Swaging "copper"
- Thread starter giant yetti
- Start date
No. Other than that it falls right in the same category as the mental midgets that show up her proclaiming that they just spent $$$ on a fast twist barrel for their .22, and want to know who has Aquila SSS in stock, as happens, it seems, on a weekly basis around here...
It pretty much indicates a lack of homework on the part of the poster. US pennies went cheap too. Zinc with a copper wash. At one point they were worth more as scrap copper, so a lot of the copper ones have vanished.
And they would still be a crappy source for your raw stock because if the thickness variations.
Point being, if you are going to spend the time and money, spend it on something that requires materials you can get, rather than materials that you either cannot get, or are no longer common. Ever read any of the books that tell you that old Winchester Single Shot rifles are cheap and common, and make good varmint conversions, or that surplus Mausers are a good source for actions for the home gunsmith? More information that was current in the 1950's.
Copper sheet is readily available, as is brass shim stock. If you really want to make jackets or gas checks for large calibers, those would be materials to look at and plan around. Same with Aluminum sheet stock, whether flashing or bought for the purpose.
Worth looking at the Swaging sub forum on castboolits. There is some interesting stuff being done with pistol cases and cut down rifle cases, as jackets for larger cal rounds.
The two Corbin Brothers' sites are worth looking at. Swage.com, and rceco.com. Wait times are long, prices high, and other than the waiting time, I have never found anyone that had a bad thing to say about their products.
Cheers
Trev
You can buy the proper equiptment to make what your after... you use a thin sheet of material and special tools to punch blanks and then punch them into cups. If your interested fire me a pm and I can direct you to where you can get equiptment for making your own gas checks from commen every day materials you can buy at home depot.
I make my own jacketed bullets from scratch using copper and lead all my presses dies punches coining punches core dies point forming dies and everything else needed I made myself .
It took me about 3 years of experimenting with dies and punches to draw good jackets which is the most important part of the bullet,they need to be very concentric in order to achieve good accuracy.
The best material to use is guilding metal a copper alloy 95% copper 5% zinc {astm alloy 21000} copper is the easiest to get but if you use copper try and get the oxygen free copper it is suppose to foul a little less than regular sheet copper used for roofing and gutters and such.
Like TrevJ said there is a lot of interessting reading on castboolits under swaging.
The dies and punches needed to make bullets are not easy to make unless you are a tool and die maker or a pretty knowledgable machinist or know one you will have problems getting the right size on the point forming and core seating die ,these 2 dies are what make a good or bad bullet.
If you are trying to make a .311" point forming die the bullet needs to come out of the die at .311" it goes in about .0005" smaller.
When I started making dies I ended up remaking everything at least 2 or 3 times before I got things working right there is information on the dies if you read some of dave cobin's free ebooks all the dies needed are shown and the swaging procedure explained in good details ,however he doesn't go into detail regarding how these dies are actually made or what the geometry of the bellmouth on the drawing dies are made {trial and error is what I had to do}.
You will also need a good strong press for drawing jackets a reloading press is not strong enough for this task,a reloading press can be used for forming the bullets and making and seating cores it can also be used for making jackets from fired 22 rf brass.
Making bullets is a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun if you like this kind of stuff.
The end result are great shooting bullets .
It took me about 3 years of experimenting with dies and punches to draw good jackets which is the most important part of the bullet,they need to be very concentric in order to achieve good accuracy.
The best material to use is guilding metal a copper alloy 95% copper 5% zinc {astm alloy 21000} copper is the easiest to get but if you use copper try and get the oxygen free copper it is suppose to foul a little less than regular sheet copper used for roofing and gutters and such.
Like TrevJ said there is a lot of interessting reading on castboolits under swaging.
The dies and punches needed to make bullets are not easy to make unless you are a tool and die maker or a pretty knowledgable machinist or know one you will have problems getting the right size on the point forming and core seating die ,these 2 dies are what make a good or bad bullet.
If you are trying to make a .311" point forming die the bullet needs to come out of the die at .311" it goes in about .0005" smaller.
When I started making dies I ended up remaking everything at least 2 or 3 times before I got things working right there is information on the dies if you read some of dave cobin's free ebooks all the dies needed are shown and the swaging procedure explained in good details ,however he doesn't go into detail regarding how these dies are actually made or what the geometry of the bellmouth on the drawing dies are made {trial and error is what I had to do}.
You will also need a good strong press for drawing jackets a reloading press is not strong enough for this task,a reloading press can be used for forming the bullets and making and seating cores it can also be used for making jackets from fired 22 rf brass.
Making bullets is a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun if you like this kind of stuff.
The end result are great shooting bullets .
