Time to make the donuts....

[tom]

 

[tom]

^^^^

Haven't used it yet, but may play with it soon....especially on Sierras.

Tom

 

[jackieschmidt]

“

Randy or George, can you explain the preforming process? I am taking a guess here, but is the core seat die(obviously no core) used with a special punch? Lubed?

I am curious too.
I seat the cores the regular way on my 68grn BT and they shoot really well.

But then, they really don’t have much of a Boat Tail when compared to bullets built on 1.150 jackets in the 103 grain+ range.

 

[liseo]

^^^^

Haven't used it yet, but may play with it soon....especially on Sierras.

Tom

Tom
Why use it especially if it is Sierra? Is the jacket thicker or harder, making it difficult to form the boat tail?
In the batch of Sierra I used, it seemed to form the boat tail more easily.

 

[liseo]

When George sent the tool to do the preforming, I modified the shape of the core to make it more similar to the preformed jacket(for ogive 13 200 grains bullets 30 caliber)
My concern was to avoid trapped air. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it made me feel more at ease.

 

[tom]

Tom
Why use it especially if it is Sierra? Is the jacket thicker or harder, making it difficult to form the boat tail?
In the batch of Sierra I used, it seemed to form the boat tail more easily.

I haven't tried to many lots/manufacturers/lengths, but the 6s i have of each j4 and Sierra i would say are thicker at that end. I know I wasn't happy with the boat tail without lubing the cores. Not that that's a bad thing, as I have had bullets out of this die shoot extremely well when Jason had it made that way. I just don't "love" doing it that way if I don't have to. It may not be a thing with the 6 though, so I might need to just get over it lol.

Tom

 

[JoeDuke]

View attachment 1672898

And this comes along just when I thought I had a grade school grasp on making bullets.

 

[liseo]

Speaking about the boat tail angle, is there any advantage/disadvantage between a bigger or smaller angle?

Does the bigger or smaller angle influence the BC?

 

[Catawampus]

Joe, I generally judge the corner radius, bleedby, and diameter. if I get a stretch mark at the lead line its to much. I am also a big fan of cutting open a bullet length ways to see how the core looks when seated. If theres a problem thats where you will find it. I also use a bullet spinner to check runout of the seated core. it usually works out when they are spinning true they are seated correctly...

Any recommendation on a source for a bullet spinner? Can we see some examples?

 

[liseo]

I always imagined that longer jackets would have a thicker base.
In this case, they both have the same thickness (J4 30 caliber 1.200" and 1.400")

 

[JoeDuke]

My 112 grain .30 bullets seem to work well. Shot with my Hunter rifle and 6X scope.

 

[21PHX]

View attachment 1676508

My 112 grain .30 bullets seem to work well. Shot with my Hunter rifle and 6X scope.

We all hope you don’t bring it to the TackDriver!

 

[Kiwishooter]

Any recommendation on a source for a bullet spinner? Can we see some examples?

After doing a bit of research, you can find a drawing by Paul Gottschall for one in Precision Shooting March 1964.
Also look in May & June 1965
A jacket spinner and lathe are shown in July 1965

 

[Schippergreg]

Has anyone used any of the newer Sierra jackets? I recently had some pretty good success with bullets I made on some Sierra .810 jackets from 2004 but I made the last of those jackets up. I emailed Sierra and they sent me a 2025 jacket price list. Their 6mm jackets are a little more expensive than the 2025 j4 jackets that I have on order but what really matters is the end result on the target.

 

[D Coots]

Greg

Any idea of the leade time on Sierras?

 

[Schippergreg]

Greg

Any idea of the leade time on Sierras?

Not yet, waiting on that response.

 

[D Coots]

Obviously selling to the public again.

 

[liseo]

A year ago, I received a batch of Sierra .30s with a length of 1.220".
The jackets were very greasy and had a strange color; they looked oxidized,(for lack of a more appropriate term) with a very reddish-brown color.
After washing with detergent and citric acid, they had the same appearance as the J4s. And the bullets were excellent, and I had fewer folded tips than with the J4.

 

[Schippergreg]

Obviously selling to the public again.

Appears so. They offer 6mm in .790, .800,.810 and .825.

 

[Leon Noel]

Appears so. They offer 6mm in .790, .800,.810 and .825

The 810 sure worked well for me in the past.