I’ve been thinking of getting into swaging my own .40 JHP bullets from 9mm and 380 ACP cases but have no desire to spend $2700 to $9000 for the semi-pro CH presses & dies. I can imagine machining some dies from blocks of steel for use with a sledgehammer on the work bench and making a lead mold from a block of aluminum for the lead cores based upon what I’ve been able to research, but don’t have the machining skills.
Do we have a machinist interested in possibly doing such a project with me?
I’m thinking besides the materials for the dies, I’d likely need to pick up a small annealing oven to soften the brass cases. Could do it with a torch or in the home oven on the cleaning cycle, but don’t care for either of those approaches.
I have looked at making some out of copper strip. Nycnc (John Saunders) did a video on making the dies. Kinda similar to the Corbin way. I still want to make them but have too many projects that need attention first.
Any reason not to buy bullets? This sounds like a lot of work for something that you could probably buy for less, I’m talking about just the bullets not the dies.
Wouldn’t you get weird aerodynamics from the end of the case rim? or would you use just the jacket and cut of the rim?
I don’t shoot for range so much as effect. Most pistol confrontations occur between zero and 15 feet.
I’ve made lead solid rounds for years now which do fine both in my glock and carbine.
But I haven’t made anything jacketed or any hollow points. and I hate dealing with bullet lube and leading issues.
As for ballistics - two ways to look at it - in extreme short range, doesn’t matter. If I wanted to go for long range, I could swage using the end of the case and knurl both ends to make the jacket instead of utilizing the case end as is.
If you use the case end, remember that you’re going to be expanding the case body out a full MM to .4005 to ,401 - so the old 9mm case neck is less of an issue as it’s masked by the expanded case diameter. Indeed the case rim may work to carry more GSR out of the weapon with the round.
When I do my own cast rounds, I can produce rounds at just a hair over 3 cents a round to pretty much any volume I want.
If I swage my own JHP or FMJ, I can also do my own frangibles which get pricy quick if store bought.
And - there’s a certain appeal to using my clean 9mm case trade stock for something other than trading and reuse them in house. Don’t yet have a 9 MM but its a lot of the range brass I collect.
Indeed - after seeing that 22 cases are usable to make FMJ .223 rifle rounds - I’ll start stockpiling those as well. Used to just toss the few of those I came across.
I’m trying to get a machine shop basics class started to learn to operate the metal lathe so I can make my own dies doe bullet swaging - I hope to get into this step by mid February.
Trying to find the videos on youtube of the two people who make their own swaging dies and didn’t spend $3000 on presses… That’s the path I hope to take - make my own dies out of tool steel and do the hands on workbench / sledgehammer approach. I cannot cost justify $3k for a press to make FMJ and JHP bullets…
This is one of them but I won’t be starting with copper sheet - I will be starting with 9mm luger brass cut down. I intend to trim the head off the shell, then trim down the neck once I calculate the length to make FMJ and JHP .40 from the 9mm shell
“I don’t shoot for range so much as effect. Most pistol confrontations occur between zero and 15 feet.”
Curious. What effect do you see an FMJ having at short range? “It can also be a disadvantage as an FMJ bullet may pierce completely through a target, leading to less severe wounding, and possibly failing to disable the target. Furthermore, a projectile that goes completely through a target can cause unintentional damage downrange of the target.” (wikipedia).
Thing is you can’t push a pure cast lead round as fast as you can a jacketed round. Have you ever had an issue with barrel leading? - i.e. smears of lead in your barrel rifling that’s worse than trying to remove tar on the beach.
So - if you want to push a round fast for either desired penetration ( say of a vehicle windshield ) or for a more significant spread on a hollow point, you have to jacket the round to keep from leading your barrels.
I’d like the most to make a .40 S&W JHP with the 9MM brass. That ammo is the most expensive to buy new - so I’d like to make it myself.
For solid range ammo today, when buying primers and powder in bulk at gunshow prices, I can keep my ammo cost of materials down to below $7 for 50 rounds of .40 with plated bullets and get to $4 a box of 50 rounds with cast lead rounds. HUGE difference.
But if I have to get the special gear to remove the lead from my barrels as you can’t just scrape it out, then my savings go out the window. From experience - there are a LOT of myths and wives tales about leaded barrels on the web and how to clean them - don’t believe them. I’ve shot a couple 1000 lead rounds - so I have first hand experience with the issue. - Bullet lube is messy, sticky, fouls your gear in ways simple GSR never will, and doesn’t do as good a job as " they " say it does to prevent leading.
Thus I am eager to make my own dies for swaging. I’d like to get to a point where I can make my own JHP for $10/50 rnds in material costs.
Oh, yah for JHP I get it. But I wouldn’t load out FMJ in a defensive carry, but that’s just me. I want maximum impact and no full-through penetration. But then again I chickened out on my CCW and decided not to carry. Came to the conclusion I wasn’t mentally/spiritually ready for that.
