Annealing fired 22 cases

[DFrame]

Hi. Another Noob here.
I'm interested in finding out what I can about using fired 22 cases for bullet jackets.  Corbin makes it sound Sooooo easy.  I am just starting out and will gradually be getting the pieces and parts I need. My question concerns annealing the 22 cases. Corbin says you can use a propane torch to heat,  then allow to cool.  Is this any where near as simple as the book makes it seem.  Seems to me this is a bit imprecise. How long are the jackets kept at that temperature? How do you know they're AT the right temperature?  How to you keep from burning the jackets? Do you stack them on a cookie sheet?  Do you put them in your case polisher afterward?
I'm really unsure of any of this.  I will add that I'm an experianced reloader(do you get experianced in 35 years of reloading?) and have no qualms about trying something new.  I'm primarily planning on making bullets for my own use and perhaps one or two friends who have AR addictions.

[talon]

Review pp 83-86 of  D.R. Corbin's Handbook of Bullet Swaging #8 for the art and science of 22RF jacket making from start to finish. I believe that HB is still available for review/download  on Corbin's Web Site if you don't have your own copy.  I have made many 1000s of these jackets. Yes, the heating part is imprecise, as annealing takes the "correct heat" ( different for each bullet company's alloy) over a certain length of time. I use a kitchen oven @400 degrees for 1/2 hour, turn the oven off and let the jackets cool in it over night. Not perfect, but it works. From time to time I get a series of jackets that I can't work with, however, so keep your lots seperated. I have more problems with sand & dirt in the cases. Cleaning them is tough as even the tumbling medium plugs them up. For this reason, if you want to polish the jackets, do it after they're made into bullets. And, watch out for those steel casings!

[DFrame]

Thanks very much. I was working out of an old book from 1982. I'll get a #8 ordered or downloaded.  It seems to me the kitchen oven would be much more precise than a torch. It allows more exact temperatures and times. I was under the mistaken impression that a kitchen  oven wasn't capable of high enough heat for the annealing. Delighted to find out I was wrong.  I can certainly put a bunch of cases on a cookie sheet in my oven.
Do you separate cases by headstamp?  Have you had better luck with one brand over another, particularly with your oven annealing method.

BTW I was delighted to find this forum.  Have been reading earlier threads almost nonstop since I found you.  Very few sources fo information out there. I very much appreciate it.
 

[stever]

I've done 1000s as well.  I sort them by headstamp, boil and dry in the oven as per the Corbin book.  I bake the clean cases for a half hour at whatever my oven's top setting is.  It says 600.

I use Winchester and Lapua cases almost exclusively. I get my cases from an inside range whose members shoot comp.  Hence, the Lapuas.  They practice a lot with Wins for whatever reson.  There are some Federals and Rems but not too many.  I sort everything but I don't care for Federals. They are made in different places and I find them harder to work with.

Regardless of case, despite the oven heating, I still find that maybe 20% crack IF the final weight is going to be 55 grains or less.  This is because you end up with OTs whose tip is unsupported.  IOW, there is no lead just jacket at the end.  About 20% crack.  Since these things are virtually no cost, I make 60s and 65s with the RF cases.  I'm hoping that 57.5 grain bullets should have lead to the end (approx.) and therefore won't crack.

For 35 to 55 grains, I use J4s.

[DFrame]

One of the reasons I'm planning on getting into swaging is the care and feeding of my .22 Jet. I found out bullets for it started at about $17 per hundred retail.   I was planning on using 22 short brass to form 40-45 gr bullets for my revolver, and long rifle brass for everything else. The longer bullets will be used in a .222 remington  and for and a couple of friends who are addicted to Colt AR's.  According to Corbin sizing 223 or 224 bullets down to 222(for the Jet) should not be a major problem
I assumed there would be some incidence of cracking or other failures. At a cost of FREE,  I can afford to lose a few.  Have you used 22 short brass for lighter(40-45 grain)  bullets?

[stever]

No.  I throw the shorts into a tupperware container.  When I get enough of them I'll process a batch.  I'm quite certain that Dave would sell you a jacket trimming die should you not be able to find enough 22 short cases. 

Free is a bit of a misnomer.  If you use lead wire to make your bullets and 20 to 30 % of them crack, it becomes annoying.  If you buy the cores and lose 200 to 300 per 1000, it's annoying.  You wasted all that time processing the bulets and jackets por nada. 

Just to let you know, the jacket doesn't crack until you point form the bullet.  By then you've seated the core and, of course, spent the time preping a case that ends up in the garbage.  If I'm going to spend time making them, I want as close to 100 % as possible.

Steve

[DFrame]

Guess I'm showing my NOOB status here. Hadn't considered the amount of time and work expended in case prep and  cores. Free is indeed a poor choice of terms. I'd like to get as close to 100% as possible too. I have access to a facility where I should be able to find a satisfactory quantity of 22 cases.
Do you have any personal preference for a press. I note that the walnut hill press is about $50 less than the corbin model. They appear similar in the website pix. Does one have any advantage over the other? With an expenditure of about $300, fifty dollars won't really make that much of a difference. Just curious.

My grand plan is to start seriously in about 2 months. I have some other obligations which come first. Main one being an anniversary trip for my wife which has been way too long in coming.
Thanks very much for your help and information!

[stever]

I have both the WH and Series II presses.  Of the 2, I prefer the WH press.  The Series II had problems for which they provided upgrades and their latest press incorporates these changes.

A problem that was eliminated with the Dave Corbin presses was the stop pin.  They used to bend and there were problems (for me anyway) when point forming bullets.  The stop pins did not pass all the way through the die.  They rested in a slot.  My pins got bent continually because the press wasn't machined properly IMO.   Apparently this problem has been fixed.

My setup has me seating the cores with the Series II and PFing with the WH press.  If i had to usee just one press, I would use a WH.  IMO, it's stronger and better built.

Steve 

[DFrame]

Thanks very much for your input. Very helpful forum. Not many swaging forums out there.

[Swageall]

xxx

[DFrame]

I've been going through many of the old posts.  Great info.  Finding a lot of answers to questions I hadn't even asked yet.
 As soon as I return from a long overdue anniversary trip with my wife,  I'm getting serious about swaging.  Kind of had it in the back of my mind for years but never took the plunge.
RCE will be getting a call in about 60 days. Can't wait to get started "rolling my own"

[stever]

I enjoy it too.  I've got thousands of processed 22 cases all ready to make into bullets.  Between them and the J4s I bought before the price increase, I'll never buy another .224 bullet.  They are darn near perfect for my 222s and 223.   I got a shipload full of cores from Clint Stark in various weights too(thanks Clint).

I really have to get off my butt and start cutting some cores.  I've got 250 lb of wire in the shop that needs chopping.  The trouble is, the world has so many other things to distract me!

This sort of has to do with bullet making.  Last Friday morning I went out to my range.  I needed to finish some work for my new book and the weather was perfect.  Well, sdo was the range. No one, and I mean no one showed up from 10:30 in the morning until 3.  I had the place to myself.  A first.  Hardly any wind.  Sunny but not humid.  I didn't have to worry about anyone wanting to go down range or making noise etc.  Fabulous!  Oh, the bullets were 200 grain 313s, made in my shop.  So it was a bullet story!

Sorry to ramble.  As you were...

Safe Shooting! 
Steve Redgwell
303british.com