Does anyone swage their own jacketed bullets?

[Cat-Herder]

I've been talking to Brian, AKA BTSniper over at the castboolits forum, and I'm really considering this. I've been mulling it over for a couple of years, as it's kinda pricey to get started. Does anyone here do this?

BTSniper Custom Tools and Dies - Cast Boolits

The gist is: take a .40 spent casing, insert a cast lead slug, run it through the die/dies, and the final product is a .45 jacketed hollowpoint.
The same can be done with .22LR/.223, 9mm/40, and 5.7/.308.

Thanks, in advance!

 

[CountryBoy19]

I had considered it but like you said, it's pricey. With my current connections I can get pulled 5.56 mil bullets extremely cheap so it's just not worth it to me. Different people will see it differently so my opinion is only one. I just don't have the time to dedicate to swaging my own bullets when I can buy them almost as cheap.

 

[downzero]

Not worth it to me for pistol bullets when cast bullets would work just fine.

I think the rifle cartridge idea is much more plausible, but the bullets will probably never be as accurate as store-bought. Keep in mind that at the velocities (both spin rpm and actual velocity) that rifle bullets travel, bullets play a huge part in accuracy, especially as distances get longer.

Bullet manufacturers have a very consistent process and still continuously test lots of their bullets for proper ballistic performance. I have been to Sierra's factory and seen their manufacturing process, and the level of quality control necessary to produce bullets of their quality is far beyond what anyone here could do practically for smaller batches, and they are happy to sell as scrap the bullets that don't survive this process.

Don't let me discourage you guys from doing this as I love tinkering and I don't mean to be a debbie downer, I just want to make sure you're aware of the limitations and challenges of making high-quality jacketed bullets. It's both an art and a science.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I too have given it serious consideration but like dz said, for pistol cast bullets work pretty well. I have considered the .22lr shell to .223 jacket just to play with but it's a lot of time invested for a very cheap bullet. I may still do it just to have the capability and to learn the process.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Took me a few to grok what he's doing, but it seems like a good idea, however, think I'll stay with status quo.

 

[wolfman]

I sold several "Large" flat rate boxes of .22 brass a year or so ago to guys making their own .223 bullets.

 

[DaKruiser]

I've thought about it for my .458 socom, you can make boolits for it with 45acp brass.

 

[dukeboy_318]

I have looked into it as well, even found a press cheap on ebay for it(40 bucks) but I can buy a lot of .224 bullets for the price of those dies. Granted, those dies have a great rep, I just cant justify dies at the cost of an AR