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Gary Ocock
1. What makes a bullet benchrest quality?
In simple terms a bullet that will allow a shooter to shoot small groups or hit where he/she aims. A more complicated answer - good jackets; uniform wall thickness varying less than .0003 (typically today, the last 7-8 years, we use jackets close to .0001) . Lead that is clean, uniform in weight and size, and seated properly into the jacket. Finally, bullets that are made in quality dies that will allow nearly every bullet to come out of the die being just like every other bullet in the lot. The bullet maker needs to manage this process, using the proper equipment and his/her knowledge to make it happen.
2. What equipment is needed to make benchrest quality bullets and where can I get the equipment?
Base equipment. A set of bullet dies, minimum a core seater and point up die, with associated punches. An RCBS or similar reloading press converted for bullet making (changing the ram to hold the punches and adding an ejection frame). For quality control a good micrometer capable of measuring .0001. Some sort of bullet lube.
3. What are the essential techniques for producing benchrest quality bullets?
Start with CLEAN and then just like bench rest shooting, do everything the same for each bullet and then practice. Now it's more complicated than that, but it's just that easy too. The challenge comes in fine tuning the lead and the jacket to your dies. Asking other bullet makers will help a bunch in not reinventing the wheel but not all bullet makers follow the same procedures, as such you'll fine tune your own technique. For the most part they all end up with very good products though. One bullet may be better for your gun than another (performance) but both bullets may be made very well. It's just that one will work better in a given chamber and barrel combination. My technique is very simple.
I make bullets for myself and every once in a while for a friend. Production guys, like Gentner, Bruno, Fowler, Euber, etc. use a different technique as they are concerned with quality AND speed, where I am looking at just quality. Don't read into this, they achieve quality just the same as I do, it's just they go at it differently. I make 5-6 thousand bullets a year, they make 100/200 thousand plus.
Start with clean jackets. Clean is free from any oil or lube on the inside of the jacket. They are usually clean from the manufacturer, if not they need to be washed in a highly evaporative degreaser.
Next you'll need clean and uniform cores. They can be purchased and many of the production guys purchase their cores made to a given weight. Hopefully they are super clean as well. If not, clean just the same as with jackets. I make my own cores from lead wire made with 1/2 of 1% antimony. I cut the core to a rough size and then form the core in what is called a core forming or squirt die. This die bleeds off excess lead, with each core coming out the same weight and size. Time it takes to make cores is anywhere from a half hour to one hour per thousand (while watching TV). You'll go nuts if you can't do something else while making bullets.
I then clean my cores and oxidize them. Many bullet makers don't do the oxidize step, I've experimented both ways and found very little difference either way. I continue to oxidize as I learned from Don Rorschach and Clarence Detsch.
This how I oxidize cores. Start with very clean cores, degreased after the core forming step. Use an old pot, add 1 tablespoon of Calgon dishwashing detergent (TSP will work as well), 1/2 gallon of water and bring to a boil on the stove. Place the cores in a strainer and hold them in the water for about 15 minutes. Remove and air dry the cores. This will turn the cores from bright shiny lead to a dull grayish color and they will feel slightly rough. In theory this oxidation will help the lead core stick to the bullet jacket during the manufacturing process.
I then seat the core into my very clean jacket. Seating the core is the fine tuning stage. It needs to be done properly. This means, no jacket scraping or excessive bleed by.
Last step and most fun is pointing up the bullet. No brainer here, just put 'em in the die and point 'em up. Only tweaking I do is with lube. Sometimes I put more lube on and sometimes I take lube off. This is how I point up to a particular size (e.g. .2431 or maybe .2433 on my pressure ring). My bullets are 95% boat-tails and usually small on the pressure ring when compared to most everyone's flatbase bullet. That's the way the die makes them, I've shot them that way for nearly 30 years and I’ve won with them, so I'm sticking with them.
Gary
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