.22 lr cases into bullets ?

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dmrodco

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Has anyone done this ? the stuff from corbin is 599 I can by alot of bullets for that. Is is worth the effort and trouble ? discuss .....
 
Corbin is the guy who started making the varmint bullets out of old 22 LR cases or copper tubing and lead wire. He makes all sizes of dies for swaging jacketed bullets. I talked quite a bit to him before and he seems to be an honest man. If I was shooting a lot of ammunition, I might take up swaging and he would be the man to see for that. It will take you a good number of bullets to get your $600 back.
 
there's a tacked thread at ar15.com, I believe in the reloading forum, about this. A guy posted pics and a write up using that equipment. He says he's had good results with it. But, yeah, fair amount of work IMO for not a whole lot of gain. I suppose like anything, the key is if you enjoy it, the cost savings would be moot or a bonus.
 
I wondered the same thing since 22 empties are free and it sounded like a way to save money. But a 1000 top quality 22 bullets is still only $140 or so, so even discounting your time it would many thousands of rounds to break even. Maybe if you just had to have a 48 grain round nose bullet or some such it could be interesting, but I would cast plinking bullets first if I was only trying to save dollars.
 
kind of what I was thinking. you might get lucky and be able to sell some of this stuff it they are of good enough quality. still woudl be some time before it would pay for the kit. thanks to all for the responses
 
Corbin is a latecomer.

Vernon Speer got started making bullet jackets out of .22 rimfire cases in WW II when normal components were all going to the Army.
 
I thought the Rock Chuck Bullet Swage preceeded WW2 by a bit.

But my memory isn't what it once was. Huntington or Speer, which came later?
 
I'm rather disappointed that no one has fessed up to being old enough to remember if RCBS or Speer had the first ad. I know I'm not able to do so. <cough>

Nevertheless, as to the point of the OP: my guess is "no".

Both RCBS and Speer abandoned the market.

Although there's a lot of whining right now over ammo prices and availability, my personal conjecture is that it'll have to get a good deal worse before Corbin's sales pull RCBS and Speer (or anybody else) into the market.

Still might be fun though. I don't shoot enough rimfire to entertain the prospect.
 
I have been making bullets from .22LR cases with a set of Corbin dies since the early 1970s...

The die set works great (it was cheaper in price way back then)...

And Dave Corbin is a great guy.

One 'secret' to making accurate bullets with the dies is to segregate your .22LR fired cases (jackets) into like lots and to anneal them in a consistent manner.

The bullets that I usually turn out are 53 grain HPs.

Forrest
 
Does anyone know of someone selling a used kit ? I would like to try this but 6 bills is a little out of my try it you'll like it range.
 
The secret to good accuracy is good jackets. Using .22rf as jackets made sense in the war years when bullets were almost impossible to obtain but not now. The big boys DO produce quality jackets, much more consistant than .22rf cases. And, as you note, even making your own bullets is not cheap so it will take a LONG time to break even. The chances of selling any in quanity is pretty slim, IMHO.

Making your own jacketed bullets would be more of an interesting hobby than a solution to a problem.
 
rimfirecentral.com

The library of .22. Helped me develop a great CZ 452/Scope combo. They'll know.
 
There is a MUCH LESS expensive alternative to Corbin's $600 dies - www.bulletswage.com Now, let me admit that I know NOTHING about them or their products other than what I have read.

Interestingly, Corbin's dies have cost $600 for at least twnety years, that I know of. A former supervisor bought a set back in '87, and it sure seems like that's what they cost back then.
 
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