I do not, but keep trying to talk myself into it.
If you're a big premium bullet buyer, seems like you could almost make the case for it financially, but with so many good bullets out there competetign against one another, is there any way to really "make your money back?"
And do you end up with the quality of, say, an A-Frame or Partition?
After reaing most of the Corbin site, it seems there's MUCH experimenting needed to get it "right."

I do, but not rifle bullets. I swage hard lead, wheel weights, copper washer on the base SWCs. This winter I'll make a bucket full of the softer lead allow bullets for testing next spring.
You are correct in that there is still plenty of experimenting to do for rifle bullets. The down side is dies are very expensive.
Jim

I've been making .308s for the last couple of years. 180 gr. PP mostly. Some bonded, some not.

I just started with .314s. 200 grain RNs. This bullet is at the beginning of the tooling adjustments stage.

I think that most people do it for the hobby aspect. Like reloading, I doubt that you could ever recover the costs, given that you always end up buying more and more equipment.

Unless you go with a strange design, it's just a matter of figuring out the jacket/lead weights ratio. In my case, I use the std spitzer (6s) and RN shapes. Other guys, with the funky ideas would have a few development problems I'd expect.

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

Steve, I think you said about all there is to say on the subject. Economically, there is little justification with almost every bullet design imaginable on the market today.

But the best way to compare home bullet making is to look at it like home gardening. It's more of a personal satisfaction thing. Somehow your own tomatoes always taste a little sweeter. Same with your bullets. It's a fun, satisfying and rewarding hobby.

But it's not terribly cheap and you need a strong press to do it well.

Anyone who likes to do their own thing and doesn't mind the extra steps etc can have a blast with it! I don't make my own jacketed bullets any longer but if I were shooting more and had the time, I'd still love to go back to it.

It's fun!

I took the "cheap" way out on this, and paid for dies to swage my design lead bullets for paper patching. I have what I want(at the moment), and don't have all the poriferal stuff that goes with it. I like the paper patch thing but did this only because the manufacturer(Montana Precision Swaging) did not have dies for P.P. bullets suitable for .44 Mag/.444 Marlin(240-350 gr.), and I did not want to get all the way into it. AS far as jacketed bullets, there are others more learned in the area of design and and metalurgy so I'll leave that up to them.

PP, jacketed, funky strange designs, it's all fun. Sort of like reloading except...shaken, not stirred.

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

I've been swaging .35 calibre bullets for about 3 years now. I've had some hope of selling a few, but the Treaty of The Americas and 9/11 have complicated my life. I may get to it yet.

My bullet is one of those "funky" designs that is very similar to a bullet manufactured here in Canada between the late'30's and early '70's.

Right now I'm having some troubles with a jacket trimmer, but hope to get back into experimentation soon after hunting season. I'm also thinking of getting into .311's and .308's in the near future.

Hey Rick, which trimmer are you using? I've got one of the older sets - the two stage type. I want to upgrade to the single die. It should speed things up.

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

Steve:

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, but after 2 1/2 weeks in the bush, and then getting caught up around home, I'm just now checking some of the older threads.

My trimmer isn't a Corbin model. I decided to go with a power trimmer, so I could get some of Butch Hairfield's jackets trimmed down to proper length and chamfer for my bullets. Butch was having Gracey come up with a modification of their case trimmer design for him, so I ordered one of the models they were building.

The problem I encountered was largely because of my own lack of familiarity with machinery. The instructions specified an electric motor with a counter-clockwise rotation. When I stood behind the motor I used, the rotation was counter-clockwise, however, the cutters wouldn't cut. It seems that the direction of rotation is determined by looking toward the shaft of the motor - not away from it. I'm checking around for another motor.

Rick

Steve, any chance you'll be playing with other nose configurations in your .314 bullets?

No problem Rick. I don't get the chance to check in very often due to commitments. Yes, most motors should have a direction arrow marked on the body on the shaft side.
Have you tried Princess Auto? http://www.princessauto.com They carry a lot of stuff. You can download their catalogue.

P-17, I won't be working with anything else for a while. A while is a few months at least. I don't know whether you read a post over at gunnutz or not regarding my success with the RN. I got a deer, but didn't recover the bullet. About an 80 yd shot with an exit wound a bit bigger than a golf ball.

The bullet chambered fine in the P-14 used. It's a stock military rifle that doesn't like RNs. Reducing the exposed lead so that the jacket extends a little past the ogive seemed to do the trick.

I'll bet you were thinking about spitzers...

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

Steve, I think I've told you about my "Eskimo Rifle" before. This is the Remington P-14 that had been sporterized by an old Inuit gent decades ago. I picked this rifle up for $40 at a gunshow in 1999. The old fellow had inlaid the stock with walrus ivory, and at this price, who could resist?

I discovered the rifle had a bit of headspace gap, so I solved the problem by having the chamber re-cut... with a .300 Winchester Magnum reamer. Problem solved with a bonus: As a .303 Winchester Magnum it gives me truly frightening accuracy with Hornady 150s, considering the age of the barrel. (Six shots into about 1.5 inches at 200 metres. I know it can do even better!)

A serious, well-constructed 200-grain spitzer with excellent accuracy would be the ultimate bullet for this rifle, but, admittedly, it would not be needed for a regular .303 British.

So, yes -- I'm definitely looking forward to your spitzer!

I wonder whether a 200 gr. spitzer in .31x would be worth the bother. Speer made them (I believe) in anticipation of the 311 Imp. Mag. That cartridge sunk.
It was hard and not too good for std cals that used a 311 bullet.

I have learned never to say never though. I went with a RN first for a number of reasons.IME, factory & surplus rifles will group tighter with RNs. They tend to function better at lower velocities and in many cases have a wider useful velocity spread.

Of course this doesn't mean much if you're using some kind of magnum. Part of the reason that RNs aren't as popular these days is because of the proliferation of "magnum" cartridges.

I was even toying with the idea of a hvyweight 22 cal RN. Something around 80+ grains. Would it fly (no pun intended)? Well, I wouldn't have thought that people would buy a Groove or GS Custom bullet either. There is obviously a market however.

Gerard Schultz offered me some bullets to test a couple of yrs ago, but I turned him down. I do not regret that decision at all as I would never use them, free or not. The concept seems silly to me. I believe that lighter and faster is not always better.

My aim is to satisfy a small niche for cartridges that many people have pushed aside for all the new stuff. I have no aspirations to be rich, famous or in demand.

Everything that I've accomplished to date - books, writing and lectures was done for personal reasons. The 303 British, reloading and milsurp work has been satisfying to me. So I guess it's a selfish thing.

Will I make spitzers? Maybe...

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

Steve Redgwell
I've been swaging hard lead alloy pistol bullets for a few years. I'm contemplating getting into jacketed stuff for my own pleasure, that reads, masochistic leanings.
What I'm looking to do is work with 30 caliber, using the knowledge I've gained from bullet casting as far as bullet shape goes.
Is it possible to close the tip of the bullet, like the Sierra hollow points, except in a round nose configuration, not leaving any exposed lead?
Or maybe a flat point, again without exposed lead.
Jim

Yes, you can just about get it closed or you can make a round nose protected point. In both cases, you just have to get the correct weight of lead for the jacket length.

The point forming die, which would form the round nose, would be all that you'd need for what amounts to a FMJ. If you make a protected point type RN, you might have to clean up the very tip so that the lead is flat and not mishapen. That might require another die - a tip forming die.

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com