Making hollow point bullets!

[masan]

I thought that some of you may find this interesting, so I made some videos of each step of my bullet making process. These are the bullets that I use in Benchrest Competition. They are 117gr 30cal bullets, 7 ogive, made on J4 jackets.

I won't go into exhaustive detail, as there are a ton of small details to consider, I am mostly just going to highlight the bigger steps in the process.

Step One: Core forming

Lead wire is cut to uniform lengths and then swaged into identical cores.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsVGW6gir4M

The small wire looking parts at the end are "squirts", excess lead from the forming process.

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Here you can see the cut length of lead wire and the resulting core.

[masan]

Step Two: Putting the cores and jackets together.

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Cores and jackets get washed and lubed and some other stuff, then they are put together using special trays.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YefkA2BDWPk

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[masan]

Step Three: Core Seating

Then, the cores are seated into the jackets. This step forms the base of the bullets, as well as the outside diameter. In many ways, core seating is the most critical part of making bullets, as getting the lead into the same place each and every time results in properly balanced bullets. Sounds simple, setup takes hours...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrBBoFzNe0Y

[masan]

Step Four: Point Up

Point up is the process where the core seated jacket becomes a hollow point bullet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eByUcXabMLI

Point up is the step where uniformity of base to ogive and bearing surface is most affected. Part of it is lube related and part of it is "feel".

[masan]

Here is a loaded 30BR, using the bullets I make, compared to a .50!

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I would be happy to answer any questions. Hopefully some of you will find this interesting!

I don't know why the photo keeps rotating sideways, sorry all.

[Krazykarl]

Haven't watched the videos yet. But your work looks impressive.

[Ned Christiansen]

Cool! They don't look like Simonson dies at first glance but if they are.... I may have had a hand in making them years ago!

[Jermedic]

Interesting videos. I learned something new today. Never knew it was possible to make anything other than cast lead at home.

[masan]

Cool! They don't look like Simonson dies at first glance but if they are.... I may have had a hand in making them years ago!

These are Niemi Carbide dies.

Do you mean Bob Simonson's dies? That is pretty cool that you were in on that!

Short PM sent with something you may find pretty interesting.

[Ttwwaack]

I always wanted to swage some bullets. I almost bought a full Corbin set up in 22 and 30 along with an oven at barn burner prices but it sold quick. While researching I found Corbin was right down the street so to speak but haven't pursued it any further.

I did get i to casti g though a few years ago when I got into SA revolvers in odd ball calibers and have aquired an assortment of 4 cavity custom cramer style molds that cast HPs in 32, 357, 45 and 475.

[jaholder]

I won't knock anyone who wants to do that, but I barely have time to load commercially made bullets in ammo, much less make each bullet by hand.

Even my cast bullets are bought by the box of 500

[Achilles11B]

Very impressive, it’s fascinating to see the steps and the attention to detail.

[masan]

I won't knock anyone who wants to do that, but I barely have time to load commercially made bullets in ammo, much less make each bullet by hand.

Even my cast bullets are bought by the box of 500

Definitely not a time friendly operation. On average, I spend about 8 hours per 1000 bullets. This is spread out over a few days.

When I was learning to make bullets, all of the old timers who were showing me the ropes made it very clear (multiple times) that "winter is for bullet makin and huntin, the rest of the year is for benchrest"

[masan]

Very impressive, it’s fascinating to see the steps and the attention to detail.

Thanks!

Ultimately, the finished product makes it worth the effort. Plus, its kinda cool to know that you are shooting and winning with bullets you made.

[ginzomatic]

That's really cool and impressive.. thanks for sharing