Taking Bullet Making to a Higher Standard

Boolitcaster said:
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2. Anneal cases for 20 minutes at 900 F in a Lyman 20 lb lead pot.
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19. Melt cores into jackets.
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Click to expand...

Wow - very impressive! Definitely a labour of love.

When you anneal the cases, are you using the Lyman pot as an oven, and it takes ~20 minutes to transfer the heat evenly into a batch of cases? Or, are you floating the cases in a lead bath?

I've recently been annealing case mouths in a salt bath heated by Lee 10 lb pot with PID controller set to 932° F. Using a salt bath in your Lyman pot might reduce your anneal time and improve temperature consistency.

The salt bath could also be useful when melting the lead into the jackets by standing up filled jackets into the hot bath, and removing once the core melts into the jacket.

Thanks for sharing - looking forward to shooting results and weight consistency stats.

-Steve
 
I have been standing up the cases, base down, in the lead pot. It fits about 60 that way.
I checked for a time that ensured that the cases, when seen in low light, glow red. After adding about 5 minutes for thoroughness, 20 minutes was that time.

I sent some of the bullets to a well know Canadian YouTuber who does a lot of videos with 303s. He is going to test them against some of the comparable commercial brands. I will put up the link when the video comes out.
 
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I have had a chance to examine these and I am seriously looking forward to sitting behind my reloading press. Finally we find a good example of ‘Freedom and power of the press’. MLU
 
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RC, I enjoyed your introductory video.

Reading through this thread, you can see that a fellow would need lots of free time to pay off this sort of tooling.

- now if I was a skilled tool and die maker, time would be my only issue.

BTW, I have already refined my technique, since I sent your bullets, so that now, I can make bullets of 180 grains, +\- .1 grain.

I will improve and innovate as I learn more.

BC
 
it is unreal but gees it is something you would only doe for ya self with all the time consumed in makin a handful at a time!

i love the use of old brass!

good stuff, very interesting, all the best here!
 
Thanks for sharing that. Quite an interesting read. Are you planning on making any other calibers? It seems like with the draw dies you have that .358"/.357" and .338" would be possible. Just curious.

Thanks, Jim
 
Yes, the draw dies were made to diameters that are suitable for those calibers.

I would just need to purchase the other forming dies.

I am not planning on buying any others though as I am busy enough with .312" and .308" bullets.
I already have multiple 38 caliber moulds and see no reason to use jacketed bullets.
I don't own a 338 nor do I want one.
BC
 
Some times it's not about saving a dime, it's about the craftsmanship.
It's being able to say " No I didn't assemble it, I made it .
 
Very interesting read. You have taken your “hobby” to a whole new level. I thought I had it bad with casting, PC, shot making etc! Good on you. Truly a labour of love.
 
Who did you get to make your dies, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve been super interested in this process for some time now and am seriously considering getting my own set up going.
 
Thanks for sharing, I've been thinking of getting into bullet making as well...been looking at the Corbin site mostly :)
 
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