Rimfire jackets

[Eric-J]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post on this forum.

I am Eric and I am from the Netherlands.
I am glad that I found this forum because in my country there are only a few people who are bullet swagers, so to get information or asking questions about this item is almost impossible.
 A couple of weeks ago I bought a rimfire jacket maker from Corbin and I have made my first steps into swaging.
And of course, as a newbie, I have some questions about the jackets from the rimfire cases I have drawn.
I have noticed that the radius at the base(after seating the core) is not the same. One side of the base has a different radius then the other side.
I think this has to be the same radius all around the bullet for accurate shooting.
What can I do about this ?

And is there a way to get the powder residu out of the fired cases. it works like a grinding stone on my punch. ( I clean the cases in boiling water with a deterrent)

Thanks in advance for your reply.

eric

[talon]

Eric-J, to make sure the core seating die is OK,  just swage  a lead core in it and check its base. By the way, is your bullet making dies made by Corbin? If the swaged core  is as it should be, your die/punch is OK. If your cores easily fit all the way to the bottom of your newly formed jacket, then that isn't a concern (cores that don't easily fit all the way to the bottom of the jacket before swaging are a definate problem). Then the problem may be in the annealing of the jackets. You have to make sure each .22 empty is evenly annealed, not just on one side. Another difficulty is that some brands of .22s just don't work as well as other brands, when it comes to converting them into jackets. It has to do with the type of brass being used. Are you using mixed lots of .22s? Are ALL of your swaged jacketed cores coming out with a bad radius? About cleaning the grit out of the fired .22s: Just do the best you can. You will never get all the primer residue out, but the more dirt you do get out the longer your punch will last. The punch rod should screw out of its base and is replaceable: a new one only costs US$5 (at my last check, but Corbin Company has just raised its prices significantly), but it should make at least 7-10,000 jackets before rounding requires replacement. Order a few extra ones now to have on hand. Let us hear of your findings.

[Donna]

Hello Eric-J,

I think Talon covered the subject better then I could. So I will leave this post as a greeting to you. Glad you found use and I hope you get all your questions answered. Live long and prosper.

Donna

[pogo]

Boiling water is the best method for removing primer residue, according to a CCI chemist friend of mine.  (he was going back to school to pick up a master's in Chemistry and a Bachelor's in Soil Science to become a pig farmer  :roll:  )

Yeah.  A consistant jacket anneal is the hardest part of this process.  I used the University of Idaho's Metallurgy Dept. heat treating ovens till I got a cease-and-desist order from our dean.   Still had problems.  Each batch was different, but I was on my way to solving it.  Gotta segregage  your brass.

Too hard and the noses folded upon point swaging.  Too soft, and the shanks accordioned down.

EDIT:  Yeah, those punches will wear fast.  If you have a machinist friend, make up a couple spares.  Just a thousanth of an inch wear will have a marked effect on your cases.  These are consumables and won't last more than a coffee can of brass no matter how well you clean your brass.  You could harden and quench your punches for less wear.  I bought mine from Bullet Swaging Supply in Lousiana.

[Eric-J]

Thanks Talon,Donna and Pogo for your reply's.

Dear Talon,

I have swaged a lead core only and the base after swaging is completely flat, even no radius !
My dies are from Corbin and not all the cores fit easily down to the bottom of the jacket. At this moment I cast the cores and have no core swage die, perhaps a good investment ?
I sort the fired cases out by brand and with CCI (these is the most common brand of all) I sort them also on type (with or witout knurled grooves at the surface)
Yes allmost all my swaged jackets have a bad radius. But today I annealed another batch of fired cases at a higher temperature and the radius has improved. Now they are more even and have a sharper radius.
But a lot of them have still a "uneven" radius. (is that English?)
Perhaps is an additional step of preforming the radius an idea; after drawing the rim and before swaging the core. I think I have to make this die myself.
Luckily I have a lathe so I can make new punches and perhaps the new "radius" die.

Talon and/or Pogo can you tell me at what temperature and for how long you anneal the cases ?

Another question crossed my mind : Some .22 cases are nickel plated. At this moment I do not use them because I believe the nickel is deadly for my barrel which is made from a chrome-molybdane steel. Chrome and nickel  together is quite abrasive I think.


Eric.

[bullet maker]

Boiling water is the best method for removing primer residue, according to a CCI chemist friend of mine.  (he was going back to school to pick up a master's in Chemistry and a Bachelor's in Soil Science to become a pig farmer  :roll:  )

Yeah.  A consistant jacket anneal is the hardest part of this process.  I used the University of Idaho's Metallurgy Dept. heat treating ovens till I got a cease-and-desist order from our dean.   Still had problems.  Each batch was different, but I was on my way to solving it.  Gotta segregage  your brass.

Too hard and the noses folded upon point swaging.  Too soft, and the shanks accordioned down.

EDIT:  Yeah, those punches will wear fast.  If you have a machinist friend, make up a couple spares.  Just a thousanth of an inch wear will have a marked effect on your cases.  These are consumables and won't last more than a coffee can of brass no matter how well you clean your brass.  You could harden and quench your punches for less wear.  I bought mine from Bullet Swaging Supply in Lousiana.

  Hi Pogo
 Could you give us the phone no. or web-site, or address of the (Bullet Swaging Supply), that you were talking about in Lousiana. Thanks
bullet maker

[contendernut]

Eric,

The core should fit freely into the jacket.

[talon]

Anneal 22 shells at 600f for 20 minutes as part of the drying process after they have been washed. If the casted cores you are using are larger than 3/16th inch ( .20") you will need to get a smaller core mold. The cores definately have to easily fit all the way to the bottom of the jacket before you start swaging. Otherwise the core will grip the upper walls of the jacket and not slide down and completely fill the lower part of the jacket. This is probably why you get the rounded heal (radius).  In any case, a core die is called for if you are going to do serious target shooting. They cost a lot, but consider it an investment. Remember, the cores you cast  must fit the core die (.189" I believe)  

[contendernut]

Bullet maker,


Bullet Swaging Supply
3183873266

[talon]

I forgot to add: stay away from nickle plated cases for any kind of reforming. The plating seperates when the underlying brass is stressed. I can understand why police use nickle casings (looks nice and doesn't cause "green leather"), but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone else would use them.  Also, as to using a special step to remove the radius: The Corbin Company provides an "end flattening punch" in their Tube jacket making kit.  That punch is used to flatten the bases (heals) of the newly made tube jacket: It fits the core swage die ( the one that seats the lead core in the jacket). It's a tight fit inside of the tube jacket and is long enough to fit right down to the jacket's bottom. Very little pressure is used to swage that large radius rounded over tube into a very flat ended jacket! Eric-J,  perhaps you can make just the same sort of punch for your 22 jackets to do the same thing. But, properly fitting cores is what you really need.  

[bullet maker]

Bullet maker,


Bullet Swaging Supply
3183873266

  OK thanks contendernut.
bullet maker

[Eric-J]

Thanks Talon for all your information !

I'll let you know what my results are.

Eric.