Rifle Ammo Question needs answer

[Noober1]

Just got into reloading. I've noticed most rifle ammo has a copper jacket around the bullet; Or so thinks my ignorance. So, can you make your own copper jacket bullets? Where do you learn...how do you do it? Can you use lead for your rifle bullets?


Thanks,

Noober1

 

[Danny]

I'm sure someone with enough ingenuity could probably make some copper jacketed bullets. However, it is a science. You have to have the core, then you have to form the jacket to fit around it. It has to be the right size (caliber), and it has to be designed for the job at hand. Will it expand properly in the target, or will it not expand at all? Will it fly apart coming out of the barrel? Will it fly straight and be accurate? etc, etc, etc,

Lead bullets are pretty easy to make. Get the lead, melt it, put it in a mold, take it out of the mold when cool and solid, load it up. Lead molds are pretty easy to use.

 

[HiredHand]

You definitely can make your own jacketed bullets. You can even make .22 caliber bullets from spent 22 rimfire cases. Check out this company's website, http://www.corbins.com/

Lead can also be cast into rifle bullets. The trick is using the proper lead alloys to prevent barrel leading. Casting is a whole science in itself. Check out this website, http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ Youtube also has some good videos that demonstrate the techniques, supplies and equipment needed to start casting your own bullets.

 

[LtCCMPUnit42]

I knew an old timer in Blackwell, OK who built his own cast bullets and copper jackets out of tubing. He passed on about 2 yrs back, but he had a swagger, sizer, and some sort of equipment to fuse the core to the jacket. I only saw him do it a few times but was amazed at what he could do. His name was John Frost, if any of you guys out there knew him, you could probably contact his kin to see if the equipment is still around.

 

[Uncle Bobby]

I am sure you can but for the effort and quality control issues I would recommend staying with factory bullets.

 

[Randall]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ also has sections just for swaging your own jacketed bullets

 

[NikatKimber]

There was a kit, it might have been that corbin site already listed, that had a press for using spent .22 lr cases to make .22 cal and .243 cal jackets, then swaging the lead core into the jacket.

But I think it would take something like 7k rounds to pay for the press. Or something like that...

 

[Seth247]

The process of making your own jacketed bullets is called "swaging". It is cheap, fairly easy and you can make some pretty cool bullet designs that you cant buy with factory ammo. However the first time equipment fee is kinda high as some of the cheaper reloading presses can't handle the pressure of swaging. Most high end ones can IIRC.

The lead core is cheap and the jacket can be made from copper or spent brass casings that have been annealed.