« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw  (Read 680 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline olafhardtB

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26
homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« on: July 09, 2011, 03:16:19 AM »
Has anybody ever cut up pieces of solid rod to use as bullits in a 500 s&w handy. It is easy enough to find in several metals and plastics or even wood. One inch long piece of half inch brass over a case full of say 2400 ought to do the trick.
Logged

Offline gcrank1

  • Trade Count: (24)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7644
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2011, 05:33:04 AM »
Flying armor piercing trashcans, Batman!
I dont want anything but soft lead alloys, or at most, soft guilding metal jacketed bullets going downbore of any of my rifles.
Logged
"Halt while I adjust my accoutrements!"
      ><   ->
We are only temporary caretakers of the past heading toward an uncertain future
22Mag UV / 22LR  Sportster
357Mag Schuetzen Special
45-70  SS Ultra Hunter with UV cin.lam. wood
12ga. 'Ol' Ugly OverKill', Buck barrel c/w  SpeedStock  and swap 28" x Full bird barrel, 1974

Offline quickdtoo

  • Global Moderator
  • Trade Count: (149)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 43301
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2011, 06:41:16 AM »
 Try some cheap cast bullets that are properly sized,  or Remington bonded core-lokts if you want a premium bullet for a good price, you'll be happier.  ;)  You can also mold your own plinking bullets with a hot glue gun! http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,158372.msg1098695843.html#msg1098695843
 
Tim
 
http://westernbullet.com/50pica.html
 
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=1601165096
Logged
"Always do right, this will gratify some and astonish the rest" -  Mark Twain

Offline bagdadjoe

  • Trade Count: (43)
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 438
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2011, 08:40:04 AM »
Quote from: olafhardtB on July 09, 2011, 03:16:19 AM
Has anybody ever cut up pieces of solid rod to use as bullits in a 500 s&w handy. It is easy enough to find in several metals and plastics or even wood. One inch long piece of half inch brass over a case full of say 2400 ought to do the trick.
Sounds like a good start for the hook you've always wanted for that bucanneer pirate look...might get the eyepatch in the same go....
Logged
"By all means, make friends with the dog...but do not set aside the stick".

Offline bikerbeans

  • Trade Count: (168)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4070
  • Gender: Male
  • BANDIT - North American Snake Hound
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2011, 09:33:49 AM »
Quote from: olafhardtB on July 09, 2011, 03:16:19 AM
Has anybody ever cut up pieces of solid rod to use as bullits in a 500 s&w handy. It is easy enough to find in several metals and plastics or even wood. One inch long piece of half inch brass over a case full of say 2400 ought to do the trick.

olaf,
 
Take your calipers to Home Depot or Lowes and I think you find that the 1/2" rods they sell ain't going to be 1/2 inch.  The Chinese don't appear to have time for quality control in most of the stuff they send us.  IF you want to plink on the cheap try a swaged round ball. 
 
BB
Logged
RIP Tom: Tom Nolan, ( bikerbeans) passed away this afternoon (02-04-2021).

Why be difficult, when with a little extra effort you can be impossible?

Wife's Handis;  300 BLKOUT

MINE:  270W, 308x444, 44 Bodeen, 410 shorty rifled slug gun, 445 SuperMag Shikari, 45 ACP shorty,  45-70 Shikari, 45 Cal Smokeless MZ, 50cal 24" SS Sidekick, 50 cal 24" Huntsman, 50 cal 26" Huntsman, 50 cal 26" Sidekick, 50-70 Govt Shikari, Tracker II 20 ga shorty, 20 ga VR Pardner, 20ga USH, 12ga VR NWTF, 12ga Tracker II shorty WITHOUT scope, 12ga USH, 10 ga  Pardner Smoothbore slug gun & 24ga Profino Custom rifled slug gun.

Offline olafhardtB

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 26
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2011, 03:46:21 PM »
It is not exactly about cheap. I read an article about dangerous game hunting lamenting the lack of 500 caliber cartriges because the author wanted to cut up copper rod which he thought would make great bullets. Modern gun steels routinely are used with mild steel jackets. The activity to require lead free bullets indicates a need for research into nonlead projectiles. A handi designed for high operating pressures and with large area slugs not requiring expansion  seems a good place to start.
Logged

Offline Steve Gold

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 30
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2011, 06:49:28 PM »
I have been thinking along similar lines, If say a copper rod is available off the shelf the correct diameter it could be cut to length on a simple lathe. Maybe an angle cut made at the front to give a trauncated cone.

Like most who have taken up casting, when my stash of lead is gone other options will be sought out, While there will always be those that po po any thinking outside the box, there will be those with a pioneering spirit that will find a way forward.

Steve
Logged

Offline gcrank1

  • Trade Count: (24)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7644
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2011, 04:30:24 AM »
Even though softish steel jackets are used in some military arms quite regularly, they do accelerate the wear in the bore.
Considering that match shooters in High Power can tell when their barrels 'go' from shooting just guilding metal jacketed bullets, sometimes in a matter of only a few thousand rounds, and that I have personally shot over 3000 lead bullets through one 22 Hornet I had in only a few years, I dont want steel on steel. Turning solid copper bullets may be OK, it is soft enough to give with the rifling impression, if the rifling isnt too deep, but pressures will go up I expect. Brass is another matter, it can be fairly soft to pretty hard, so dont grab any old hunk of yellowish metal to turn some.
Another thing to consider is that there may be some legal restrictions on the making and using of 'body armor piercing bullets', not sure, but I remember there was talk about it some time back. If there is not now, its likely to come back around.
Logged
"Halt while I adjust my accoutrements!"
      ><   ->
We are only temporary caretakers of the past heading toward an uncertain future
22Mag UV / 22LR  Sportster
357Mag Schuetzen Special
45-70  SS Ultra Hunter with UV cin.lam. wood
12ga. 'Ol' Ugly OverKill', Buck barrel c/w  SpeedStock  and swap 28" x Full bird barrel, 1974

Offline Darreld Walton

  • Eagles Don't Catch Flies
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Avid Poster
  • **
  • Posts: 212
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2011, 04:25:36 AM »
Haven't heard of anyone doing it specifically for the .500 Smith.  Don't mean an enterprising individual couldn't do it.  I seem to recall a video, I believe on the Barnes website, that showed them turning monolithic solids on a CNC lathe.
Why not?  Not a new idea, been done before, why not give it a shot and let us know how it works out?  Seems like the toughest part would be finding rod of a consistent, proper diameter for the bore.
Logged
I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. "Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men." "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline

Offline quickdtoo

  • Global Moderator
  • Trade Count: (149)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 43301
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2011, 06:14:18 AM »
Logged
"Always do right, this will gratify some and astonish the rest" -  Mark Twain

Offline spooked

  • Trade Count: (5)
  • A Real Regular
  • ****
  • Posts: 515
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2011, 05:41:32 PM »
Know a fellow who turned some 50 bmg bullets on his mini-lathe and shot them out his 500 handi. let me pop off a couple, which i thought was way cool as the bullets alone cost him a buck or more a piece. They blew an awesome hole through 100lb. propane tanks. ;D
Logged
Lost between sunrise and sunset yesterday-one golden hour...never to be found or reclaimed:-(

Offline thejanitor

  • GBO Supporter
  • Trade Count: (59)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1094
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2011, 06:24:35 PM »
I know nothing about making a bullet other than pouring lead... but I wanted to recycle 2 ground rods last week and called about the price of copper, the lady told me Ground rods are copper plated steel. Well I argued with her since one is triangular and I have cut off pieces to use in flint knapping and know it was solid copper, but the round one I wasn't sure so I took a hacksaw to it yesterday.... core is steel but it has quite a thickness of copper on the outside, if you can turn them down and leave enough copper and be within the tolerance you need, you could have a projectile if you can shape them all the same, exactly the same.
I didn't measure the diameter but It may be close. Just saying it could solve the steel on steel issue, may not solve the legal part as mentioned above, but may work.
thejanitor
Logged

Offline geezerbiker

  • Trade Count: (14)
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1884
  • Gender: Male
Re: homemade 500 s&w bulletsw
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2011, 06:56:23 PM »
It's also easy to anneal copper.  Heat it cherry red and drop it into cold water.  Annealing copper is done the opposite way to steel...

I can't imagine lathe turning a lot of bullets but in a pinch, I could see making a few.  I keep a reserve of lead for bullet casting and I'm always scouting for more.  If the day comes that I can't buy bullets, I will still be able to cast them for a while longer...

Tony
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »