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So, say you want to make a basic semi-spitzer, bonded I guess. In one caliber.
What's the least expensive way to get started? Press, dies, etc.
And how much more trouble/cost to get into an A-Frame or Partition type bullet?
I've been buying Aframes for $40/50, so after 5 boxes or so, I've bought a press, right?
Could someone give me the low-down on start-up?
 
Posts: 2000 | Location: Beaverton OR | Registered: 19 December 2002Reply With Quote
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It cost me about a thousand dollars or so to get started, but I got more than just the bullet making dies and press. I added a jacket making set, and a boat tail set and an extra point form die. All my equipment was from RCECO, which is run by Richard Corbin whose workmanship and bullet making knowledge is excellent. Check his web page at www.rceco.com for his current prices. You'll need a press and one set of dies to make a bullet with an open point or filled to the tip with the core. These bullets can be bonded easily.
 
Posts: 179 | Location: Westbrook, Maine | Registered: 26 May 2002Reply With Quote
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Jungli bains Said it all about .!

Richard still has a very few old ( but still new )

WallNut hill's press's left at about $200.00 each

Bwana-be What bullet Diam/Caliber were you going after.? .308 ? .338 ? .375? .458

Richard has a small amount in stock .these die set are one's that other customer's backed out on or could not affored .

This does not by any mean's make then defective or odd ball's .

A set of swage die's run's about 350.00 . Core swage die -

swage's the lead into a core of a given Diam Next is the Core seat die it swage's the core into the jacket Next is the Point former and as you may have guessed it form's the

point/nose of the bullet. That is the normal 3 die swage set. Once you get started you will find a treasure trove

of information avalible from Richard Corbin and other's

on some of the tip's and trick's to making all sort's

of diffrent kind's of bullet's.

So you wanted the low down on start up cost .



One WallNut Hill's ( old style ) 200.00

Swage Die Set 350.00

Flux 1.00 to 2.50

Lead about 22.00 pre roll there about 25 Lb each in any given Diam.

A good set of Scale's .. for making bullet's over.375 you will need a better set of scale's then normal

So you could get away with about 650.00 .

You will need to be able to heat the jacket's and lead once you add the flux to bond the two together ( core bonding )



Now about Partioning bullet's it will require you to buy and extra top punch in a diam slightly larger the the jacket

inside diam. becouse your going to Roll the inner

wall down over the lead core to devided the two .

On mine i found that leaving a small hole about .200

between the two help's in stopping the two half from completly seperating on bullet impact. the bottom holds the top so to speak.

Some of these type's of bullet's are made differntly

some a slightly threaded on the inside and require custom made jacket holder's do to the threading or you can make the little holder by using two piece's of half drilled plastic as to not mar the jacket when threading the inside

there are alot of thing's to learn Richard Corbin can help you or one of use here can help you not everyone does the

same thing the same way but we all wind up with very good bullet's .

forgot to add Lead wire is on the high side to ship at about 12.00 for the shipping.

Since you live in Oregon . just take a weekend and drive down to see Richard Phoenix Oregon is just the other side of Medford --- 4090 Colver Rd Phoenix ,Oregon 97535

1-541-512-0440 If you want to learn how to swage and cant get that far down south maybe you can make it to Coos Bay Oregon i can help show you or you can call me just send me a PM and i will drop you my home phone ..

You will aso need jacket's thay can be had from

Butch- harrell.hairfield@ps.ge.com

Jacket's run anywere from 9 cent's to 14 cent's
 
Posts: 1557 | Location: Home of the original swage | Registered: 29 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Another route to go is go Reloading press swage die's



Made by CH Tool & Die/4-D Die Co.



Using Dave Davision's 101 swage die set



It's a two die set of swage's meant to

seat a core into the jacket then the other set is meant to point form the bullet.

With this die set you will need to buy a Core/Bullet moulder

to make the core's or a core cutter to cut the lead wire to lenght.

These die's are very much like the old Ted Smith Die's



101 swage die -Order No. 101XXXXX: $113.85

Standard Available Calibers:

308, 355, 357, 410, 429, and 451

--------------

Custom calibers are also available. They are $ 189.75 and can be delivered

in 12-14 weeks.



http://www.ch4d.com/



For a core cutter you can get one from Richard corbin or dave davison

I would go Richard corbin for the core moulder though

core Cutter's run about 50.00 moulder can run as high as 175.00 ..

Core moulder's form 3 to 4 core at one time

how ever i never pour more them two at a time myself

And to make super accurate bullet weight's you will need

a core moulder to get all the core's the same weight down to under 1/4 grain diffrent's

if you go core moulder you will also need a lead melting pot

and spoon..

You might also think about getting a jacket reducing die

So you can take black jacket's and reduce them

it work's out best if your shoot say a .458 and a .423 or .416 with in thoses limit's you need only buy .458 jacket then and reduce all the rest from them down to what you need in the smaller diam

And you might think about getting a case trimer or somthing else to trim over lenght jacket's down..



It's ten times easyer once seen then talked about.



Pottsy



P.S Another person you might email or PM on this is

subject

Saeed



I have heard tell he's slung a few swaged bullet's down range ...
 
Posts: 1557 | Location: Home of the original swage | Registered: 29 February 2004Reply With Quote
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How differcult might it be to make 220-250 grain round nosed bullets in .323 (8mm) using copper tubing?
Concerning tubing, is this the coiled on a spool fuel tubing that is used?
What sort of investment might this be? ~~~Suluuq
 
Posts: 854 | Location: Kotzebue, Ak. | Registered: 25 December 2001Reply With Quote
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Quote:

How differcult might it be to make 220-250 grain round nosed bullets in .323 (8mm) using copper tubing?
Concerning tubing, is this the coiled on a spool fuel tubing that is used?
What sort of investment might this be? ~~~Suluuq





I will defir the question to someone that really know's
alot about that . Jungli Bains .
But i can tell you that riachard Corbin sell's the die's
to do this.
=====================Below is a cut and paste from richard's web site..===


Copper Tubing Jacket Making Set
One of the biggest problems facing the bullet maker is where to get jackets. There are some jackets available in a limited range of calibers. For the most part the jackets that are available are much too thin to make good hunting bullets. Copper tubing can be used to make excellent hunting and some target bullets.

There are a lot of variables in the process that need to be worked out so it's best to contact me before ordering. The process goes something like this. First hard drawn tubing is cut to the correct length. The cut tubes are swaged in the Jacket Making Die. Then the tube is annealed to soften it and it is drawn to the correct diameter. The base is flattened and it's ready to use. Once the jacket is made it is used like a commercially made jacket.

Because the soft copper is so ductile it makes an excellent hunting bullet that will expand reliably under a wide range of conditions and since the jacket is still tough it holds together well.

Copper Tubing Jacket Set $385.00 (3lbs)
=========================

http://www.rceco.com/bulletmetal.htm
 
Posts: 1557 | Location: Home of the original swage | Registered: 29 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Martin,
you have a TON to share..

PLEASE go down to wally world and buy a 20 buck 1.3 megapixel digital camera

jeffe
 
Posts: 38379 | Location: Conroe, TX | Registered: 01 June 2002Reply With Quote
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The tubing that is used is hard drawn copper tubing. The coiled stuff is too soft and you can't quite get it straight enough. I have a tubing jacket die set for .30 caliber, you can use the same set for .323 jackets with addition of a draw die for that size. In fact the same jacket making set can be used for .375 with the correct draw die. The tubing used with my jacket making set is 3/8" L wall.
 
Posts: 179 | Location: Westbrook, Maine | Registered: 26 May 2002Reply With Quote
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Martin,
With all the money you're going to make on selling those 700 grain bullets, you should be able to get the best digital camera in Coos Bay.
 
Posts: 179 | Location: Westbrook, Maine | Registered: 26 May 2002Reply With Quote
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Well.... If it's not Jungli Bains

Working Tonight i see .. hey tell the cute one looking over your shoulder hi for me
Well i just ordered another lathe ..Again....
a small one it's only a 8x20 belt drive ...
I called Cry Baby last night you know who the one that want's me to buy him a Vroom Vroom bike in blue...
He told me that the die set would be ready sometime next year around Nov/Or Dec... he told me it was going to take that long becouse someone had lifted his lead extruder and won't give it back ..
Grrrr tight fisted old wind bag....

He was glass/bead blasting out back in the rain when i called him a few days ago ( LYER.!!!) HE just didn't want to answer the phone becouse he knew it was you know who..
Freaking cry baby....Waaaa i want money waaa i need another 2500.00 marty ..PLEASE give me money Waaa Waaa waaa..
So i lifted his extruder Mahahaha ....

Anyway's... Soo old boy have you gotten the swage die's yet ? or is Richy going to make you wait.Ya think ??


I broke the switch off the new lathe already

So i jerry rigged it for now .and i snapped part of the carbide bit off today i was using to trim the jacket's
down with...Soooo rich man got 190.00 for another bit??
and as for the freaking switch on the lathe ..Grrrrr
i have to take the whole head apart to get the dam switch in .......I was thinking of replacing it with a button type switch..

Anyway john old boy drop me a line when you get some time


Pottsy== poorer then dirt
 
Posts: 1557 | Location: Home of the original swage | Registered: 29 February 2004Reply With Quote
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Thank you for the info, but I think you lost me somewhere. I'm unable to understand how a 30 cal can be used for a 32 and a 37 cal... Obviously, I should buy one, or more, of them bullet-making books I've seen advertised. Is there a single book that explains all this, or do I need the set?
I'm only interested in making heavy-for-calibur round-nosed bullets for the 8mm. TIA ~~~Suluuq
 
Posts: 854 | Location: Kotzebue, Ak. | Registered: 25 December 2001Reply With Quote
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Rusty Gunn

Rusty there are die's called Bump
most folk's just ask for die's that bump up there bullet diam .

The die's are not cheap there a set of 2 or if your using a rebaited boattail then your looing at a 4 or 5 die set to bump up a diamator
and keep the boattail..

If you have time i could go over this with you on the phone..

--------------------------------
If your looking to just make one size Diam/
like you said .. 8 MM .
Then contact Richard Corbin and ask for a older vertion WallNut Hill's press and a 3 die swage set for it .

Richard will ask you a few thing's like ..
Do you want it ..flat nose ..Pointed...semi..etc

And he will ask you about Jacket size

here's the tricky part.... you need to ask your self .these question...
What am i going to be hunting...
Coastal alaskan deer... Elk...Black Bear..Brown Bear......
How far is my normal shot going to be .

100 feet ..300 yard's...600 yard's

It's a really safe bet to go 0.030 jacket wall thickness..the heaver the wall the more it's going to take to open the jacket up/mushroom out

If what your plaining to hunt are just the
local critter's .bear. dear.elk etc then your going to be safe using a 0.030 .

As far as book's go...
contact Richard Corbin put him on speaker phone and tape it lol..


To --Draw-- a jacket down is to lower it's out side diamator using die's

To --Bump-- a jacket up in size .is to raise it's out side diamator

Here's the cost over all on starting up...


One WallNut Hill's Older Vertion $ 200.00
One Set Of Swage die's for the wallnut hill's press in the diamator you wanted $ 350.00

Jacket's from Butch in the lenght you would need about 10 to 14 Cent's each
maybe a little less

a roll of pure lead wire .. $ 28.00

Lube for your die's about 20.00

a cutter for your lead wire...( for now just use side cutter's.. Dike's.) later on you can get one for about $ 45.00

Some way to be able to bond the core's( heat)

for now just brake out the old camp gas stove

or one of those one's you use to cook crab out on the beach with....

Flux $ 1.50 pre bottle

Ear swab's< there's a good use for them
there use to swab on the Lube into and around the inside of the die's and for cleaning the flux off the top of the bullet's once you have bonded them..There will be a slight residueon the top of the lead that must be removed.
I use Tarn-X Tarnish remover it work's the best at removing the old flux ...

Your going to need needle nose plier's to hold the jacket with the core in it over the flame

remmber to cut down on scorching on the jacket's and the black mark's use a pure blue flame and submerge the jacketed core into it .
but watch out if the core's are a tight fit then you could be popping the core's out while trying to heat them becouse of the flux heating up on the under side of the lead core will create a gas ..


next thing is a good silver polish rage
and a plastic scrub pad ..
The plastic scrub pad's to be used only if you get black on the jacket's for scorching them in the flame..
And the polishing rage is to make them Sparkle Smiler


Pottsy
 
Posts: 1557 | Location: Home of the original swage | Registered: 29 February 2004Reply With Quote
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