What is pictured are .44 Magnum bullets made from .40 S&W cases. Those are 230 gr. .429" bullets, made with a 148 gr. wadcutter for a core. Since they are long for the weight, due to the base of the case being added to the weight of the bullet, and brass is lighter than lead, I use loading data for 240 gr. bullets, as the volume of the case is reduced slightly. I also make this same bullet using a 158 gr. .38 bullet for a core, which gives me a bullet closer to 240 gr. For that bullet, I use 265 gr. loading data, but have never been able to get over midrange loads using Longshot before I get sticky case extraction from my Model 629. As an aside, I found that primers do make a difference. With CCI primers the case stuck in the chambers, but the very same load with Winchester primers allowed the cases to drop out on their own. That's a subject for more experimentation later.
The process is labor intensive, and like I mentioned above, slow. I'll list the process in order:
1. The .40 S&W case has to be tumbled clean to remove any debris, etc.
2. The cases are then annealed completely, so they'll be dead soft. I do this in a ceramics kiln in batches of about 800 or so. In some calibers, including this one, the lead bullet cores are placed inside the cases prior to annealing, so it melts into the case. They are placed in stainless steel pans, case mouth up. I heat the kiln up to 1150 degrees F., which is a little high, but works well. Then I turn off the kiln and let it sit overnight with the lid closed, which seems to bond the cores to the jacket. In the morning, I open the kiln and remove the pans of bullets, which will still be about 250 degrees F., and let them cool.
3. After cooling, then I seat the cores in the core seating die. This ensures that all the bullets will be uniform and eliminates most jacket wrinkling when swaging.
4. The cases are then washed in a citric acid bath to remove the oxidation from the annealing process.
5. After the cases are dry, they are then run through a "notching die", which produces the folds in the nose, very similar to the Hornady XTP bullet. This die is purchased from Brian Thurner (BTSniper) for about $130.00, though I think the price may be different now.
6. Then lube is added. I place about 100 of them in a heavy duty ZipLoc bag and spray them down with Midway case lube, and then swish them around to make sure they're completely covered in lube.
7. Then each case/core is placed on the swaging die stem and run up into the die, which forms the bullet to it's final shape. In this case, I was making jacketed hollowpoint bullets, so that's the nose stem I used. The ram of the swaging press is withdrawn, and the bullet is firmly up inside the die, so it needs to be removed. If you don't have bullet ejectors, then the top stem of the die is driven back down with a mallet to eject the bullet from the die. I hate pounding on precision equipment, so I had some bullet ejectors made by a friend. During the actual swaging, you're moving both lead and brass, including the solid brass base of the case, which is why it must be fully annealed so it's dead soft. There is a lot of pressure applied at this point, which is more than most reloading presses can withstand. The linkages are the weak point, along with the slot in the ram for the shell holder. This is why I eventually bought a dedicated swaging press.
8. After the bullet is formed, including swaging the base out to .429", then I tumble the bullets to remove the lube and give them a shiny finish.
9. After tumbling, each bullet is given a cannelure on a CH-4D cannelure tool. This is time consuming and hard on the hands after awhile, but since the .44 Magnum is a pretty hard recoiling round, it needs the cannelure to crimp into so the bullets won't walk out under recoil.
I've probably skimmed over some steps, but this gives you a general idea of what's involved. It also gave me something to do with some of the buckets full of .40 S&W brass that I seem to end up with.
One thing I did skip was the case sorting, since cases vary by weight. I've found that Federal brass is the most consistant in weight, and I had a lot of Federal military brass that had been shot by the Coast Guard on our range, so that's what I used. If you notice in the pictures, the brass is headstamped "FC 08", but it's .40 S&W brass, made under government contract for the Coast Guard.
The case plus core equal the final weight of the bullet. I've found that variances of a few grains don't affect accuracy out to about 35 yards, which is what our pistol range is. I haven't tested them at longer distances for accuracy, since my eyes aren't as strong as they once were and my groups at 50 yards don't compare to the ones I was able to shoot 35 years ago, when I was on our department's pistol team.
These bullets are solidly bonded to the cores, without the use of bonding flux. This is probably due to the high temperature I anneal them at, plus letting them "cook" overnight inside the kiln. The recovered bullets from the dirt berm are fully mushroomed, especially from my Marlin rifle, but the only way to separate the core from the jacket is by melting it out. If bonding flux is used, it must be thoroughly removed from the die, or it will rust terribly overnight, which is why I don't use it.
Hope this helps.
Fred
