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Should I resize new jacketed bullets?
fastcarsgofast
Member Posts: 7,179
I get mixed results from searching the web.
Comments
Unlike most cast bullets, jacketed ones are usually very close to the same size as the most-often-encountered bore diameter for the specific caliber you're loading.
Fer instance: your Blackhawk's bore diameter works out to be 0.355", but your SAA Colt's is 0.358", and they both shoot .357magnum.
You ordered a bunch of .357 SJHPs which average 0.360" diameter, and long to shoot them in something.
It may be safer to shoot them in your SAA Colt than your Blackhawk; but since the Ruger is built like a tank, I wouldn't hesitate to shoot "average velocity" handloads in either gun.
Had a friend that sized and lubed cast bullets, then ran them in a CH swedger. The machine rest said they shot better but I couldn't tell.
Know people that 1 shoot 45 ACP in an 06 with no issues and 2 a guy that shot 1000's of rounds of 9mm Sten gun ammo in a 30 Mauser broomhandle. Pressure required to swage bullets is small compaired to chamber pressures P.O. Ackley
You are asking about taking a XXX diameter JACKETED rifle/pistol bullet and swaging it down to a smaller diameter????
if so.........
No, it can't be done. Lead is a DEAD metal, it does not rebound like the jacket does when formed. Even a little change in diameter will break the bond between jacket and core making the result less than satisfactory.
Recoil,accuracy, penetration, case measurements and primer condition showed no differences so I abandoned resizing and used the .311 bullets.
At that time I hadn't a chronograph to check velocity differences.
I have swadged down jacketed bullets for handgun use. A 300 grain .458 bullet to use in a .452 revolver. You need a really skookum press and plenty of lube and it works like a charm. Sure, the jacket and core may not be as tight as was intended, and accuracy may suffer, but we're talking about big revolver bullets. An average shooter would not be able to tell the difference.
Likewise, bumping a .311 down to .308 for use in an AK or something like that is no big deal. They'll still shoot into Minute Of Tincan.
JMHO
Ray
The notion that resizing a jacket bullet in a push through die will result in jacket springback and loose cores is one of those reloading ideas that merits a lot on paper- such as not putting any lube on the case shoulder- but has no real basis in reality. I've resized a lot of jacketed .338 bullets to .332 for my M-95 Steyr (nominally a .329" bore diameter, but mine is a bit fat) and while I have had the occasional flyer attributable to a loose core (I think( in practice 99% of them are just fine. Similarly I've resized .308 to .300 for my Carcano with no issue.
If this bothers you, there are companies that make jacketed bullet reducing dies to avoid this issue.
So, how were they made??
The core is swaged into the jacket under big pressure. The jacket is already to diameter. The final steps is making a point on the bullet but that displaces the front part of the lead it does not change the jacket diameter.
Corbin bullets has a kit to make 223 bullets from fired 22 cases. It works great. I made thousands of 223 bullets with it.
I was doing this 30 years ago, because I could not find any decent bullets to shoot out of my .38 Super. I resized .357 bullets and it worked great. I made some wonderful loads out of .375 holow points.