Hello
I have just ordered the barrel for my first wildcat, the 19-223 Calhoon. Also this year I want to play around with another wildcat, a 20-223 variant, not sure yet which.

All this has led me in search of the one thing I need to make this work, bullets.

Currently, both are supported. Calhoon, thier own bad selves, and of course Berger and Hornady for 20 cal.
But this has also led me to bullet swageing, through a weird path. This is a new thing to me.
But I think I could figure it out. But a bit of guidance. I made a lot of mistakes equipment wise getting into reloading. This time I am smart enough to ask.

What would I need to start swageing bullets in 17, 19, 20 cal. I am a bit perplexed right now by all the different dies on the Corbin site.

1)Can/Will my bullets be as good as factory?
2)Where can I get the "Cores"? I dont want to melt my own, if I can help it, that scares me. (toxins)
3)Can I reduce/stretch/cut 22 cases to make jackets for these smaller diameters? I heard that used to be done with 22 centerfires.
4)How does one set the weight? Do I need a different die for every weight?

5)Can I swage out of solid copper? [Barnes type]
5a) Different dies?
6)Can I swage using my Redding Press? It is a cast O-frame.

7)How do I figure out what ogive I can or can-not use. Meaning are there some that swage better than others? Right now I like the Berger 25 grain style bullet in the 17 Remington. To duplicate that (style) would be good.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Call Corbin. He loves to talk, and is full of great information.

Mike Johnston

There is a thread on bullet making at the link below. Most respondents tried it, then went back to shooting other's.

http://www.benchrest.com/wwwboard/index.cgi?read=184331

Joe, I don't know about the calibers you mention as I did my bullet swagging with corbin stuff several years ago...but I will give you my answers based on my experiences.

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Originally posted by JoeM:
1)Can/Will my bullets be as good as factory?

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Yes, probably so.

quote:

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2)Where can I get the "Cores"? I dont want to melt my own, if I can help it, that scares me. (toxins)

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I think you have two routes. Cast your own cores or try to find some lead wire that will work. I know of no core molds that fit the calibers you are seeking. Don't worry about the toxins. A million people have been casting bullets for the last thousand years. Short of eating the lead dust, you won't hurt yourself.

quote:

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3)Can I reduce/stretch/cut 22 cases to make jackets for these smaller diameters? I heard that used to be done with 22 centerfires.

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Corbin says you can but it's BS. We tried it and it does not work well at all. The cases buckle with todays modern .22 brass. You will have to buy your jacket cores.

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4)How does one set the weight? Do I need a different die for every weight?

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The bullet weight is determined by the weight of the lead core you place in the jacket cup. Just how heavy or light your bullet can be is determined by the length/volume of your jacket cup. So, one die swagges all the different weights.

quote:

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5)Can I swage out of solid copper? [Barnes type]
5a) Different dies?

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Don't know. Never tried it. Probably not.

quote:

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6)Can I swage using my Redding Press? It is a cast O-frame.

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Any good stout reloading press is suitable for bullet swagging. RCBS Rockchucker type press should be more than adequate.

quote:

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7)How do I figure out what ogive I can or can-not use. Meaning are there some that swage better than others? Right now I like the Berger 25 grain style bullet in the 17 Remington. To duplicate that (style) would be good.

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You don't figure out anything. You take what Corbin sends you.

Someone said Corbin likes to talk. Yes, he does. But he also likes to sell stuff and will paint a far more rosie picture of things than may accurately apply.

I think swagging for the calibers you are considering MAY be a pain. Think carefully about this before jumping in the water and make sure it's going to economically pay off in the long run.

Hope this bit of dated material helps.

You can make a bullet that is better than factory, in that it can be
specifically tailored to match your barrel. Often, you can measure
factory bullets and see the out of round or variance which you most
likely will not have with hand-made bullets.

Wire is the best way to go on the cores, it is available from Corbin
or other sources. After deciding on what jacket length you want,
you put the jacket in a pre-set scale, cut the wire, and start
swaging the core until you get the scale balanced. Easy.

You can get ready to go 17 jackets (I resize them to 14), I'm not sure
about 19's or 20's. But, it wouldn't be much of a chore to resize
22's to get to them. I have seen bullets made from rimfire cases,
and they actually didn't shoot too bad. For the work, you are much
better buying jackets. The J4's I use only cost a little over 4c apiece.

I have an e-mail from Richard Corbin (now RCE Inc.) here
somewhere on solids that I'll send to you if you are interested
in that. It's somewhat impractical in that the copper readily
available isn't the best thing in the world to use.

The dies are just different sizes to match different bullet sizes
and presses. For the 20's and 19's, you will need
jacket resizing dies and the punches that go with them, a core swage
die, a core seat die, and a pointing die.

Bullet making presses are strong. At least 3 times as strong as a
Rock Chucker. Mine has a 1" ram and two different strokes for
reloading and swaging. I can swage a .50 on the press I use for
14's! I used to extrude my own wire. A lead billet the size of a
38 case will make a .100 diameter wire 18" long! That would
break a Rock Chucker. I understand that there are 7/8-14 sets
available though that will fit reloading presses, I think from
Dave Corbin. They were pretty reasonable too.

The longer the ogive is on a bullet, the harder it is to push out of
the die. (and the easier it is to stick it in the die) It's not that hard.
I do 6s ogives on my 14's. It's just knowing how much lube to put
on the bullet, like case forming. Too much lube, you make dents.
Not enough, you stick it.

This is the tip of the iceberg. e-mail me at russ@bobmarshall.org
if I have confused you too much.

Hope this helps
russ