Bullet making pics.

Al just a few questions. The core cutter just shears the lead wire as the handle is moved without any sort of sharp edge?

The other, is there a advantage to making your own cores over buying ready made cores for seating? Or is there still the squirting process for bought cores?

What about wearing surgical gloves when handling all the lead???????

Thanks in advance.

Calvin
 
Hey, Al, reduce the [core-lube] tumble-time to 4-5 minutes . . . all of that lead-dust will, "go away"! ;)

GREAT pics!:eek: Please, no more of those rancid heavy-matal quotes - stick to more comprehensible lines, like, "Same S*^T, different day" ! :eek::p Remember, the Blackmon tools work 'upside-down', so you'll have to hold-off basakwards . . . Keep 'em ON the X!

Paul, Terry Meyer, pulls his wire straight off the roll (over-head mount), and into the core-cutter, skipping the straightening - I certain others do the same - but look what happens to his bullets! :p

Keep up the good work, Al!:) RG
 
Ditto to what Stevie Wonder said. Great Work Al!

Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm the Dude, man

Stanley
 
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George and Randy: Thanks for the tips..I'll try that next time. :) You know how I hate gettin' my delicate fingers all greasy and grimey. :D

Calvin: The edges of the bushing in the core cutter are fairly sharp edged. If you look at the ends of the cut cores (in the jar), you can see that the cut isn't exactly perfect, though. The squirt process squares up the ends. Never tried gloves.

Redrock (Steve): You've got the same setup..hang some pics of what you're doing on here and tell how you got into making your own booolets.

Apollo: The Dude abides.....:cool:
 
Time to clean the cores. Coleman lantern fuel (white gas) works good. So does acetone, but it's tough on the hands. I put 1,000 cores in the 'wash' bucket, cover 'em with the lantern fuel and slosh 'em around to get the bulk of the lube off. Then, they go into a 'rinse' bucket with clean lantern fuel for the final rinse. The small stainless strainer fit inside the J4 buckets and catches any of the small bit of squirt, etc. Then, the cores are laid out to air dry.

4-2.jpg


Once they're dry, the cores go into this expanding colander that fits inside a stainless stockpot. The colander has several small standoffs on the bottom, so the cores are never directly against the bottom of the pot...just suspended in the boiling mix of Simple Green Concentrate and water. Some of these pics I'd posted before on the infamous other bullet making thread. After boiling them for 10 minutes, they're rinsed off with hot water and spread out on a cloth to air dry.

c1.jpg


c2.jpg


c3.jpg


c4.jpg



Now that they're dry, it's time to seat the cores in the jackets. Lots of guys use bullet trays that let you drop the cores right into the jackets, but I just use a simple piece of Delrin stock that I drilled with a 3/8" Forstener bit for 200 jackets. The cores are dropped one-by-one into the jackets. Like I said, this is a very simple setup.

The jackets are lubed just like the cores, but I only put 200 in each jar to make sure the lube is evenly dispersed. I tumble them for 30 minutes using R.G.'s 'Madrid Magic Jacket Lube and Hair Gel'.

b2.jpg
 
Thanks a million for posting the pics

Would you clarify the jacket lube? I have heard of all sorts of recipies but wonder what you use.
Thanks again
 
Here's the core seater setup. From left to rt: punch holder with core seating punch, jacket with core installed, core seating die, internal die punch, ejector pin. The die shims give the ability to fine tune the last few thousandths of core seating pressure, rather than having to adjust the lock ring on the die.

d1.jpg


The cored jacket is slipped over the core seating punch.

b5.jpg


The die goes over the jacket, the punch seats the core and expands the jacket.

b6.jpg


The handle is raised, the cored jacket is ejected from the die and rolls down into the tray.

b4.jpg


The jacket on the left hasn't had the core seated. The jacket on the right is after the core is seated. You can clearly see that the flat base has started to be established. If you look closely, you can tell the jacket has been shortened by the core seating process.

j1-1.jpg


Repeat 1,000 times.

j1.jpg


There's a lot more to be said at this point as regards core seating pressure, core material makeup, and jacket shortening. All of these are interrelated and not everything exactly crosses over from one type of setup to another so there's no point in making statements that may be misconstrued as 'facts'.

I just know how my junk works.....:)
 
R.G. Robinett said:
Hey, Al, reduce the [core-lube] tumble-time to 4-5 minutes . . . all of that lead-dust will, "go away"! ;)

GREAT pics!:eek: Please, no more of those rancid heavy-matal quotes - stick to more comprehensible lines, like, "Same S*^T, different day" ! :eek::p Remember, the Blackmon tools work 'upside-down', so you'll have to hold-off basakwards . . . Keep 'em ON the X!

Paul, Terry Meyer, pulls his wire straight off the roll (over-head mount), and into the core-cutter, skipping the straightening - I certain others do the same - but look what happens to his bullets! :p

Keep up the good work, Al!:) RG
Click to expand...

Yeah, they all get flattened in the burm after knockin the "X's" out!
 
Al:

Neat setup. I use Blackmon dies and 3 RCBS RC presses. Once I get things adjusted and locked down, I leave them set. Can store presses with dies installed in 40 MM ammo cans. Toss in a sheet of gun wrap paper and I'm good to go.

I swage 224 bullets by the way. One could buy a bunch of fine bullets for the price of my setup, but making your own is sort of fun when it is raining or cold.

Keep up the good work and good shooting.

Jim
 
Got a question: Any of you guys with top line BR rifles ever test to see if washed vs unwashed swaged cores really made a difference?

I don't mean the old "my buddy's dad's uncle's grandfather's bullet maker said" deal.

I mean a real test, of say 50 each, repeated enough times to be a valid test. It has been about 40 years since I took statistics so I don't know the necessary # of samples or the required repetions to be valid.

I don't have a top line rifle and I don't shoot in competition so 1 chance in 500, or even 1 in 100, isn't going to ruin my day.

Thanks and have a good one.

Jim
 
Wow, Great interesting thread Al, thanks for taking the time to post it... Awaiting next installment....

Rod
 
Not knowing about the bullet making process how does one come to determine or know when you achieved a good core seating pressure?

Still waiting for an answer what the advantage of cutting your own cores over getting them cut allready?

I am loving this thread as well.

Calvin
 
CYanchycki said:
Not knowing about the bullet making process how does one come to determine or know when you achieved a good core seating pressure?

Still waiting for an answer what the advantage of cutting your own cores over getting them cut allready?

I am loving this thread as well.

Calvin
Click to expand...

The only advantages that I see to making your own cores are 1---you're in control of the finished product,but Charlie Hood's cores are excellent IMO, and 2--- you save about $12/thousand cores. I'll buy mine.--Mike
 
Al,
The only thing I do different is that I lubricate my core sticks before I cut them. And I have started to use Charlies' core (saves time).
john
Mims, Fl.
 
Great thread Al,
the question that begs to be asked is, what does it cost to get started making your own bullets and how many need to be made before you really start seeing the savings over buying them from "X" maker.

Matt Guthrie
 
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