How do you create bullet jacket from .22 LR spent cases?

[Bob Coltwell]

I encountered a man at the range collecting spent .22 LR cases which were scattered about by previous shooters. He told me that he used them to form the jacket on cast lead to create jacketed bullets. I recall reading that Speer created his first jacketed bullets that way. But I got no details as to how that is done. How is it done exactly?

 

[ReloaderFred]

All you need to know is detailed here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?24952-22-rimfire-bullets-start-to-finish

That should keep you busy for the next few days.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[JimKirk]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com ..... Lot good reading in the Swaging section...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?24952-22-rimfire-bullets-start-to-finish

 

[Laphroaig]

It's technology that largely became popular during WWII when copper was rationed and bullets were impossible to buy. RCBS stands for "Rock Chuck Bullet Swage" and they got their start making swaging equipment during that time. Two buddies and I split a set of Corbin dies and we made a bunch of 57 gr. .224 bullets. A Rockchucker press can do all that needs to be done. Reloader Fred and JimKirk's link gives a pretty good overview of the process.

They are decent bullets, but not up to commercial standards. My Savage 10 PC shoots 55 V-Maxs to 1/2 MOA, and the homemade bullets probably average about 1 MOA. Still not too bad.

While it sounds attractive to make your own bullets out of scrap (it is kind of fun, at least at first), the process is very labor intensive and time consuming, and not worth the trouble.

 

[forrest r]

There's a couple of different ways to make them just depends on what you want them for. Several years ago I decided to take the plunge and swage bullets for the 223rem's. Wanted to make bullets that could do moa with common free components. So I used free range lead/free 22lr cases/free range brass to test with. I also picked up a beater savage axis to test the loads with. The savage costs $318 out the door and it had a $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope that came with it for another $50. I put my own scope on that axis, a sightron 24x target dot, never did anything else to it other than clean the bbl & set the torques on the action screws.

Making the bullets:
Cast cores
run cores in bleeder die to uniform the weight
run 22lr cases thru jacket forming die
anneal & clean newly formed jackets
put core in jacket and run them up in seating die
run the seated core up in point forming die & clean the lube off the bullet



Chose bl-c2 for a powder, it always got moa accuracy with 55gr/62gr bullets in the 25.5gr to 26.5gr load range in any 223rem I've tried them in. This cheap savage was no different.


That's a cheap rifle with a bs stock that I never even bothered to do anything with the trigger or flimsy stock. Free lead/22lr cases/mixed range brass that I sorted into 2 piles, commercial & nato. The tests above were shot with the free mixed nato brass.

I do make a 58gr bullet also for the blasting ammo for the ar]s/m4's. The cheap m4's do +/- 2 moa with almost any cheap ammo or bullet/reload so I make a watered down bullet for them to turn into blammo ammo/blasting ammo/2 moa ammo for them.

The process:
Cast cores from a 8-cavity mold, doesn't take long to cast a couple 1000 of them


Form jackets out of 22lr cases
put the cast core in the 22lr jacket and run them up in the point forming die
clean the lube off of the bullet and load them

The end result is a 58gr hp that is more then accurate enough for the 16" bbl'd m4's. It's nothing to make 1000+ bullets in a day when I make them this way.

I know 22cal bullets are cheap enough but it's nothing to get free range lead that I cast other bullets with. The range I go to has a policy that you clean up after yourself when your done, it's nothing to get 1000's of free 22lr cases that have been swept up and tossed in the range buckets. I spend 2 or 3 days in the winter and make up 3000 of the 58gr blasting bullets along with doing another 2000 of the moa 62gr bullets in a couple days. I really don't mind making bullets in the winter, typically most of my casting/reloading is done in the winter months & I shoot all summer.

22cal bullets can easily be bought in balk cheap enough, around $.06 apiece. I'd rather take the $300 I save making my own bullets and buy #16 of powder with the $$$. At the end of the day it costs me less the $.05 a round/$50 per 1000 to reload my own 223rems when swaging my own jacketed bullets.

 

[FROGO207]

forrest r what brand tooling are you using? I have been rolling this around in my head to start or not for years. Keep saying I will when I retire.

 

[thomas15]

Some stones are better left alone.

http://www.corbins.com/rfjm.htm

http://www.corbins.com/index.htm

 

[FROGO207]

I was familiar with Corbin products but they use a lead wire for the core. This one uses a molded bullet core and makes a hollow point per his pictures.

 

[Bob Coltwell]

There's a couple of different ways to make them just depends on what you want them for. Several years ago I decided to take the plunge and swage bullets for the 223rem's. Wanted to make bullets that could do moa with common free components. So I used free range lead/free 22lr cases/free range brass to test with. I also picked up a beater savage axis to test the loads with. The savage costs $318 out the door and it had a $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope that came with it for another $50. I put my own scope on that axis, a sightron 24x target dot, never did anything else to it other than clean the bbl & set the torques on the action screws.








Making the bullets:
Cast cores
run cores in bleeder die to uniform the weight
run 22lr cases thru jacket forming die
anneal & clean newly formed jackets
put core in jacket and run them up in seating die
run the seated core up in point forming die & clean the lube off the bullet

View attachment 834702

Chose bl-c2 for a powder, it always got moa accuracy with 55gr/62gr bullets in the 25.5gr to 26.5gr load range in any 223rem I've tried them in. This cheap savage was no different.
View attachment 834703

That's a cheap rifle with a bs stock that I never even bothered to do anything with the trigger or flimsy stock. Free lead/22lr cases/mixed range brass that I sorted into 2 piles, commercial & nato. The tests above were shot with the free mixed nato brass.

I do make a 58gr bullet also for the blasting ammo for the ar]s/m4's. The cheap m4's do +/- 2 moa with almost any cheap ammo or bullet/reload so I make a watered down bullet for them to turn into blammo ammo/blasting ammo/2 moa ammo for them.

The process:
Cast cores from a 8-cavity mold, doesn't take long to cast a couple 1000 of them
View attachment 834704

Form jackets out of 22lr cases
put the cast core in the 22lr jacket and run them up in the point forming die
clean the lube off of the bullet and load them

The end result is a 58gr hp that is more then accurate enough for the 16" bbl'd m4's. It's nothing to make 1000+ bullets in a day when I make them this way.

I know 22cal bullets are cheap enough but it's nothing to get free range lead that I cast other bullets with. The range I go to has a policy that you clean up after yourself when your done, it's nothing to get 1000's of free 22lr cases that have been swept up and tossed in the range buckets. I spend 2 or 3 days in the winter and make up 3000 of the 58gr blasting bullets along with doing another 2000 of the moa 62gr bullets in a couple days. I really don't mind making bullets in the winter, typically most of my casting/reloading is done in the winter months & I shoot all summer.

22cal bullets can easily be bought in balk cheap enough, around $.06 apiece. I'd rather take the $300 I save making my own bullets and buy #16 of powder with the $$$. At the end of the day it costs me less the $.05 a round/$50 per 1000 to reload my own 223rems when swaging my own jacketed bullets.

WOW

There's a couple of different ways to make them just depends on what you want them for. Several years ago I decided to take the plunge and swage bullets for the 223rem's. Wanted to make bullets that could do moa with common free components. So I used free range lead/free 22lr cases/free range brass to test with. I also picked up a beater savage axis to test the loads with. The savage costs $318 out the door and it had a $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope that came with it for another $50. I put my own scope on that axis, a sightron 24x target dot, never did anything else to it other than clean the bbl & set the torques on the action screws.

Making the bullets:
Cast cores
run cores in bleeder die to uniform the weight
run 22lr cases thru jacket forming die
anneal & clean newly formed jackets
put core in jacket and run them up in seating die
run the seated core up in point forming die & clean the lube off the bullet

View attachment 834702

Chose bl-c2 for a powder, it always got moa accuracy with 55gr/62gr bullets in the 25.5gr to 26.5gr load range in any 223rem I've tried them in. This cheap savage was no different.
View attachment 834703

That's a cheap rifle with a bs stock that I never even bothered to do anything with the trigger or flimsy stock. Free lead/22lr cases/mixed range brass that I sorted into 2 piles, commercial & nato. The tests above were shot with the free mixed nato brass.

I do make a 58gr bullet also for the blasting ammo for the ar]s/m4's. The cheap m4's do +/- 2 moa with almost any cheap ammo or bullet/reload so I make a watered down bullet for them to turn into blammo ammo/blasting ammo/2 moa ammo for them.

The process:
Cast cores from a 8-cavity mold, doesn't take long to cast a couple 1000 of them
View attachment 834704

Form jackets out of 22lr cases
put the cast core in the 22lr jacket and run them up in the point forming die
clean the lube off of the bullet and load them

The end result is a 58gr hp that is more then accurate enough for the 16" bbl'd m4's. It's nothing to make 1000+ bullets in a day when I make them this way.

I know 22cal bullets are cheap enough but it's nothing to get free range lead that I cast other bullets with. The range I go to has a policy that you clean up after yourself when your done, it's nothing to get 1000's of free 22lr cases that have been swept up and tossed in the range buckets. I spend 2 or 3 days in the winter and make up 3000 of the 58gr blasting bullets along with doing another 2000 of the moa 62gr bullets in a couple days. I really don't mind making bullets in the winter, typically most of my casting/reloading is done in the winter months & I shoot all summer.

22cal bullets can easily be bought in balk cheap enough, around $.06 apiece. I'd rather take the $300 I save making my own bullets and buy #16 of powder with the $$$. At the end of the day it costs me less the $.05 a round/$50 per 1000 to reload my own 223rems when swaging my own jacketed bullets.

There's a couple of different ways to make them just depends on what you want them for. Several years ago I decided to take the plunge and swage bullets for the 223rem's. Wanted to make bullets that could do moa with common free components. So I used free range lead/free 22lr cases/free range brass to test with. I also picked up a beater savage axis to test the loads with. The savage costs $318 out the door and it had a $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope that came with it for another $50. I put my own scope on that axis, a sightron 24x target dot, never did anything else to it other than clean the bbl & set the torques on the action screws.

Making the bullets:
Cast cores
run cores in bleeder die to uniform the weight
run 22lr cases thru jacket forming die
anneal & clean newly formed jackets
put core in jacket and run them up in seating die
run the seated core up in point forming die & clean the lube off the bullet

View attachment 834702

Chose bl-c2 for a powder, it always got moa accuracy with 55gr/62gr bullets in the 25.5gr to 26.5gr load range in any 223rem I've tried them in. This cheap savage was no different.
View attachment 834703

That's a cheap rifle with a bs stock that I never even bothered to do anything with the trigger or flimsy stock. Free lead/22lr cases/mixed range brass that I sorted into 2 piles, commercial & nato. The tests above were shot with the free mixed nato brass.

I do make a 58gr bullet also for the blasting ammo for the ar]s/m4's. The cheap m4's do +/- 2 moa with almost any cheap ammo or bullet/reload so I make a watered down bullet for them to turn into blammo ammo/blasting ammo/2 moa ammo for them.

The process:
Cast cores from a 8-cavity mold, doesn't take long to cast a couple 1000 of them
View attachment 834704

Form jackets out of 22lr cases
put the cast core in the 22lr jacket and run them up in the point forming die
clean the lube off of the bullet and load them

The end result is a 58gr hp that is more then accurate enough for the 16" bbl'd m4's. It's nothing to make 1000+ bullets in a day when I make them this way.

I know 22cal bullets are cheap enough but it's nothing to get free range lead that I cast other bullets with. The range I go to has a policy that you clean up after yourself when your done, it's nothing to get 1000's of free 22lr cases that have been swept up and tossed in the range buckets. I spend 2 or 3 days in the winter and make up 3000 of the 58gr blasting bullets along with doing another 2000 of the moa 62gr bullets in a couple days. I really don't mind making bullets in the winter, typically most of my casting/reloading is done in the winter months & I shoot all summer.

22cal bullets can easily be bought in balk cheap enough, around $.06 apiece. I'd rather take the $300 I save making my own bullets and buy #16 of powder with the $$$. At the end of the day it costs me less the $.05 a round/$50 per 1000 to reload my own 223rems when swaging my own jacketed bullets.

I encountered a man at the range collecting spent .22 LR cases which were scattered about by previous shooters. He told me that he used them to form the jacket on cast lead to create jacketed bullets. I recall reading that Speer created his first jacketed bullets that way. But I got no details as to how that is done. How is it done exactly?

There's a couple of different ways to make them just depends on what you want them for. Several years ago I decided to take the plunge and swage bullets for the 223rem's. Wanted to make bullets that could do moa with common free components. So I used free range lead/free 22lr cases/free range brass to test with. I also picked up a beater savage axis to test the loads with. The savage costs $318 out the door and it had a $50 mail in rebate & I sold the scope that came with it for another $50. I put my own scope on that axis, a sightron 24x target dot, never did anything else to it other than clean the bbl & set the torques on the action screws.

Making the bullets:
Cast cores
run cores in bleeder die to uniform the weight
run 22lr cases thru jacket forming die
anneal & clean newly formed jackets
put core in jacket and run them up in seating die
run the seated core up in point forming die & clean the lube off the bullet

View attachment 834702

Chose bl-c2 for a powder, it always got moa accuracy with 55gr/62gr bullets in the 25.5gr to 26.5gr load range in any 223rem I've tried them in. This cheap savage was no different.
View attachment 834703

That's a cheap rifle with a bs stock that I never even bothered to do anything with the trigger or flimsy stock. Free lead/22lr cases/mixed range brass that I sorted into 2 piles, commercial & nato. The tests above were shot with the free mixed nato brass.

I do make a 58gr bullet also for the blasting ammo for the ar]s/m4's. The cheap m4's do +/- 2 moa with almost any cheap ammo or bullet/reload so I make a watered down bullet for them to turn into blammo ammo/blasting ammo/2 moa ammo for them.

The process:
Cast cores from a 8-cavity mold, doesn't take long to cast a couple 1000 of them
View attachment 834704

Form jackets out of 22lr cases
put the cast core in the 22lr jacket and run them up in the point forming die
clean the lube off of the bullet and load them

The end result is a 58gr hp that is more then accurate enough for the 16" bbl'd m4's. It's nothing to make 1000+ bullets in a day when I make them this way.

I know 22cal bullets are cheap enough but it's nothing to get free range lead that I cast other bullets with. The range I go to has a policy that you clean up after yourself when your done, it's nothing to get 1000's of free 22lr cases that have been swept up and tossed in the range buckets. I spend 2 or 3 days in the winter and make up 3000 of the 58gr blasting bullets along with doing another 2000 of the moa 62gr bullets in a couple days. I really don't mind making bullets in the winter, typically most of my casting/reloading is done in the winter months & I shoot all summer.

22cal bullets can easily be bought in balk cheap enough, around $.06 apiece. I'd rather take the $300 I save making my own bullets and buy #16 of powder with the $$$. At the end of the day it costs me less the $.05 a round/$50 per 1000 to reload my own 223rems when swaging my own jacketed bullets.

WOW!! I did not anticipate so many prompt and complete answers to my query! Nice info to acquire but after reading all that is involved I don't think I will be any threat to Hornady or Nosler, etc. regarding my reloading bullet supply purchases. Thanks all for the responses.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Vernon Speer and Joyce Hornady started out by swaging bullets from .22 LR brass for the .222 Remington, which was the hot caliber for varmint shooting at the time. Copper was in very short supply in the civilian market during World War II, and innovation is an American trait. John Nosler started swaging his Partition Bullets on a Hollywood Senior press, which is in the display case at the company headquarters, in Bend, OR. He first turned the bullet jackets on a lathe, and then swaged the lead into the base and nose of the partitioned jackets in dies he made himself for the Hollywood press. When Fred Huntington visited him to discuss his new bullets, he saw the old Hollywood press and when he returned home, he sent John Nosler an original RCBS Rockchucker press to use.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[jaguarxk120]

Please note that RCBS stands for Rock Chuck Bullet Swage.

 

[forrest r]

I was familiar with Corbin products but they use a lead wire for the core. This one uses a molded bullet core and makes a hollow point per his pictures.

Corbin sells a bulky adjustable core mold also.
http://www.corbins.com/prcm-4.htm

I made an adjustable core mold for the 22cal & 30cal bullets I swage.


I use that adjustable core mold pictured above to make jacketed 80gr hp's. I also have .185" lead wire and a wire cutter. Doesn't matter if the cores are cut from lead wire or cast from core molds. If you want precise bullets you have run the lead thru a bleed die to uniform the lead cores diameter/weight.

Mihec had run of 8-cavity core molds for 45gr/55gr/65gr bullets (22lr case ='s +/- 10gr). I ordered a 55gr core mold (casts 55gr cores) and milled the top down on that mold to cast a 48gr/49gr core. Anyone can make a core mold easy enough, simply buy a 6-cavity blank mold from lee and use a 3/16" bit to drill the holes to make cores with.

I use a combination of swaging dies, some home made. Depends on what bullet I want to make. I did make a three sets of home made swaging dies and sold them to get the $$$ to fund this project. I did run across a set of corbin deluxe swaging dies cheap in excellent condition with a bunch of extra's. I do need to make another sp point forming die, just haven't gotten around to it so I've been making hp's.

Swaging jacketed bullets isn't for everyone. I just wanted to see if I could take a cheap rifle, free lead/bullet jackets & free range brass and have a moa combo. I've swaged my own jacketed bullets for pistols/revolvers since 1990. Swaging 22cal jacketed bullets is actually caveman simple to do & I'm glad I decided to try making them.

 

[DM~]

I use both, Corbin and SAS tooling for my swaging...including making .224" bullets out of LR cases...

The real fun starts, when you take spend shotgun primers apart and use the "cup" for jackets to swage "Keith" style SWC .257" bullets to shoot in my S&W revolver, chambered in 25/20 Winchester.

DM

 

[Offfhand]

Here is the original RCBS press which was made by Fred Huntington for bullet swaging, with a set of RCBS swaging dies. Fred's first press preceded the RCBS "A" series by several years. Also shown is my RCBS "A2" press which I have set up with with a set of Bob Simonson .22 Cal dies for making the bullets I use in benchrest competition.