Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada A brief explanation of how bullets are made - with pix -- Pt. 1

I have divided this into two posts. There are lot of pictures. This is where it happens. This bench has three bullet presses. Two are RCECo Walnut Hill presses - Richard Corbin. The one on the left is a Corbin Series II press. (Dave Corbin)



All my bullets have flat bases and protected points. They are faster to produce and do not require anything fancy, like polymer tips. I can add them, but takes more time and isn't really required.

This picture shows a wooden block with 200 holes for 200 bullets. I have 100 empty jackets on the tray and a bag of degreased cores on the right. You can see the white bucket and lead wire in the background. The bucket holds 2600 .705 inch J4 jackets inside. The price is $210 USD for a bucket. The lead cores for these bullets were cut from the lead wire in the background. The lead wire comes coiled up in plastic buckets. I pull it out and cut approx. 20 inches of wire, roll it flat and cut it into cores. The raw cores are put into a core forming die (not shown) and squeezed to 50.0 grain cores. They are degreased, allowed to air dry and are then ready to use.



Here are the 100 jackets with the cores inserted. The open end will become the tip of the bullet. Before they are squeezed into bullets, the approximate diameter of the jackets is .222 inches.



Here are the four steps of the actual bullet making process. The first two are reversed. From left, the core after seating. The core ready to be seated. The bullet after it has been formed, but with a ragged bit of lead at the tip. And finally, the lead tip smoothed over. There is some bullet making lube on each, but it can be wiped off, or swirled in Varsol.

I will say here that bullet making lube is much better for cartridge reloading than standard case lube. It is also much cheaper. 16 oz is about $24.



The first step is to seat the cores using the bullet die. I dab a little bullet maker's lube on my fingers and roll the jacket in it.The core is seated and the expanded diameter is approx. .2235. The point forming operation will squeeze it out to .224.

Like a reloading press, I pull the arm down full travel to seat the core. A punch applies the pressure. The punches are different diameters for the different jacket types (jackets made from 22LR cases are thinner, so the punch must be a tad larger) As well, core weight can be a factor. Much depends on how deeply the punch is pushed into the core.



The seated core comes out at almost the right diameter - .2235 inches. The point forming operation (next) will squeeze it out the rest of the way.

xxx

Very interesting !

Thanks. It's useful and fun to do.

interesting

When seating the core, do you wait a second or two before lifting the handle to give the lead time to flow completely? I've always wondered about slight variations in factory bullets diameter that I assume are stamped out as fast as possible.

I know it's a weird question but your the only one I know "making their own".

Not weird at all! I don't wait before raising the handle, and I do not pull the handle down as quickly as possible. There's no need. There is a rhythm you get into, and keeping in that groove results in more consistency. Mass produced bullets can have QC issues. Most are discovered before they end up in the box, but culling the bad ones isn't 100%. WRT assembling the bullets, small air pockets, cores that are a little light, etc., do manage to slip past the QC machines and humans on occasion. This does not happen with mine, as they are done in small batches by hand.

The dies are adjusted so that when the handle reaches full travel, the core is seated and expands to approx. .2235. Because lead is a dense, malleable material, it is easily squeezed into the die, and the weight is very uniform coming out. The weight doesn't vary for me by more than 0.3 grain. The weight of the J4 jackets is very uniform. Put the two together, and the result is very close.

Jackets made from 22LR cases have a wider weight spread, but usually, no more than .5 of a grain.

My personal belief is that bullets should be grouped by no more than 0.5 percent of the avg weight. For example, 0.5 percent of a a 60 grain bullet is 0.3 of a grain. I group RF jacketed bullets together with no more than a 0.3 of a grain spread. For example, this box of 100 ranged from 59.8 to 60.1 grains. I sort them according to their weights. I put a piece of paper with each box. Later, when it's time to load them up, powder recipe doesn't change, but bullet weights are close to each other.

Right on and legal in Canada. That may change in the future. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/handmade-ammunition-legal-in-canada-1.773945

It won't, but if you wish to start a legal discussion, start a new thread. This thread is about making bullets. It is not a legal or political one.

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Bumped to cover the spam.

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How well do these bullets shoot and do you use them on varmints and such?

They shoot the same as most commercial bullets. That is, .5 to .75 inches @100 yd from my rifles. When you make jackets from 22 LR cases, they aren't as consistent as Sierras or J4s.

This group is 3/4 of an inch with 60 gr. home made bullets. Using RF cases for jackets means thinner sidewalls, and the bullet length is a bit shorter than commercial. Typically, RF jackets are .010 inches thick.

Darn good shooting with any bullet,Steve!

Thank you Steve!

Thanks.