Reloading Lead for the 10mm

[The_Shadow]

Yes, that's very cool and a serious chunk of lead!  Both of my RCBS 10mm molds have a slight SWC even though they are TC designs, my Lyman TC or the Devastator HP do not.

I'd bet that would make for a nice HP bullet with a deep and wide cavity...

[Caneman]

I'm using thin aluminum discs (cut from soda cans) sized over the plain base, to eliminate this. Leading and gas cutting are completely eliminated, and long range accuracy is improved as a result. I made my own tool, but PatMarlin on castboolits sells a plain base .40 checkmaker that works very well.

did you use a design you found online?  i would be interested in making my own, if possible... i have a spare .40sw taper crimp die that could possibly be part of the design


edit:  did you make something like this:   http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?150997-hand-tool-made-check-maker/page2&highlight=gas+check

[Yondering]

No, I just made a tool from stuff in my shop. I did a writeup on it a while back, here: http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1409223

I now skip the middle step described in that writeup, forming the check in the luber-sizer press. I just take the checks straight from the punch and size them onto my bullets.

You have to punch the disks out larger than .40 cal so they can wrap around the bullet base, so your extra crimp die may not be much use. Even a flat .500" circle is too small; my 1/2" punch works because of the shaped nose, so it draws more material in.

Farther down in that writeup I described some plain base checks made by James Sage (sagesoutdoors.com); he now sells those on Ebay as part of his regular product line. His checks are .008" thick though, and soda can aluminum is .004-.005" thick. You might be able to persuade him to make the checks from thinner material; I think it can be purchased in strips. The thicker .008" checks work fine, but are a little harder to size, and do raise pressure a little more compared to the same bullet plain based.

[gandog56]

I'm trying to figure if it's worth my while to swage my own jacketed bullets. I would rather not shoot pure lead.

[The_Shadow]

Here is a guy with some very innovative ideas about bullet designs and molds...Be sure to look over both links over at Handloads!
http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=32719&PN=1&TPN=1

http://forums.handloads.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=32662&PN=1

[Caneman]

I'm trying to figure if it's worth my while to swage my own jacketed bullets. I would rather not shoot pure lead.

if you put on the gas check it has the potential to eliminate all the leading, that is why i am looking into this as suggested by Yondering

[Caneman]

No, I just made a tool from stuff in my shop. I did a writeup on it a while back, here: http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1409223

I now skip the middle step described in that writeup, forming the check in the luber-sizer press. I just take the checks straight from the punch and size them onto my bullets.

You have to punch the disks out larger than .40 cal so they can wrap around the bullet base, so your extra crimp die may not be much use. Even a flat .500" circle is too small; my 1/2" punch works because of the shaped nose, so it draws more material in.

Farther down in that writeup I described some plain base checks made by James Sage (sagesoutdoors.com); he now sells those on Ebay as part of his regular product line. His checks are .008" thick though, and soda can aluminum is .004-.005" thick. You might be able to persuade him to make the checks from thinner material; I think it can be purchased in strips. The thicker .008" checks work fine, but are a little harder to size, and do raise pressure a little more compared to the same bullet plain based.

i'm impressed, that looks perfect... couldn't be easier to make or attach, i have a Lyman 45 and .401 sizer so that would work perfect... how well do these soda can plain base gas checks stay on- can you pull them off fairly easy?

i gotta say, that shaped nose is simple genius... you are essentially punching and forming at the same time, at least forming good enough for a PB gas check to be attached     i am sure the size of the slot has something to do with it as well to allow for some slippage... i have looked at four or five different plans today for making a gas check making punch/die and this is probably easiest/best i have seen for what i am looking for...

[Yondering]

Thanks for the compliments. I'll admit to some of it being pure coincidence (the size of the slot, for example, is just the width of the cutting disc for my angle grinder) but as an engineer I do have some knowledge of stamping and drawing sheet metal, so I knew it could be done. I did have to mess with the nose shape on the punch a bit; you'll notice the nose is rounded. I originally started with a sharper corner, but that tore the checks during forming.

These checks don't come off the bullet easily. You can peel them off if you're determined, but they do stand up to some rough handling with no problems. I do find that they come off the base of the bullet after firing; the rifling tends to cut the check just enough that they drop off the bullet pretty close to the muzzle, and I consistently find them 6-8 feet in front of my shooting position. The James Sage and PatMarlin checks, on the other hand (I use Pat's Checkmaker for 9mm) tend to stay on the bullet during flight. I haven't found any measurable difference in accuracy between the two styles.

One other consideration is the condition of your size die; the mouth should be rounded and polished to avoid tearing the checks during sizing. This is fairly easy to do with sandpaper on a split dowel in a drill, or a felt wheel and rouge on a dremel.

[Caneman]

i just bought the sizer die new, so i will just chuck it in my small bench lathe and polish it with steel wool... maybe put a slight chamfer on the mouth also and polish it out

thinking i may try to make this so that it fits in my Rockchucker... might use some 7/8-14 all thread and bore it out to 1/2", then make a punch that will fit in the shell holder... i have a plastic soda bottle threaded connector (for a Redding G-RX sizer) that could fit on top of the die body and collect all the gas checks as they are pushed through the top... too much fun   

this is coming along nicely, gotta send in my order to accurate for that 220gr mold

[Yondering]

I'm not sure if my checkmaker die would work as well mounted in a press. I mount it in a vice, and slap the punch with a piece of wood. I do see a difference in quality of the check between a slow heavy hit and a sharp fast hit on the punch; sharp & fast works better. However, that all depends on the tolerances of the die. For use in a press like your Rockchucker, you will probably need tighter tolerances, and a hardened die body (or the cutting surface at least).

Something else to keep in mind is with a single side cut in the die body like mine, the cutting side of the die needs to be supported, not the other side that just guides the punch. Mounting it in a press, with the slot above the press threads, will bend the die. For use in a press, you'd need to set it up so the slot is below the theads, inside the O-frame. Hopefully that makes sense.

[475/480]

If you are looking to design your own bullet and buy a mould try mountainmolds.com they have a online design program. I have many moulds from them and his moulds are top of the line.
I just designed and ordered a .402-230 gr WFNGC at 73% meplat (4-7week wait). I prefer a gascheck because of the pressures involved in top end 10MM loads.


Sean

[sqlbullet]

I can second the quality of Mountain Molds.  I only wish I could get a 5 or 6 cavity mold from them.

[475/480]

 :'( Indeed . I ordered a 3 cavity.

Sean

I can second the quality of Mountain Molds.  I only wish I could get a 5 or 6 cavity mold from them.

[Caneman]

Yonder you bring up some good points... i think i am just going to make it with the punch in the ram and see where that takes me

how long is the nose of your punch before it is squared up on the edges?

[Yondering]

Caneman, here are some dimensions for you. The calipers are set at .400" in the picture, for a sense of scale. The punch is a 1/2" drill bit.

I agree on the quality of Mountain Molds. I have not purchased from Accurate Molds, but hear they are high quality as well.

I do like that dual lube groove bullet design above, partly because it should work well for loading long with 40 S&W brass (leave the top groove unlubed).