If you start from minimum loads and work up, is there still a point at which a bullet is too deep in the case?

I ask because I have been experimenting with swaging 405gr Remington .458 bullets down to .416 for (cheap/plinkin'/practice) use in a 416 Rigby. The resulting bullet and reformed nose is very cylindrical with little ogive.

To seat deep enough to stay off the lands, the bullet is extending well into the case, well below the shoulder.

So is there some point at which ANY pressure level in the case can lead to a catastrophic problem due to bullet deformation or bridging or ???

I don't know about the Rigby but look at the 260 Remington with a 160 Hornady RN bullet sometime and you will see a lot of bullet below the neck. Same thing on a 300 Win Mag and a 220 RN bullet. Lot's of bullet below the neck. You mention "below the shoulder" and that seems, well, way in there...so I just don't know.
Best regards,
dmw

Assuming that the swaging operation is not weaking the metal properties of the bullet, I wouldn't think that would be a problem. There are several bullets in other calibers (like the VLD designs) that extend well below the shoulder.

You may find though that the longer bullet may not stablize now with the minimum loads.

mrjulian: I'll answer your question if you'll answer mine!

Your question: No, there is no amount of bullet protrusion into the wider part of a bottleneck cartridge which will necessarily create excessive pressures or some other undesirable effect. Of course, with a long, blunt-ogived bullet you are in effect decreasing the volume of the pressure vessel, so "normal" loads for that same weight bullet may well produce pressures that are higher than when used with a bullet of sharper ogive. Just start appropriately low on the powder charge, and use a powder fast enough that it does not require excessive compression by the deeply seated bullet.

My question: What kind of tool are you using to swage down your bullets? I would like to swage extra light .30 cal handgun bullets down to .284-.286 for use in my 7x33 Sako.

Gentlemen, thank you for your input... the lesson I take away is just start low and work up carefully.. as is usually the case.

Stonecreek, I am using Lee resizing die bodies for the 250 Savage. They are cheap and easy to order from Lee directly as replacement parts. The body taper of that cartridge just so happens to start at .4668 and end at .414. By using 2 dies cut to certain lengths, I am able to step the bullet down by pressing it through them using a homemade punch and a 1-ton arbor press. The Lee resizing lube works the best of the different lubes i have tried.

To reform the nose, I drilled/honed a .416 hole in a ~4" long piece of 1.5" dia round stock, and then made a nose punch from a piece of drill rod turned to ~.415 dia. The nose shape itself was cut in the end of the drill rod by a form tool I just eyeballed onto a HSS tool bit on the bench grinder.

The dies and nose punch tool were all cut/made on my lathe. Carbide tooling is a must to cutoff a hardened die body (or a chop saw if avail).

Lube a bullet, press it through the short die body, then through the longer die body. Insert the resized bullet into the round stock, insert nose punch from other end, stand on a vise anvil and whack with a ball peen hammer. Tap out the bullet and I get a final sized, round nosed, loooong cylinder 405gr, 416 Cal bullet.

There may be a caliber out there that would offer a body taper from somewhere greater than .358 down to somewhere less than .284.

I was lucky and got the tip for the 250 Savage for my project from another thread in the bullet making forum. Lacking that, here is a useful link to see what might be out there. It's the SAAMI web page with links to every cartridge drawing:

SAAMI cartridge drawings

quote:

I would like to swage extra light .30 cal handgun bullets down to .284-.286 for use in my 7x33 Sako.

I use a lee bullet sizer to take 416 magtips down to .410. Can't imagine taking them down 4 times that much.

Just to follow up... Went to a buddy's property today where we have a range set up. I had loaded 5 rounds with the modified Remington bullets in front of 90grs of H4831sc. I also had several of my "normal" loads along as well (400gr Hornady bullet w/ 100gr of powder).

From a standing rest at ~30yds, the POI was essentially identical between my normal loads and the modified Remington loads, with no signs of excessive pressure.

These first 5 were just intended to be a proof of concept exercise, which I'm concluding was a success. So now, I'll crank out several more and start some actual accuracy testing at the indoor range.

Thanks for all your input regarding my seating depth question.