Making Your Own Bullets

[GerryM]

David Detsch is still making dies. He's in St Mary,s PA
Here,s the last phone number I had for him 814 834 3035
Maybe you could also try these two emails adds
diemaker@windstreamer.net or www.diemaker.us They may be changed
His dies are Carbide and made with the best materials He a great craftsman.
Heres his mailing address David Detsch
350 west creek road
st Mary,s PA

[jackie schmidt]

Yep, bullet making is a PITA until you get to a match and shoot well. At that point, all the time and money you spent seems to be peanuts. Then....you run out of bullets and have to do it again...PITA.

At the least, you know exactly what you're shooting. At the worst...well...talk to Jackie for that info.

Yeh, I went down that road.

I truly believe that making bullets is a art, much like playing a musical instrument. There are people that can practice the piano endlessly, and never be able to sit down and interpret a piece of music to the fullest. Others, with no more effort, can make the instrument sing.

There is something to bullet making that I was missing,. That, and I had to literally force myself to do it.

Ask anybody that has ever been in my little office. My bullet presses, everything, are all still sitting right there, all in a row, in the same position, as they were years ago when I stood up and said,......."Screw this, I'm giving Jeff Fowler a call"

I gave away the point up die. If I had one, I could make bullets tomorrow........NOT

[Mike Bryant]

Yeh, I went down that road.

I truly believe that making bullets is a art, much like playing a musical instrument. There are people that can practice the piano endlessly, and never be able to sit down and interpret a piece of music to the fullest. Others, with no more effort, can make the instrument sing.

There is something to bullet making that I was missing,. That, and I had to literally force myself to do it.

Ask anybody that has ever been in my little office. My bullet presses, everything, are all still sitting right there, all in a row, in the same position, as they were years ago when I stood up and said,......."Screw this, I'm giving Jeff Fowler a call"

I gave away the point up die. If I had one, I could make bullets tomorrow........NOT

If you make your own cores, it's a lot of work. If you use Charlie Hood cores, then about half the work is gone out of it. I have two point up dies a 7.5 ogive and a double radius. I was just like you, Jackie. You couldn't pay me enough to make bullets to sell. However, last January I set up and started making bullets with a box of jackets that I had. I was going to make up half of them with one point up die and the other half with the other one. I made up the first batch and was getting .0001 to .00015 runout on a bullet spinner with bullets from the 7.5 ogive point up die and .0003 to .0004" with the double radius point up. I made one box of 500 with the double radius, but since the others were spinning so well, I kept going until I had used up all the Hood cores that I had on hand. I made up just a little shy of 10,000 bullets. That's the most that I've ever made at one time. There is a rhythm to making bullets and when you just make up a thousand or two, you never get into the rhythm of making them. A TV monitor in front of you wouldn't hurt anything either. Kind of like walking on a treadmill. By the way, those bullets spun well down the barrel last season as well. Probably about the best season I've had since I've been shooting results wise. I think a lot of what goes into a good bullet is in the core to jacket set up when seating the core. You want a core seating punch diameter that gives the least lead bleed by that you can get without scraping any jacket from the side walls. I check that with a bore scope without the right angle adapter. When you arrive at the punch size that you want to use, then, I go with Skip Otto's method of pressuring up the seated core. Keep applying more pressure by adjusting either the die length or the punch until your jacket lengthens .001". That's the point when the jacket is just beginning to stretch to fail. If you add much more pressure, the jacket will pop. I'm using a George Ulrich horizontal press for core seating. When you get the jacket to lengthen that .001", then I back off the core seating punch .001". If you are using a Rockchucker for seating cores, it's a little harder to back off that .001" as the Ulrich press is graduated to the .001". This winter, I'll shoot the double radius bullets that I had made and see how they shoot. Never did shoot any out of that box of 500. The 7.5 ogive bullets shot very well with three groups in the .2's at 200 yards during the Nationals at St. Louis. I have another box of jackets and 10000 more cores. Hopefully, they'll make up as well as the jackets did last year. Come January, I'll be back to working my bullet making presses in preparation for next year.

[P.Ericson]

Anyone know what Charlie Hood is currently charging for 45gr cores?

[Bart]

Anyone know what Charlie Hood is currently charging for 45gr cores?

Whatever he charges is cheap compared to making them yourself!

Bart

[GerryM]

Yes charlie does make great cores I tried them myself.
IT speeds up the process quite a bit if your making very large lots to sell.
Its ideal for a person who makes bullets to sell.
But not every one makes bullets to sell, some make them just for themselves.

I would't worry about the quality of his cores that are dead on.

I prefer to make my own But that,s Me, I also cast pistol bullets , I use the spews from swaging the cores and some antimony.
There's isn't any waste for me .

[P.Ericson]

Whatever he charges is cheap compared to making them yourself!

Bart

I´m sure about that, the issue it that I´m not living in the US, so shipping cost is part of the equation!

On a side note, what diameter cores does everyone use for 6mm bullets? My Rorscharch core swage die makes a .2015" core, and while they fit nicely in sierra jackets they don´t drop all the way to the bottom with J4 jackets. Haven´t really decided if I should get another core swage die or not...

[Wilbur]

If your bullets shoot well, I don't see any reason to have another core swage die. I do understand your question, and the concern therein. If you have an unexplained flyer now and then...and you feel a difference in the stroke a bit too often...you might need another die. Really, I don't believe you need another die but I don't know everything there is to know - as I think I do.

[GerryM]

Wilbur has a point if they shoot well.

IF you want to shoot zeros Try a almost straight wall jacket like STA Molly.

Depending from lot to lot sierras vary on the taper on the inside of the jacket.

[Bart]

I´m sure about that, the issue it that I´m not living in the US, so shipping cost is part of the equation!

On a side note, what diameter cores does everyone use for 6mm bullets? My Rorscharch core swage die makes a .2015" core, and while they fit nicely in sierra jackets they don´t drop all the way to the bottom with J4 jackets. Haven´t really decided if I should get another core swage die or not...

Your core die sounds a bit large. But as long as your cores drop straight to bottom of your jackets it's no problem. Most 6mms cores are closer to 190ish range.

Bart

[GerryM]

Try a few sta molly jackets if they drop to the bottom your problem are solved
Barts correct that size is a bit large Your mics 201.5 '
Maybe you need a new core forming die, Dick Moretzo {doc} was x raying bullets a few years ago and finding air pockets under the cores of the bullets.

[Dusty Stevens]

You can always get barts jackets exported thru chris at bullet central. Or bart has other exporters lined up as well.

[Wilbur]

Seems that others are sayin' that the core needs to drop to the bottom of the jacket. They're probably right.

[Liseo]

I tried contact with David Detsch, no luck.

Someone have the current address?

Thanks

[mturner]

George makes as good of bullet dies as anyone. They are carbide dies for about half the price of other die makers. I recommend using Charlie's cores, because this almost cuts the labor of bullet making in half. If you like to experiment with super light bullets and super slow twist, then get a core die to squirt your experimental cores, and then after testing them, you can get Charlie to make them in a larger quantity. George's phone number: 618-420-5473.

Michael