Steve,
The bandwidth here on the project won't let me see the pictures so I'll have to get a look at them tomorrow when I get home from my hitch. I have looked many times at the Walnut Hill presses but have never elected to spend the money. My dies are for a regular reloading press.
I've never played with anything heavier than 55 grains with my dies. I have turned out a number of 40 grain bullets with 22 short jackets for a friend's 22 Hornet. He liked them and so did his Hornet. The ground squirrels not so much.
I keep toying with the idea of getting a lead tip pointing die to go with my set. That would allow me a little wider selection. I don't have anywhere near your stock of jackets, maybe 25,000 total, About 10,000 copper cased and the rest standard brass 22LR.
I started out using lead wire cores but have since come up with a core mold. Have you ever ever tried wheel weight cores and if so have you ever noticed any difference in performance over plain lead?
Mart
Walnut Hill presses would be my choice if I was starting. They are better built and stronger than the S Press (that replaced the Series II). They are also cheaper. A lot cheaper! The Walnut Hill press is $450. The S Press is $740! A $290 difference. . You can buy two dies of a three die set with the savings.
I went with the bullet presses because I wrestled with a Rockchucker years ago. It was too physically demanding. The WH press is effortless.
I ended up getting a jacket trim die when I couldn't get 22 short cases. That solved the supply and demand problem for my Hornet.
WW lead is too hard. The hardness is about 8 or 9 BHN, which is too much for either the Corbin or RCE dies. I read somewhere that 5 BHN is about max for the small bullet presses. I just increased the thickness of the jacket and use pure lead.
Heavy for calibre bullets moving at moderate velocities hit and mushroom properly without the need of unusual bullet points or harder lead IMO. I figured it works with my cast bullets - heavy and slow - so it should work with jacketed as well. I've recovered three or four of my 200 grainers and they lost about 30-40% of their weight. This is from the 303 British. I've shot deer from a 308 and 30-06, but they were pass throughs.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/AP39Jhm.jpg)
