homemade bullet jackets

GaBob

I just read an article in The Backwoodsman Magazine about a fellow who bores out bullet molds so that he can insert a short piece of copper tubing and cast the bullet core into it. Anyone heard of anything like this? Looks like if the rear end was not closed it could blow the core out and leave jacket in barrel.( I once had that happen with a military armor piercing round).



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roysha

Given the difference in the shrinkage between the lead and the copper I would absolutely agree with you. My question is: WHY would someone do this in the first place?

"What you do ultimately means nothing, and you could be replaced tomorrow by the first passing cretin." Corinne Maier

1911a1-fan

there is a few things that would come into play here, first being boring the bullet mold out, this would increase the diameter of the bullet, and would definitely be a problem, as far as the end being open depends on the bullet most fmj bullets are not totally encased anyway, any jacketed bullet has the potential to separate in the barrel, the visual of what you described would most definitely increase your odds

nononsense

Robert,

Is there a link to the article that refer to? If so, please post it for us to read.

I'm scratching my head to remember exactly where my notes might be for the process that you are describing. I'll keep looking but I think I remember enough to be reasonably accurate.

Originally, the action was taken to replace the driving bands of the cast lead bullets with a driving band of copper tubing. The goal being, to be able to increase the velocity over and to prevent stripping of strictly cast lead bullets.

The molds that we made simply used a groove diameter piece of copper tubing that was cut slightly shorter than the driving band length in the mold and the front part of the bullet was a bore riding diameter. You placed the slightly short piece of tubing in the mold and pre-heated the pieces assembled then you just poured the mold full of lead. Since the tubing is slightly short, the lead fills in behind it creating a mechanical lock. Obviously these are base poured bullets as opposed to nose poured. I hope that this makes sense.

I'm not sure what the person in The Backwoodsman Magazine had in mind since I don't have access to the article but this is the technique that we used. The Navy has used a similar idea of driving band shells for their deck guns.





Best.

GaBob

I looked back and found the article. It is actually in the form of a letter to the editor. Apparently he does position the tubing about midway the bullet and then seats a gas check behind it. The bullet is run thru a sizer to swage it to proper diameter and seat the gas check
His name is Todd Stoddard,
2217 CR 204
Durango, Co 81301

Keep Your Powder Dry
NRA Life Member
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MARK TWAIN

roysha

Okay, that makes some sense. Seems like a lot of work though.

"What you do ultimately means nothing, and you could be replaced tomorrow by the first passing cretin." Corinne Maier

chunkstyle

Wouldn't it be easier to just swage the bullets with spent .22LR cases?

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dakotashooter2

I would presume that he is boring out the "lube grooves" in the mold as they are what would prevent the insertion of a copper jacket. During the transition from lead to jacketed bullets this was fairly common practice and molds made for this purpose were available. You still see one on auction on occassion. It was a way to "enhance the performance of a lead bullet. These were in essence a 1/2 jacket bullet which allowed the use of softer lead for the nose without the bore leading problem. They performed reasonably well for their day. while it probably is a PIA some people do it for the same reason they make regular cast bullets, for the satifaction of doing it yourself.

Grunt2

A bit off topic......but anybody see Barnes draw his bullet jacket material in the early years? Always liked that old Cady....

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I.Shute

I used Barnes Originals around 1950 and didn't think much of them.
They simply swaged the tip and allowed the lead tip to stick out about 3/32 and it would break off easily with your finger or when chambered because the jacket was so thick at the point. I've unchambered a round and seen the tip bent over, just ready to fall off.

I make jacketed bullets for .510 Wells and .50bmg and I ream the tip to a sharp edge and cut the base with a tube cutter in the lathe. It makes a clean edge for the lead nose and the crimp at the base helps to form a little bit of a base. The lead is poured into the swaged jacket and then swaged up to .510 and excess lead cut off and rounded smooth.

I've recovered a handful of bullets shot into end grain and cross grain wood and there's no problem of the core and jacket separating. It's just a big glob of copper and lead about an inch in diameter.

It seems that I've seen Barnes Originals advertised a while back and wondered if they ever corrected the fault with the tip. Talked to them at the SHOT show and forgot to ask.