22 LR case jacket bullets
- Thread starter swift dog
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Originally Posted By: FC363I looked into it once, and it was more money than I wanted to spend just to get cheap bullets. I could buy alot of premium stuff for what it would cost to get all the dies and a press capable of making them.
Yeah I agree with that. If they had a way to make a fmj around 50 grains I would be more interested. I can't shoot 55gr bullets in my 220 swift, they won't stabilize.
Yeah I agree with that. If they had a way to make a fmj around 50 grains I would be more interested. I can't shoot 55gr bullets in my 220 swift, they won't stabilize.
I was given a set many years ago and bought another set about the same time. I've made a lot of bullets with them and they work fine in anything running 3000 fps or less. If you had a really smooth well lapped barrel you might get away with a little more velocity. The 22LR cases have to be annealed otherwise the nose will split as it is being formed.
Some rifles shoot them extremely well. I had a Savage 24V that absolutely loved them. A couple of my former 222's liked them and the other two did not. I never had one exit on a coyote. They killed very well when shot out my 222's. They should work well in a 221, 22 Hornet, 218 Bee or any round kept at 3000 fps or less. I usually make mine 52-53 grains but you can make up to a 55 grain bullet pretty easily.
I think Corbin makes a die that would produce a FMJ. I would wonder if that thin a jacket would hold up as an FMJ.
Corbin and others sell commercial jackets that will hold up to Swift velocities. I've made a lot of 55 grain bullets with commercial jackets for my Swift with these dies. They are some of the most accurate bullets I've ever shot.
If a guy is shooting a lot of 222 or similar rounds making 22RF bullets is a good option. It makes a great bad weather day activity. It's pretty satisfying to turn out a big pile of home swaged bullets and then get to use them on some varmints.
Some rifles shoot them extremely well. I had a Savage 24V that absolutely loved them. A couple of my former 222's liked them and the other two did not. I never had one exit on a coyote. They killed very well when shot out my 222's. They should work well in a 221, 22 Hornet, 218 Bee or any round kept at 3000 fps or less. I usually make mine 52-53 grains but you can make up to a 55 grain bullet pretty easily.
I think Corbin makes a die that would produce a FMJ. I would wonder if that thin a jacket would hold up as an FMJ.
Corbin and others sell commercial jackets that will hold up to Swift velocities. I've made a lot of 55 grain bullets with commercial jackets for my Swift with these dies. They are some of the most accurate bullets I've ever shot.
If a guy is shooting a lot of 222 or similar rounds making 22RF bullets is a good option. It makes a great bad weather day activity. It's pretty satisfying to turn out a big pile of home swaged bullets and then get to use them on some varmints.
Originally Posted By: martI was given a set many years ago and bought another set about the same time. I've made a lot of bullets with them and they work fine in anything running 3000 fps or less. If you had a really smooth well lapped barrel you might get away with a little more velocity. The 22LR cases have to be annealed otherwise the nose will split as it is being formed.
Some rifles shoot them extremely well. I had a Savage 24V that absolutely loved them. A couple of my former 222's liked them and the other two did not. I never had one exit on a coyote. They killed very well when shot out my 222's. They should work well in a 221, 22 Hornet, 218 Bee or any round kept at 3000 fps or less. I usually make mine 52-53 grains but you can make up to a 55 grain bullet pretty easily.
I think Corbin makes a die that would produce a FMJ. I would wonder if that thin a jacket would hold up as an FMJ.
Corbin and others sell commercial jackets that will hold up to Swift velocities. I've made a lot of 55 grain bullets with commercial jackets for my Swift with these dies. They are some of the most accurate bullets I've ever shot.
If a guy is shooting a lot of 222 or similar rounds making 22RF bullets is a good option. It makes a great bad weather day activity. It's pretty satisfying to turn out a big pile of home swaged bullets and then get to use them on some varmints.
We use A LOT of these bullets for a 223. As long as we keep them at or under 3000 ft/s they are good to go and very deadly on game. Push them much harder and they can (and did) come apart after leaving the barrel.
Some rifles shoot them extremely well. I had a Savage 24V that absolutely loved them. A couple of my former 222's liked them and the other two did not. I never had one exit on a coyote. They killed very well when shot out my 222's. They should work well in a 221, 22 Hornet, 218 Bee or any round kept at 3000 fps or less. I usually make mine 52-53 grains but you can make up to a 55 grain bullet pretty easily.
I think Corbin makes a die that would produce a FMJ. I would wonder if that thin a jacket would hold up as an FMJ.
Corbin and others sell commercial jackets that will hold up to Swift velocities. I've made a lot of 55 grain bullets with commercial jackets for my Swift with these dies. They are some of the most accurate bullets I've ever shot.
If a guy is shooting a lot of 222 or similar rounds making 22RF bullets is a good option. It makes a great bad weather day activity. It's pretty satisfying to turn out a big pile of home swaged bullets and then get to use them on some varmints.
We use A LOT of these bullets for a 223. As long as we keep them at or under 3000 ft/s they are good to go and very deadly on game. Push them much harder and they can (and did) come apart after leaving the barrel.
You can either use lead wire (available commercially) or cast your cores from pure lead or wheel weights. I have both an adjustable core mold and a lead wire cutter so can use either method. The wire cutter has a stop on it that allows for very precise cores to be cut. The core is pressed into the formed jacket cup prior to nose forming.
My set is the kind that can be used in a reloading press. I don't know what they sell for now but one set was given to me and the other set I bought used. I got them for $100. If I had to buy the dies today at full retail I probably would pass on them. With the dies I got approximately 20,000 of the old copper cased 22 LR casings. The fellow who gave me the dies had been the range manager of a small bore league and got a buy on some, I believe Fiocchi or Eley copper cased 22 LR. I have another 5-6000 brass cases as well. I'm pretty well set for making 224 bullets.
I'm not sure on the powdered copper core bullets. Sounds like something well beyond this old gaffer's ability. I'm what you would call a technotard. Technology retarded.
I'm not sure on the powdered copper core bullets. Sounds like something well beyond this old gaffer's ability. I'm what you would call a technotard. Technology retarded.
For you guys wanting to make an FMJ with these bullet swage sets using 22 RF cases as jackets it cane be done but has to be 70gn weight.
I can post a pic of some and explain the procedure and reason for the 70gn weight if anyone is interested.
I have also made 110gn 243/6mm dual core bullets using two 22 RF cases for each bullet. There is a lot that can be done with these dies if you just let your mind wander a bit. No no don't let your mind wander in the gutter but let it ponder bullet design.
Here is another example of mind wandering bullet design. I have made 22 cal incendiary bullets by swaging a small rifle primer in the nose riding on top of the core.
Let the force be with you Luke Skywalker.
I can post a pic of some and explain the procedure and reason for the 70gn weight if anyone is interested.
I have also made 110gn 243/6mm dual core bullets using two 22 RF cases for each bullet. There is a lot that can be done with these dies if you just let your mind wander a bit. No no don't let your mind wander in the gutter but let it ponder bullet design.
Here is another example of mind wandering bullet design. I have made 22 cal incendiary bullets by swaging a small rifle primer in the nose riding on top of the core.
Let the force be with you Luke Skywalker.
Bullshop
I would like to know more about the FMJs and the reason for the need for them to be 70grn. I have a 220 swift with a 1 in 14 barrel so there is no way I push a 70grn fast enough to stabilize. 55 grn bullet will not stabize either so I'm kinda limited to 50 or less.
I would like to know more about the FMJs and the reason for the need for them to be 70grn. I have a 220 swift with a 1 in 14 barrel so there is no way I push a 70grn fast enough to stabilize. 55 grn bullet will not stabize either so I'm kinda limited to 50 or less.
Swift Dog
I don't understand why your 220 swift with 1/14" twist wont stabilize a 55gn bullet. I hunted coyotes for many years with a 22/250 with 1/14" twist and I was able to use the 60 and 63gn Sierra as well as the two 60gn designs from Hornady. Well back then Hornady had only two 60gn offerings a soft point and a hollow point. Those were my preferred bullets for coyote hunting.
Your Swift with 1/14" twist should do as well. Something is not right with that.
The reason I said that the FMJ bullets made from 22 RF cases had to be at least 70 gn is because you have to use enough core to fill the jacket flush with the mouth. If the jacket is not full the mouth of the jacket which becomes the base of the bullet will crush in a crumpled uneven manner. I have made them at 55 gn and they shoot OK but they do not look good. The base can be closed evenly but it will require an additional die and step in the operation. I sell bullets and for that reason they have to look good as well as shoot good.
The procedure is simple. First you seat the core in the normal fashion then when putting the jacket with seated core in the final form die you just simply swap ends and put the closed end in first to form the point at the closed end of the jacket. That leaves the base end of the bullet open with the core exposed as is normal with many factory fmj bullets.
Done this way the nose of the bullet does not form fully to a point but is more what I would call a semi point. If you have ever seen any of the Hornady 80gn 243 cal FMJ's they look very much the same only at .224 cal. Both have the slightly rounded nose with the open base.
Because of the semi pointed nose and even though they are 70gn the length is fairly short so they wont need quite as much twist as is considered necessary for the same weight but in a VLD type profile. Still they may be too long for a 1/14" twist but I don't know for sure. I feel fairly certain that a 1/12" would work with them. If you want I can measure the length of one and post it here.
I don't understand why your 220 swift with 1/14" twist wont stabilize a 55gn bullet. I hunted coyotes for many years with a 22/250 with 1/14" twist and I was able to use the 60 and 63gn Sierra as well as the two 60gn designs from Hornady. Well back then Hornady had only two 60gn offerings a soft point and a hollow point. Those were my preferred bullets for coyote hunting.
Your Swift with 1/14" twist should do as well. Something is not right with that.
The reason I said that the FMJ bullets made from 22 RF cases had to be at least 70 gn is because you have to use enough core to fill the jacket flush with the mouth. If the jacket is not full the mouth of the jacket which becomes the base of the bullet will crush in a crumpled uneven manner. I have made them at 55 gn and they shoot OK but they do not look good. The base can be closed evenly but it will require an additional die and step in the operation. I sell bullets and for that reason they have to look good as well as shoot good.
The procedure is simple. First you seat the core in the normal fashion then when putting the jacket with seated core in the final form die you just simply swap ends and put the closed end in first to form the point at the closed end of the jacket. That leaves the base end of the bullet open with the core exposed as is normal with many factory fmj bullets.
Done this way the nose of the bullet does not form fully to a point but is more what I would call a semi point. If you have ever seen any of the Hornady 80gn 243 cal FMJ's they look very much the same only at .224 cal. Both have the slightly rounded nose with the open base.
Because of the semi pointed nose and even though they are 70gn the length is fairly short so they wont need quite as much twist as is considered necessary for the same weight but in a VLD type profile. Still they may be too long for a 1/14" twist but I don't know for sure. I feel fairly certain that a 1/12" would work with them. If you want I can measure the length of one and post it here.
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Bullshop
Ok that makes sense. Is there a way the case could be trimmed so it would finnish better at a lighter weight. Probably would be a LOT of WORK and not worth it. I would like to try the 70gr bullets but they probably would not work in my gun. Well OK let me put it this way. I bought this rifle new about a year ago. Its a Remington model 700, I wasn't sure what bullet I wanted to use but it looked like the .224 bullets in 55 grain would be a good place to start. After shooting a box of rem factory loads with 50gr so to get some brass I tried a few 55gr vmax. The accuracy was terrible, I mean a couple inches at hundred yards. I blamed it on the bullets so I tried some sierra blitzking, same story and that's when I really started looking at my targets. I found slightly oblong holes and a light bulb came on so I went down to 50gr vmax and they shoot fine. I got the vmax up to 3500fps and the blitzking to 3300fps. They might have stabilized if I would have went faster but I'm trying to be nice to my barrel. Sorry this is so long but there you have it. Thank you
Ok that makes sense. Is there a way the case could be trimmed so it would finnish better at a lighter weight. Probably would be a LOT of WORK and not worth it. I would like to try the 70gr bullets but they probably would not work in my gun. Well OK let me put it this way. I bought this rifle new about a year ago. Its a Remington model 700, I wasn't sure what bullet I wanted to use but it looked like the .224 bullets in 55 grain would be a good place to start. After shooting a box of rem factory loads with 50gr so to get some brass I tried a few 55gr vmax. The accuracy was terrible, I mean a couple inches at hundred yards. I blamed it on the bullets so I tried some sierra blitzking, same story and that's when I really started looking at my targets. I found slightly oblong holes and a light bulb came on so I went down to 50gr vmax and they shoot fine. I got the vmax up to 3500fps and the blitzking to 3300fps. They might have stabilized if I would have went faster but I'm trying to be nice to my barrel. Sorry this is so long but there you have it. Thank you