward to your posts. I have read about doing this, but have never actually tried it. I'll hold off on any specific questions about the equipment and process until you follow up.

EC, thanks for breaking this out into a separate thread.

 

[Marcus5aurelius]

This is great info, thanks for sharing. All the stuff you can do with reloading never ceases to amaze me

 

[coastie]

My buddy and I did this a few years ago. He had bought the stuff back in the 80s. We also cast our cores. Lots of fun casting little cores. We found that we could only use certain .22 casings depending on the type of firing pin. Some of the cases would tear when we formed them into jackets. We also sorted the cases by manufacturer as some had different weights. The bullets worked well but it was a lot of work to make them. Cast the cores, lube the cores, size the cores, sort the .22 cases, lube the jackets form the jackets, wash and dry the cores and the jackets to get the lube off, press the cores into the jackets, form the bullet. I probably forgot a few steps as I am going from memory. We bought a lot of pulldowns to use instead. I dont think it is cost effective unless you have lots of time or bullets are flat out unavailable. That said it was an interesting and fun experiment and if I come across any of the equipment cheap I would buy it just to have.

 

[Dick]

There was a thread on this recently over at THR. The OP asks about making bullet jackets from spent .22 brass, and after a few replies comes a post (his first on THR) from DR Corbin himself! Nothing like getting the info direct from the horse's mouth.

Good reading if you're interested in getting into doing this. You can find the thread here.

 

[plumber]

If you ever call Dave Corbin, don't do it if you need to go anywhere. The man will talk your ear off!! But not in a bad way, the man is a wealth of knowledge. Much can be learned from a short conversation with him. When I called to order, he talked me out of buying stuff.

 

[BIG GUN]

I used to make 87G 25cal bullets using 22lr brass and 22thru 45 cal half jacket bullets using Herters dies. All using lead wire. I still have spools of wire, the dies, and core cutting tools along with the press and boxes of copper cups. I found casting was faster so kinda gave it up.
If you see me at the Harvard club, I carry a bag of samples in my car.

 

[Jasper]

i look forward to your video.


swaging my own .223 bullets has been tempting (especially since i could theoretically cut my own meplat, and as long as weight/dimensions were good, i could (in theory) make my own match bullets for NRA Highpower. the ONLY thing that's kept me from getting into it so far is the initial investment for the swaging dies ($$$$ from what ive found), the press/forces required, and the actual effort involved. i may send you a PM a bit later. perhaps a bribe or sorts to come check out your gear.

 

[plumber]

Swaging is quite a bit of work, so if you are the type that doesn't enjoy reloading, it probably isn't for you. I enjoy it, my next swaging project is .30 cal using copper tube for the jackets. It's going to be a while for me to save the coin for that. Hopefully I'll get some pics/vids up soon, but with a newborn, my project time is very limited for the moment. There are a couple of decent videos on you tube, search 'bullet swaging' ALGUNJUNKIE has the same setup as I do, and AMMOSMITH has the reloading press design I started out with.

 

[JRyan]

Swaging is quite a bit of work, so if you are the type that doesn't enjoy reloading, it probably isn't for you. I enjoy it, my next swaging project is .30 cal using copper tube for the jackets. It's going to be a while for me to save the coin for that. Hopefully I'll get some pics/vids up soon, but with a newborn, my project time is very limited for the moment. There are a couple of decent videos on you tube, search 'bullet swaging' ALGUNJUNKIE has the same setup as I do, and AMMOSMITH has the reloading press design I started out with.

Cool, thanks.

 

[DukeInFlorida]

I predict

I predict that Bob_J will be getting some of this gear soon.

 

[WILDCATT]

swaging

what comes around comes around again.SPEER started swaging 22 cases during WW2 and then morfed into a giant that it is now.most think this is something new.even Herter had presses and dies.their presses were probably C&H made.VICKERY? metal smithing has a press that can be made and dies.
I had one but the press was lost but I still have the dies.

 

[plumber]

Photos of jackets

 

[Jamie]

That is awesome! I'm going to go hide my wallet from myself.

 

[plumber]

more photos

Here are some more photos, I forgot to take photos of the annealing and core swage process.

freshly cast cores

PITA use core mold

jacket and swaged core ( I forgot to take pics of the core swage step )

seating the core

seated core

seated core

into the point form die

ther it goes

out comes a bullet

finished product

 

[Dan S]

You need to get a camera with macro focusing capabilities.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

I understand the "last ditch" potential of this whole thing, and God Bless anyone who has the time, money and energy to sink into such an effort, but what if any practicality does it really have for the average shooter?

Understand, I'm not knocking the effort involved here, its just that the quality of bullets do not appear to be that great and looking at the pictures, there are visible gross anomalies in the bullet shapes. These can't be anywhere near accurate at other than close range.

So, why not just stock up on quality factory bullets when they are around?

 

[plumber]

The pictures really do no justice, these were taken with my cell phone camera. They are all identical, in size and all weigh exactly 62.0 grains. It is very time consuming to de rim the brass into jackets, the whole process goes quite quick when using commercial jackets and lead wire. For me they are fungo make and shoot sub moa. I use these to shoot small game and coyotes. They are quite explosive.

 

[DukeInFlorida]

Casting lead bullets isn't just about CHEAP. In most cases, it's about AVAILABILITY. The ability to put some time in, and have bullets when you want them. Bullets that are as accurate as factory bullets. And, cheap as hell.

Like I tell my reloading students:

• If you don't have much money, and have lots of time, buy a single station press
• If you have a bigger budget, and less time, buy a turret press
• If you have no time, and a big budget, then go for the good progressive.

Same thing with bullets:

• If you have little money, but want to shoot a lot, and have the time available, make your own bullets
• If you have a bigger budget, and can get bullets whenever you want, buy factory.

Most of us on tighter budgets can't afford the more expensive presses or the factory bullets, so we compromise on the press, and make our own bullets.

Cast lead bullets and formed rifle rounds made from .22 LR brass certainly have a place for reloaders. Don't consider those types of parts to be lower quality, and not worthy of using, per se. Nothing like a good factory Hollow Point type defense FMJ bullet when stopping the zombies and bad guys at the mall.

But, for plinking, and general use, hand made bullets are great fun to make, cheap to make, and shoot as well as anything else you can buy.

I understand the "last ditch" potential of this whole thing, and God Bless anyone who has the time, money and energy to sink into such an effort, but what if any practicality does it really have for the average shooter?

Understand, I'm not knocking the effort involved here, its just that the quality of bullets do not appear to be that great and looking at the pictures, there are visible gross anomalies in the bullet shapes. These can't be anywhere near accurate at other than close range.

So, why not just stock up on quality factory bullets when they are around?

 

[Jose]

Awesome.

Now we need to figure out how to make our own smokless propellant and primers.

 

[JimGiven]

Like I tell my reloading students:

• If you don't have much money, and have lots of time, buy a single station press
• If you have a bigger budget, and less time, buy a turret press
• If you have no time, and a big budget, then go for the good progressive.

Same thing with bullets:

• If you have little money, but want to shoot a lot, and have the time available, make your own bullets
• If you have a bigger budget, and can get bullets whenever you want, buy factory.

.

I like your thinking!!!

Jim

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

The pictures really do no justice, these were taken with my cell phone camera. They are all identical, in size and all weigh exactly 62.0 grains. It is very time consuming to de rim the brass into jackets, the whole process goes quite quick when using commercial jackets and lead wire. For me they are fungo make and shoot sub moa. I use these to shoot small game and coyotes. They are quite explosive.

Ok on the pictures. How many do you have to make to get a batch of 100matching bullets(within .5gr )?