RIMFIRE Jacket Maker kits

Ok as most of you guys know I make bullets and I love it. Jackets on the other hand can be expensive to buy so I like using rimfire jackets as well.

Well I have a rimfire jacket making kit but the price of new ones are outrageous, around $180. So I have entered into talks with a local manufacture to to start producing the kits. So before I enter into contracts and push further I thought I would ask the folks here at ATG and see what kind of interest is in it.

I was thinking about a target price range of around $120 for a kit that fits a standard reloading price. So chime in and let me know what you guys think.

What calibers would these dies produce jackets for?

Will you do a video? Does it come with a get out of jail free card? It seems that $120.00 is a fair price

Oh, one more thing. Do you have any pics of the dies?

sound go th me hope to buy one of these and can u give a me a litte more info pleas.

is it just the die to make the jacket or will it make a whole bullet?

Honestly I use a 7/32 drill bushing and a piece of 5mm drill rod. Works great and probably less than $20.00 in parts.

You do have to sacrifice an old reloading die and fab up some type of holder for the 5mm drill rod but thats not too tough.

Also RCE (Richard Corbin) his de-rimming die is $105.00

Here are some details

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=952650&postcount=1

Here is mine

As popular as this home made do it yourself bullet making is getting to be, I can't see why one of the major manufacturers hasn't started making production dies to do this very thing??
There's no reason for it to cost anymore than a standard set of dies, I don't really see that much more in tooling or materials involved, then of course I don't make my own bullets...........Yet.

BTW- Those look pretty good ANeat.

Yeah, but what about those of us who shoot MANLY calibers? (i.e. NOT .224 dia)

fletch_medic wrote:Yeah, but what about those of us who shoot MANLY calibers? (i.e. NOT .224 dia)

You mean I'm not manly? My mom says I am

Tell ya what, if I had to chose one caliber only and needed it for survival..........it would be a tough toss up between my .243 and the .22-250 both are very much less than "Manly" calibers, but highly efficient.
The .224 caliber will reach out and touch something, that's for dang sure!

Mohunter wrote:The .224 caliber will reach out and touch something, that's for dang sure!

Only if there is no wind, or brush, or twigs, sticks, big blades of grass, floating dust particles, too much sun, not enough sun, etc....

Sorry, I am a little discriminate I guess. My dislike isn't so much for the .224, as it is for the AR platform. In all honesty, a .22 would probably be one of the best guns to have for survival. The only problem I see is that you can't reload them/make them..... or can you?

yea i like aneats idea looks like it would be affordable

couldnt you just use a 224 lee sizer die made for sizing cast bullets instead of the drill bushing? make the bottom punch and push it threw the sizer die would that work??

I would be interested. I have not started making my own bullets (yet) mostly because of space issues.

I just ran the last of some home made 240 gr .430 bullets that I had made before I made the mistake of leaving my old Herters dies unguarded at the Armory after a friend borrowed them. Some slime ball walked off with them. I hope they are using them or sold them to someone who is using them and did not just toss them in the recycling bin for a few dollars.

I have always wanted to make my own .224 bullets. I think that the .22 WMR (and its smaller cousing the .17 HMR) would make great .243/6mm bullet jackets.

I am rather fond of the AR platform, it having served me well in combat and as a civilian. The platform itself is not so much to blame as the shitty ammo we were forced to use because we stick to the Geneva Convention when no else does.

Are these along the same line that Daywalker was working on?? Like a derimming die?

in my humble opnion. its all well and good to have a deriming die set but it does you very little good with out the rest of it. and that is where the heavy dough comes in. I have the RCE set up and it is a very good one and less expensive than the big guys but still not cheap. In comparison the .224 deriming die and punches was the least expensive of them all.

30-06 makes a good point. The derimming dies are usually only a small fraction of the whole package needed to make your own .224 or .243 bullets.

Every now & then you will see Corbin die sets on either Fleabay or Gunbroker, and even second-hand used they go for a decent price.

I'd like to be able to find the lead wire, and be able to cut cores that way which is easier and quicker for me, because to dig the production pot out and all the casting stuff is a day's endeavor. I need a bigger place, but not in the budget right now until my wife wins either the Lottery or Power Ball, which I support her 100%. Go Babe!!

I'm retired from the Army on disability, and going to school full time on the Post 9-11 GI Bill so have not the money nor the time I had to shoot, reload, and cast boolits.

I am interested in anything that I can make that will reduce the cost of shooting. I know the outlay of the Corbin or RCE dies is initially expensive, and I have done a cost comparison to figure how many little .224 or .243 bullets I need to make for the dies to pay for themselves (A LOT!!).

My physical therapist encourages me to do things with my hand to help regain my coordination, and build back up my upper body strength. Unfortunatly I cannot get the VA to buy a Corbin set up for me as part of my phys therapy - but I tried!!

Haunting the local gun shows and swap meets I see several enterprising souls have begun selling derimmed .22 LR, Stinger as well as .22 WMR and .17 HMR cartridges in large lots. Prices have varied, and I got a blank look from a couple of them when I asked how the cartridges were annealed, but they were doing OK business.

The local range here has quite a few empty .22 hulls lying all over the place. The local indoor range is thinking of selling them in large bags if they can get more than the recycler pays per pound. Apparently (according to the range master) there have been a number of people asking if it is OK for them to collect spent .22 hulls from the bays.

The indoor range allows you to collect your own spent hulls, but requests that you leave any that came from other people. As part of the business model they sell the .22 hulls (and other non-reloadable hulls) as scrap metal to the recycler by the pound. The range views people taking spent hulls other than their own as theft.

scorge30 wrote:ammo we were forced to use because we stick to the Geneva Convention when no else does.

This guy says it was Hague, not Geneva.

http://www.thegunzone.com/hague.html

But the point is the same. :-)

That's odd because in Infantry school and BNOC & ANOC they taught Geneva Convention rules about non-expanding bullets, and propper treatment of POWs, etc. Unless in my old age I am blending the Hague & the Geneva Convention Treaties?

Same, same though. We are stupid to follow rules designed for international warfare when we are being used in "police actions" and "unrest suppression."

I do not see requirements that we use non-expanding bullets in the current operations we are doing now, & I wonder if in the long term it would save money as the boys would not have to dump half a mag in a Mujhadeen to make sure he stayed down.

The bullets made from these empty .22 LR jackets are pretty decent and expand pretty well from the few samples that I have seen. You cannot push them too fast but even at moderate speeds the few that I got to play with expanded pretty well and did a good job smacking prarie rats, marmots, & a few unlucky nutria.

The only few that I got to shoot were all jacketed soft point with a nice little tip of lead sticking out the brass, & all expanded well. Most of the prarie rats we could not tell the difference shooting commerical bullets of similar weight & style & the home-made .22 LR jacketed bullets.

Only ones we recovered were the ones from the nutria & the occasional marmot. The prarie rats were all through & through with a huge gnarly hole blown through them.

Funny thing was after we ran out of ammo & were enjoying some adult beverages while cleaning some seriously cruddy rifles, the damn coyotes came out to clean up the shot prarie rats. Little bastards must have been around long enough to wait for the shooting for a while before coming in a for an easy meal.

One of the coyotes was a large female that I suspected might have been part feral domestic dog, & her young pups. I have never seen a 'yote biatch that size & with such a light color in summer fur. I think she might have had some Husky, or some other light colored dog in her mix.

We were all cussing that we were out of ammo, & her & the pups were well out of pistol range, except for maybe someone real good or lucky. I came back that winter hoping to catch her & the pups in the winter fur because I thought I might get a good price for her hide but I never saw that 'yote again so maybe one of the other guys nailed her, but no one ever said they did although quite a few us tried.

I am always interested in making cheap bullets, but you are going to have to spend hours at the bench making little bullets before they pay for the dies. Not sure if you sell the bullets, I have not done a cost analysis on how long it will take to recoup money if you sell the bullets. I am just concerned with saving money rather than buying so many .224 bullets.

I have seen cost analysis as low as about $20 for about 500 bullets made from .22 LR hulls but I do not if he figured in the cost of the dies & all the other assorted stuff that goes with it. He was getting lead wheel weights free, so that helped his bottom line.

cost was the least of my considerations when i purchased my .224 set up. As you say Steve it takes a lot of bullets to pay for it. I cant see me shooting enough in my life time to pay for it. For me it was the quality and availability. When I am rolling my own I get the bullet I want when I want it the way I want it. I dont have to search the internet and every gun show in America to find the projectile i want I just make it.

I agree with you 30-06, I would like to make my own they way I want them when I want them.

I am on a fixed income at present so large purchases like this have to be carefully weighed and considered.

I would not worry so much about making enough to recoup what I paid for the dies either. However, out of curiosity I would want to keep a record of how many I made to see, if I could recoup the cost of the dies.

I know a lot of people buy the dies thinking they are going to making a lot of money selling these bullets. One reason I like Ammosmith is he took the time to show you what you get in the package from Corbin (I would love to see him do a comparison bwtween BCE & Corbin) & what it takes to make one little bullet.

We had a brief discusion about Nortwest Custom Prjectiles in Butte, Montana. They have all the Corbin goodies you can dream of and some I had never even heard about. The whole 'shebang is automatic and hydraulic driven so some poor schumck is not there pulling a handle all day long.

I think the average guy is better off thinking of it as an investment rather than a money making project. You might make a few bucks on the side selling some of the bullets or even loaded ammo, but I bet you would still not recoup the cost of the dies.

I am like you 30-06, I would want to make nice long 6mm bullets for my .240 Weatherby, heavy 80gr .224 bullets for my .22 Cheetah Mk1, & a whole bunch of plain 67gr (or so) soft point .224 for my ARs, and T/C Contender.

Since mostly (other than a few bolt guns and the ARs), I shoot single shot T/C Contender & an Encore, so I do not have to worry about magazine length. Most of mine were rethroated by Mike Bellm so I can seat the bullets out farther and not eat up case capacity.

Left Contender is a 14" .223. Right Contender is a 10" .32-20 (.308 bore) with a JP Tactical muzzle break.

Sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to the forum but I just have not had time to turn on the computer.

The RCE dies are for their press and not for a standard reloading press. Corbin's make a kit for the standard reloading but it is pricey. Dr. Blackmon is tied up for up to 4 months or longer but they at least have one that fits a standard reloading press. I can't find anything form CH4D.

If you go to my you-tube page You can find this die set up in action but it is on a Corbin press.



The Lee sizer isn't going to cut it because it produces a jacket at .225 before a core is ever inserted. Not a good ideal if you want a bullet that will go easily in the rest of the dies that it will take to make a bullet.

This set will make jackets for a 22 caliber rifle. However; if there is enough interest a .243 punch may be in the works as well.

I have pushed my rimfire jacketed bullets at 3800 fps in a 1:14 twist barrel in my 22-250 and have shot 3/4 MOA at 100 yards. I can and do routinely push these things at 3200 fps out of my AR and again get 1 MOA or better.

This die set will only get you started on making the jackets, you will need the core seat and pointing die to make the round. Plans are in effect for this as well but one step at a time.

Well the first manfacture has fell through. Way to high on the finished product. Am now going to a different one, so we shall see.

Thanks for your trouble JP, I just can't for the life of me figure out why these dies must cost so much? Are they Really all that difficult to make? Or are the manufacturers just charging this much for a set of dies because the can and people will pay it?

I don't see any more work involved than Lee has in all of their dies and they can still manufacture and sell dies on a routine basis for under $30 bucks.

Honestly the only thing holding me back from making my own jacketed bullets is the price of tooling. If a major die manufacturer ever picks this up and begins production on dies at an affordable price, I'll be the first in line to buy a set, but not before.