Time to make the donuts....

[D Coots]

I have used Jackie's method.

 

[RGRobinett]

"Don't do anything. Give me a call."

When it happened, I did. One sheet rock screw and a few washers later, my boo-boo was all better. Another positive...I found the bottom end of the lube amount.

Al, sharing that "secret" is gonna cost ya BIG time! Drilling that first bullet is intimidating - not having a lathe, or, access to one would be a bummer.

Should a split/folded jacket, or, the odd short jacket fail to close completely, allowing the knockout punch to enter the point cavity, and penetrate the core, as opposed to ejecting the bullet, the "easy out" is to make certain that the KO pin is fully extracted from the jacket and place a "nub" (about 3/16 -1/8th" long) of your lead- wire between the bullet base and the ram-punch face and apply the pressure . . . closes the me'plat, and bullet will eject, "like a dream". . . if necessary, use another nubbin and squash again. With practice, one can make a few bullets with adjustable ("clockable") bases for those days when nothing else is working.

This procedure accommodates removing/ejecting the cull bullet without having to remove, or alter the set-up. NEVER use this procedure if the knockout punch is inside the jacket/me'plat opening and cannot be removed!! If I could get that video to post, you'd see what "nubbing" is all about. RG

 

[AlNyhus]

It made me glad to have a little mini lathe at home, that's for sure. Gene Crisman is a local BR shooter and a good pal. It's been fun having him work with this and passing along what has been shared with me. He comes with a history of making cast bullets so he thinks making cores isn't too bad.

 

[durand mortenson]

Yes, Lee's BrC thread was excellent! Unfortunately, a collection of, "bullet maker" methods/concepts, solicited by [the late] Wilbur Harris (BrC founder) was, during a format change, "lost" in cyber-space. There wasn't a lot of stinginess displayed by the top notch bullet makers of that era - about thirty years ago.

This thread seems to be turning into something unusually useful - thank you, Al, and all who have contributed useful info.

Really, there are no secrets, nor, are there magic formulas involved: bullet making is a very simple, straight forward process. The "secrets" are simply attributes, procedures, etc. which, over time, anyone with mechanical aptitude, and uncommon (once know as "common") sense will "discover" and assimilate.

The making of precision bullets does require the use of excellent jackets, tooling, and measuring devices - and knowing/learning how to use them. Patience, record keeping, and a good memory are useful attributes, and will facilitate acquiring knowledge.

Some knowledge just cannot be [precisely] shared, as the variables - touched upon in several preceding posts - are ever present, and this includes your die vs. mine: the two dies may "want" differing amounts of lube - yes even carbide dies! So, one can provide a general amount of a specific lube formula, but the dies and Lot-to-Lot variation in the jackets may not be correct/desirable for both dies. The ULTIMATE goal, is UNIFORMITY - the variable set may make this a moving target.

While I'm rambling, with my current Lube Lot, and specific lot of thirty Cal., .925" long J4 jackets, to seat cores, I am using 2.0 Gr. of lube per 1,600 jackets (1.5 buckets) - 0.00125 Gr. per jacket. Consider the economy of scale: trying to apply a uniform amount of lube to a couple of hundred jackets becomes much more difficult target!

To put a fine point on it, were I to lube 200 of these jackets, they'd want .25 Gr. of lube - being "off" by a measly 1/2 of one tenth (0.05Gr.) would amount to a 20% variation . . . Ten times the variation with the same "miss" for the 2.0 Gr. target.

Lube your jackets, at least, a bucket at a time . . . for core seating, my current J4 6mm/.790"long jacket are getting the same 2.0 Gr. of lube, but for 1.5 buckets (nice fit in one gallon jar), or, approx. 3,900 pieces: 0.0005128 Gr. each!!

If there is any interest, I may add a few more comments, but my info tends to be relatively boring . . . here's a good example. Hmmmm - it t's a video on my computer at home . . .
View attachment 1614503

 

[durand mortenson]

A heavy and interesting table. I assume you made it.

Mort

 

[D Coots]

Light duty Lenzi press.... Even a caveman can pull the lever ...Sits atop my motorcycle lift, infinitely adjustable. Clear to the top to load ammo and lower for bullet making.

 

[Mulligan]

Light duty Lenzi press.... Even a caveman can pull the lever ...Sits atop my motorcycle lift, infinitely adjustable. Clear to the top to load ammo and lower for bullet making.
View attachment 1614804View attachment 1614805View attachment 1614806

I have heard good things about those Lenzi's. Care to share your experience with it?
CW

 

[Link]

Light duty Lenzi press.... Even a caveman can pull the lever ...Sits atop my motorcycle lift, infinitely adjustable. Clear to the top to load ammo and lower for bullet making.
View attachment 1614805

By the looks of that knob, you're behind the 8 ball. Had 1 on my 442 olds ;]

 

[D Coots]

I have heard good things about those Lenzi's. Care to share your experience with it?
CW

It's heavy...works great...bought it through Peinhardt as part of a bullet making setup. I believe he's selling a similar press now.

Thread 'For Sale a new STAMOLY Bullet Swaging Press by Jeff Peinhardt' https://forum.accurateshooter.com/t...llet-swaging-press-by-jeff-peinhardt.4135386/

 

[jackieschmidt]

I got this in the mail today.

I bought a complete set of Rorschach Carbide 243 dies a while back from Charlie Fakus. He had bought them from the original owner 20 years ago and probably never made 5000 bullets on them. He quit making bullets 15 years ago, the dies just sat in his gun safe.

Charlie found the invoice that the original owner got when he bought them in 1979.

The Dies make what is essentially a Fowler/Watson 68 grain Flatbase Bullet that shoots quite well.

 

[AlNyhus]

I got this in the mail today.

I bought a complete set of Rorschach Carbide 243 dies a while back from Charlie Fakus. He had bought them from the original owner 20 years ago and probably never made 5000 bullets on them. He quit making bullets 15 years ago, the dies just sat in his gun safe.

Charlie found the invoice that the original owner got when he bought them in 1979.

The Dies make what is essentially a Fowler/Watson 68 grain Flatbase Bullet that shoots quite well.View attachment 1614887

Jackie, I hope you didn't get 'held up' for the original price! -Al

 

[AlNyhus]

Back to the subject of making your own cores....Jason Coye used to make a powered core cutter. Does anyone have any experience with it?

 

[jackieschmidt]

Back to the subject of making your own cores....Jason Coye used to make a powered core cutter. Does anyone have any experience with it?

I can see the late night TV ad now……..”Introducing Ronco’s Popeil Powered Automatic Lead Core Cutter, it slices and dices cores for quick and easy bullet making”.

Seriously, I would sure like to see Charley Hood’s setup. It has to be a thing of mechanical beauty.

 

[AlNyhus]

I can see the late night TV ad now……..”Introducing Ronco’s Popeil Powered Automatic Lead Core Cutter, it slices and dices cores for quick and easy bullet making”.

Seriously, I would sure like to see Charley Hood’s setup. It has to be a thing of mechanical beauty.

"Slices roast beef so thin your wife's family will never come for dinner again".

 

[Fuj]

From a 2014 article in the Daily Bulletin. Looks like Randy had
something going to fill them buckets......

 

[jackieschmidt]

From a 2014 article in the Daily Bulletin. Looks like Randy had
something going to fill them buckets......

Cutting the cores is the “not so hard” part.

lubing them, sizing them in the “squirt” die, and then cleaning them again is the aggravating part.

 

[RGRobinett]

Cutting the cores is the “not so hard” part.

lubing them, sizing them in the “squirt” die, and then cleaning them again is the aggravating part.

Roger this - core cutting is simply boring! I've attempted to post a video made just for this thread, however, with my lack of computer knowledge, I just cannot reduce the file size to an acceptable number - not even on a severely cropped and cut to 15 seconds of length, B&W version.

Miraculously, last week, after being blocked on my own web page for over a year, I regained control . . . so, I just caved-in and posted the core-cutting video on my web page < https://bibullets.com/bullet-making/ > .
This video is 1Min- 22 seconds long. Should the link fail to work, it can be viewed by clicking & holding the three dots on far right of the main page menu - just right of the Photos/Videos - and sliding to the bullet making option. Once on the bullet making page, you have to scroll to the bottom of the videos. There are only 5 or six.

Should there be interest, though we're not following a particular sequence, I'll add some thoughts on core-seat punch selection . . . or, whatever people desire. Remember, keep your popcorn handy, as my thoughts/practices represent only one perspective, and per previous posts, there are many methods which work quite well. Be warned - yours truly is pretty heretical, but not completely incompetent . . . RG

P.S. at risk of the perception of advertising (which I need not), here's the link to the full web-page: < https://bibullets.com/ >

 

[liljoe]

I know Ken Hottenstein has a Coye core cutter and likes it. He cuts 10's of thousands of cores every year.
Joe

 

[Tim Singleton]

@RGRobinett you mentioned punch selection
are you a slight bleed by or zero bleed by guy?

 

[Kevin d]

If anyone interested I have an rcbs press that Jeff Pienhardt converted I’d like to sell