More home-made 44-caliber JHPs
Posted 01-13-2011 at 21:06 by MakeMineA10mm
Updated 01-17-2011 at 22:39 by MakeMineA10mm (Added some photos!)
Updated 01-17-2011 at 22:39 by MakeMineA10mm (Added some photos!)
Well, I spent a little more time with the JHPs and the notching die tonight. My first efforts came out strange/weird and all sorts of variations.
Got a little advice from the guy who makes my dies and did some more experimenting with settings tonight, and I'm pretty happy with what I've got. These bullets are starting to look a lot like Winchester Black Talons! (Except without the black coating.)
There are a couple differences. My bullets do not have the reverse-taper jackets and do not have the section of jacket material that goes down inside the HP cavity, but the shape of the petals at the mouth are really darn close, as is the little closed-up notch at the bottom where two petals meet. It's going to be pretty darn interesting seeing what these do in comparison to factory JHPs!
Tomorrow night I'm going to the store and buying a new camera battery so I can get some new photos taken for you guys. These are NEAT looking bullets!!
I showed some to my deer hunting buddy, and his eyes about fell out.
Asked him if he wanted to get some deer next year with these in our 44 Magnum revolvers, and all he could do was slowly nod with eyes big as saucers!! 
Also went through the loading books and some articles looking for 30-40 Krag loads. Found two recommended that I really like (and already have the powders on-hand). C.E. Harris recommended the old standby of 16grs of 2400, while Lyman's new Cast Bullet Handbook #4 recommended 19.5grs RL-7. Both of these with a 180-190gr lead bullet (which is what I have). I think I'm going to hold off loading these until I get some experience with higher-power loads in the 30-06 through the '03 Springfields. If that goes well, I'll build upon that experience and try out the Krag with similar loads. In the mean time, my Krag cases are perfectly processed.
Did I mention that the Krag case may be the perfect cast-bullet shooting case? It's neck is just the right length that a Lyman M-die will expand it about 3/4 of the way to the shoulder just when the step in the die curls the mouth open wider to create the funnel for the bullet to be seated... This leaves a small step at the bottom of the neck, near the shoulder that keeps the bullets from falling too far down, say into the powder cavity. It's the best of all worlds. I can tell it's going to be an easy round to get success from with cast boolits! Plus, I'll be shooting a 113-114 year old rifle that could have been in Cuba, the Philippines, or at the Boxer Rebellion!! There's just something about handling and using a historical artifact that dovetails with your favorite hobby!
If the weather holds out this weekend, I hope to get some citric-acid treatment and tumbling of those remaining 400 30-06 brass I got two weeks ago. Some pictures of the JHP bullets, further cleaning/organizing of the reloading room, and who knows what else?!?
Got a little advice from the guy who makes my dies and did some more experimenting with settings tonight, and I'm pretty happy with what I've got. These bullets are starting to look a lot like Winchester Black Talons! (Except without the black coating.)
There are a couple differences. My bullets do not have the reverse-taper jackets and do not have the section of jacket material that goes down inside the HP cavity, but the shape of the petals at the mouth are really darn close, as is the little closed-up notch at the bottom where two petals meet. It's going to be pretty darn interesting seeing what these do in comparison to factory JHPs!
Tomorrow night I'm going to the store and buying a new camera battery so I can get some new photos taken for you guys. These are NEAT looking bullets!!
I showed some to my deer hunting buddy, and his eyes about fell out.
Asked him if he wanted to get some deer next year with these in our 44 Magnum revolvers, and all he could do was slowly nod with eyes big as saucers!! Also went through the loading books and some articles looking for 30-40 Krag loads. Found two recommended that I really like (and already have the powders on-hand). C.E. Harris recommended the old standby of 16grs of 2400, while Lyman's new Cast Bullet Handbook #4 recommended 19.5grs RL-7. Both of these with a 180-190gr lead bullet (which is what I have). I think I'm going to hold off loading these until I get some experience with higher-power loads in the 30-06 through the '03 Springfields. If that goes well, I'll build upon that experience and try out the Krag with similar loads. In the mean time, my Krag cases are perfectly processed.
Did I mention that the Krag case may be the perfect cast-bullet shooting case? It's neck is just the right length that a Lyman M-die will expand it about 3/4 of the way to the shoulder just when the step in the die curls the mouth open wider to create the funnel for the bullet to be seated... This leaves a small step at the bottom of the neck, near the shoulder that keeps the bullets from falling too far down, say into the powder cavity. It's the best of all worlds. I can tell it's going to be an easy round to get success from with cast boolits! Plus, I'll be shooting a 113-114 year old rifle that could have been in Cuba, the Philippines, or at the Boxer Rebellion!! There's just something about handling and using a historical artifact that dovetails with your favorite hobby!
If the weather holds out this weekend, I hope to get some citric-acid treatment and tumbling of those remaining 400 30-06 brass I got two weeks ago. Some pictures of the JHP bullets, further cleaning/organizing of the reloading room, and who knows what else?!?
Total Comments 6
Comments
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I got a good chuckle about your deer hunting buddy's eyes. ...
lololPosted 01-14-2011 at 05:10 by nickE10mm 
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wow very ambitious! let us know how they shoot sirPosted 01-14-2011 at 11:44 by shmush
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Loaded up the first few test rounds tonight. I'm starting especially low, because since these jackets are made from fired cases, they are extra-deep in seating depth. This reduction in case capacity means they will give higher pressures with the same loads, hence needing to reduce farther and work up... I'll be sure to let everyone know how they shoot and what loads I find max.
Posted 01-18-2011 at 18:00 by MakeMineA10mm
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Cool, very ambitious of you. be safe
Posted 01-19-2011 at 17:03 by shmush
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Anything new to share with these loads?
Posted 02-05-2011 at 17:17 by RustyShackelford
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Not yet. Weather has been nasty and very range-preventative. I'f you check my later blog entries, you'll see I've loaded up some test rounds, and I'm just waiting for the weather to cooperate so I can get to the range to test them.
I've been eye-balling the Winchester 40 brass I have sitting alongside the box of cores sitting there next to them... But, I think I'm going to work on a new, dedicated bullet-processing bench and swaging press first. The force combined with the hammering on the ejector pin makes me want to have a small, separate, HEAVY-duty bench just for swaging.
In the meantime, I have been continuing to clean and process the 30-06 brass. I've really been meaning to do a new entry in the blog here, but time, work, and sleep are fighting me.
Posted 02-08-2011 at 00:00 by MakeMineA10mm
