It seems as though every time you turn around there is yet another new,small, low volume, premium bullet maker trying to get a piece of the bigger guys action.

I am just curious. How do they tool up? What equipment is necessary for these bullet makers, and who makes and sells that equipment, or is it stricly a custom machinists job. For example, say you wanted to make a Barnes X bullet. what would you need to make it and make it as good as Barnes does?

Relatively speaking...start with a large pile of money.
Jim

Bullet making can be accomplished by a CNC lathe and the appropriate material....usually a an alloy brass bar and simply machining a contour and if need be drilling a HP.

One can also find a waterbury ferral press designed for bullet making. The multiple station progressive presses will turn out a bullet per second but needs to be tooled with appropriate punches in each station.

Many of these presses make bullets in roughly thirty stations and at the end kick the bullet to a rotary canneluring device.

If you can get an invitation to tour Federal Cartridge there in Anoka you can see several in action.....you can also get a plant tour in Grand Island to see them busily kicking out all kinds of bullets.

The lathe makes bullets with minimal tooling but they cost more.....the Waterbury presses make bullets fast but the tooling for them runs many thousands of dollars for the first run.

Also, go to Corbin's website to see how to make bullets in your loading press.....just like Joyce Hornady did 55 years ago!!!

22, The guys that are making premium bullets are not trying to get a piece of the big guys action, they are trying, and succeding, to make bullets that are a lot better shooting then some of the junk turned out by the big guys. There are 6 or 8 guys making bullets that are excellent shooting, and used by almost every BR shooter, if not all. It is quite expensive to get started, and not worth it for what great bullets can be purchased for, my opinion anyway. Most are made on presses designed for bullet making, but very similar to a single stage reloading press. Knowing the pressure that is needed to form a H.P. bullet, I would say that any kind of turret press would be all but worthless in the process. I have been paying about 240.00 a thou. for 30 cal. 125 Gr. bullets and think that they are worth every cent of it. I do not know what a mass produced bullet goes for now as I havn't used one in 30 years.

BBeyer, you are getting a heck of a deal on your 30's. I don't know of any of the bigger small guys making 30's that cheap anymore(Bibb, Fowler, Euber, etc.). Most of them are over $300 now. The only thing in your post that seems wrong is that the presses used are designed for making bullets. In fact, most of them are made on Rockchuckers that are modified for bullet making.

Point, Come to think of it, I have heard that J4 had increased the price of jackets, and the price of bullets may have increased. I am not sure just what I paid for them, I just made out a check and sent it to Randy. I havn't got any for a while, as I had my house compleatly redone last winter while I wasn't here and am still trying to get things together and didn't shoot much last season. Sounds like I may be glad that I have tried to stay 8 or 9 thou. ahead, and time to start shooting some of them up. Bib has a new building where their equipment is set up, and I think Randy said they are using presses that are designed for bullet making. Could be wrong, been a while since I talked to him.

It seems as if the emphasis on this thread is "the press" when actually it should be on "the dies". Any strong press will suffice to make good bullets, if it set up right. My outfit consists of 1 Rockchucker for squirting cores and 2 Ammomasters for core seating and point-up. All three presses were set up by Bill Niemi. If substandard dies are used, no press will make a good bullet. My advice to anyone considering making match quality, jacketed bullets, is to contact Niemi and discuss your needs with him.