1600 223rem blammo bullets

I typically swage +/- 3000 bullets a year. Only did 1600 this year, they'll burn 2/3rd's of an 8# jug of h335 I have laying around. The rest of the h335 will be burned up in a 308w and cast bullets. Have to cut back on the primer consumption but I don't want to limit my range play either.



I make these from 22lr cases and free range lead for cores. They're a 58gr hp that will easily do moa in a cheap savage axis bolt gun and 2 moa in the m4's. Actually it doesn't matter what I feed the m4's, they are consistently in the +/- 2 moa range.

I'm just glad that I have the ability to make my own bullets for every caliber of centerfire firearms that I own.

The pencil was there simply for scale. Those bullets fill a 1# coffee can.

I used to swage jacketed bullets for the 30cal's, 38/357's, 9mm's, 44spl/mags, 45acp's. I stick with cast bullets for those calibers anymore selling off a couple swaging presses and a pile of swaging dies. I still keep a herter's 9-ton swaging press around & use to nose size 30cal cast bullets.

I use a rcbs press to swage those 22cal jacketed bullets. Specifically the rs series rock chucker press, it's stronger then the standard rock chucker presses. Doesn't have the slot for the priming arm.

I'm using standard corbin swaging dies right now. Ran across a deluxe set dirt cheap. They have the standard 7/8-14 threads. It doesn't take much force to swage a 22cal bullet. These setups do extremely well with these small pills. I've make my own swaging die sets for the .224" bullets in the past selling several sets to fund other projects. I still use my own jacket makers, they work better then the corbin die.

Swaging jacketed bullets take a little time & I have nothing but time during the winter months living in ne ohio. There are easy ways to make these bullets but they will not be as accurate. Or the longer/harder way to make them produces bullets that will consistently do moa or better.

There are a lot of different steps taken to make these bullets.

The jackets:
The 22lr cases are easy enough to come by. I either save my own or simply grab the range bucket after a 22lr benchrest shoot. The cases need to soaked over night to loosen the priming compound in them that has ground glass in it. I soak them overnight in a citric acid/dawn solution then wet tumble them (no pins) for an hour. Then rinse them and let them dry. The run them thru the re-rim die forming the jacket.

The lead cores:
They can be cut from lead wire or cast. I have a 8-cavity core casting mold that makes a pile of cores in a hurry. There is a core squirt die that makes the cores uniform/even weight. You should run the cores that are cut from wire in the squirt die. The cast cores really don't need to be uniformed unless you want to make match grade bullets. +/- 2/10th's a grain really doesn't matter if your using mixed mfg's for your 22lr cases/jackets. The cores should be soft or pure lead. I use pure lead from the berm (musket balls) and add 1% tin for fill out.

Seating the cores:
The 22lr jackets are lubed at this point and a core inserted into it. Then everything is ran up into a core seating die. This smashes the core down into the 22lr jacket increasing the diameter of the jacket from .222" to .223" making a tight fit.

Forming the bullet:
After the core is seated/case expanded it is ran up into a nose forming die. The forms the shape of the nose of the bullet. Along with expanding the body of the bullet to .224" and squaring the base of the bullet to the bullets body.

There are several steps involved in making these bullets.

Saving a step or 2:
I like to use my own jacket making die for 2 reasons. My jackets come out .223" instead of the corbin's .222" My jackets are +/- 2/1000th's shorter but thicker and fatter. Federal brass is a little thicker them other 22lr brass and tends to stick to th pin on the corbin jacket making die. I have no issues with federal brass with my own home made jacket making die.

No need to use the squirt die with my cast cores.

I can simply make the jacket, lube the jacket, toss a core in and run everything up in the point forming die and make a bullet. This is because my 22lr jackets are .223". They will not be as accurate as the core seated bullets loosing +/- 1/2" @ 100yds. But I can crank out +/- 3000 of these in a day after the jackets are made.

Anyway I'm getting +/- .750" 5-shot groups with these bullets in a cheap savage axis using mixed nato rage brass. Along with +/- 2" groups @ 100yds with beater m4's.

Akula69 said:

Hmmm. The Corbin 'Free' .223 bullet kit is $832.00 retail. It will fit a single stage RCBS type press, however.

Click to expand...

Yes but that kit doesn't include the core swage die, another $218. The deluxe kit that I bought had the standard kit and the extra $218 core swage die (bleed die) along with a couple 1000 cores and jackets.

These kits are not cheap but at the end of the day they pay for themselves in 2 ways.
1. I have an endless supply of bullets to use/shoot that cost me nothing.
2. When I'm done with the swaging die set I will sell it for more then I paid for it. Basically I'm getting paid to use them.

Won't be taking any pictures until next year when I make another pile of bullets.

This is what 15# of cast 47gr .185" in diameter cores look like. Cast from a 8-cavity mold, they are in +/- .2gr in weight.


I decided to start swaging these 22cal jacketed bullets to do testing with basic equipment. I wanted to use free 22lr jackets, free lead, free range brass pick=ups and a standard out of the box rifle and see how hard it was to produce moa groups/accuracy with all the free pieces and parts.

Ended up buying a heavy bbl's savage axis that was on sale to use as a test bed for the bullets I made. The rifle cost $318 out the door with tax. I sent in the $50 rebate and sold the scope that came with the rifle for another $50. At the end of the day I had $218 invested in a NIB rifle to test these bullets with. I never did anything to the rifle other them clean the bbl, reset the torques on the action and sight the scope in.

I did sort the free range brass into 2 groups, nato and commercial. I chose bl-c2 for a powder simply because +/- 25.5gr of bl-c2 and several different 55gr bullets have produced moa accuracy in a bunch of different firearms chambered in 223REM/5.56 nato.

The 1st outing:
Took the rifle out and zero'd it @ 100yds using junk bullets I made fine tuning the swaging dies. I put this target up and did a final sighting in and then shot 5-shot ladder test groups.


The 25.5gr load did what it was supposed to do. A close-up of that group.


Well that was fun, now what do you want to do??? I had no idea it would be that easy to get moa groups using free 22lr cases, free lead, free mixed brass and a cheap rifle. That 25.5gr load/group is easily repeated and will do +/- .750" with brass from the lot in that cheap rifle.

Anyway there is some work involved in making these bullets. There is also $$$ involved. Normally 55gr .224 bullets can be had cheap, that's why I never bothered swaging them. Used to buy the hornady 55gr sp's in 6,000 bullet lots for +/- $.06 apiece. Just got tired of the shortages and started swaging my own in 2014 and never looked back. I typically make 3000+ bullets a year and only did 1600 this year. That is just shy of 20,000 bullets so far or $1200 worth of bullets @ $.06 apiece. I'll have another 6 or 7 years of bullets with these swaging dies making another +/- 20,000 bullets before I sell them. By then they should easily sell for $1000+