Making free 224 bullets with fired 22 cases
I've built the equipment to make 224 bullets from fired .22 cases for over 40 years now, hundreds of thousands of them in use world wide. There are drawbacks and benefits. I try to detail these clearly on my website at
www.corbins.com, but here are some highlights:
Benefits:
1. Unlimited supply of free bullets if you use scrap lead.
2. Can be extremely accurate if...
(a) You take reasonable care in preparation and forming them
(b) You sort by headstamp and, if possible, the gun in which they were fired
(c) You clean and anneal them properly (not hard, just take some attention)
(d) You follow guidelines for weight range and velocity range
3. Recycles material that would otherwise just be a waste
4. Lets you experiment with designs and constructions not usually found
5. Lets you make any weight you want within the range of the jacket
(this is usually in the 35 to 60 grain range for a .22 LR; weights lighter than about 50 grains typically use a low-density filler such as our polymer balls, or just plain corn starch which turns to hard white plastic under swaging pressure)
6. Fun if you are a person who enjoys experimenting and handloading as much as shooting....(just more work if you are not, of course)
7. Extremely easy on the bore because the jackets are only 0.012 inches thick and therefore engrave quite easily, and because they are a 30% zinc alloy which tends to lower their coefficient of friction (they are also "slick" because of the drawing process which burnishes their surface)
But there are also drawbacks:
1. Being only .012 inch thick, you can't drive them as fast as a commercial jacket like our J-22-705 Versatile Benchrest, the J-4 Benchrest, or the Sierra jackets. Top velocity depends on twist and rifling sharpness but generally is around 3,200 or so.
2. You do have to make them... That is usually three steps...
(a) gather and wash them in hot soapy water to which a little lemon juice or vinegar has been added (helps pickle and clean the oxides off the cases), then rinse in hot water to get rid of the soap and get them to dry out fast.
(b) sort out the ones that have bad firing pin tears or really deep indents. This is where firing them in your own gun helps, since they will all have the same expansion and firing pin dent size...but it isn't critical.
(c) push them through the RFJM-22R or 22S drawing die. That's it.
I've done it for decades, so I can make around 1100-1200 jackets an hour. Most people get closer to 800-900 until they develop a good technique. There are tricks in setting up the die at the right point, etc., which make a HUGE difference in speed and effort... a small adjustment in die position makes a big difference in effort and results. Once you get it right, it is easy. But some few folks never get it right, unfortunately, and of course those would typically be the most vocal. Back in about 1975 a famous gun writer didn't realize that you use the end of the stroke to generate the power to unfold the rim, not the middle, and he broke his reloading bench trying to throw all his weight on the handle! (One phone call or reading the instructions would have prevented that.)
3. The equipment to make your own jackets isn't particularly expensive compared to most other high precision tools (about $179 at this time) but the complete package, done up right, with powerful swaging press and benchrest quality swaging die set, can cost $1350 or so. Not for the casual plinker unless he also wants to sell some bullets and generate some income from it, in other words. I'm the first person to tell you not to buy my gear if you can't justify the cost by the number of bullets you will use over time.
There is one other factor that is a "benefit" if you look at it that way: political pressures could make bullets harder to get, and certainly we've just seen how panic buying and fear of what might happen already has done that. If you can make your own from materials that are left on the ground by the millions, that's just one less worry you have about the future of your own shooting... and the main reason I'm still doing this after 40 years. It helps all shooters if some can provide supplies for everyone in lieu of conventional sources. Not enough people realize, yet, all the things they CAN do if they just knew about it...making bullets out of copper water tubing, fired shotgun primers, throw-away 9mm cases that are drawn to make fair (not great) 308 jackets, etc. The guns CAN be kept shooting by people who know how to make bullets at home.
The process of making your own jackets isn't difficult but you must pay attention to the proper range of weights, use the right size (diameter) of seating punch for the thin wall jacket, and not load the bullet so it comes apart in flight! If you do any of those things incorrectly, you get poor results.
Bottom line:
For unlimited supply, free or virtually free bullets, and performance at least as good as most factory bullets (better if you tune the bullet weight to match your gun and load) within the limits of their velocity and weight, the rimfire jacket is hard to beat. But...only for someone who has reasonable mechanical understanding and doesn't believe (a) the answer to all problems is a bigger hammer or (b) instructions are just another man's opinion!
