About those bullets........

[tbonesmith]

+1 please?

[ActionYobbo]

I picked up 450 sierra 30cal match kings that were pulled from surplus ammo and 750 30cal FMJBT bullets. both 175 grains
I have been running through the press in my spare time. all the SMK's are done and half of the FMJ's are done
these will be used to feed the BREN and the Vickers




there is the Mk7 from a 1942RG for comparison. the bullets went from .308 to .312 and lost their boat tails.

[CINDERS]

When Malcolm was doing the Taipans they were .312 and as those who have used them they were brilliant Taipan only did 1 run of a certain calibre projie per year so you had to time you ammo to the run but it was not at a certain time of the year either which made it difficult.
His biggest seller was to the 'roo shooters in the .224 cal with the norm being @5,000 pills per sale, any way most of you would cringe at his work shop being dirt floored and bush poled and old equipment but they were bloody brilliant those that have used them in their 303's will attest.
I spoke over the phone with Malcolm a few times and he was the old style aussie quite the character he retired I think 7-8 years ago and hopefully he is still kicking I have no idea what happened to his plant perhaps it may be like the Lithgow plant and be resurrected we can only hope

I see from these pics the bearing surface of the .62 pill gets longer which is good, I also see the base of the lead inner is concave a good deal this would help with obturation and give a good seal but I have to ask can they be pushed to .312 or would this make the .BC suffer to much, thanks in advance.
The price is reasonable for the Sierras MK's at one point not long ago I was paying 72 cents a pill for Berger 140 VLD 6.5mm for my 6.5/284 ouch!

[ActionYobbo]

I see from these pics the bearing surface of the .62 pill gets longer which is good, I also see the base of the lead inner is concave a good deal this would help with obturation and give a good seal but I have to ask can they be pushed to .312 or would this make the .BC suffer to much, thanks in advance.

getting the 175's to .312 is no problem. I made the die the same profile as the Mk7 so no matter what I feed into it a Mk7ish bullet comes out just the length varies depending on the weight and construction.

[Baal]

Could I get get a copy of those instructions please?

Dave

[CINDERS]

Just a question Mr E if you use say a highland which has a cannular will the process blow out the cannular and would this be a weak spot in the projie. I think it is a good idea to re form the projies I am interested along with the rest of the crew it would assist heaps to have a set of these dies.

Cheers,
CINDERS

[Peter Laidler]

Not that I know a thing about relaods and all of this stuff BUT could this system work for Boys rifle users......., to enlarge .50 to .55". Or ain't that comparing like with like?

[ActionYobbo]

Not that I know a thing about relaods and all of this stuff BUT could this system work for Boys rifle users......., to enlarge .50 to .55". Or ain't that comparing like with like?

yes it will work with 50 to 55 but not with a human powered press. all you need is the die set and a press that can get the pressure needed like a small hydraulic shop press that uses a bottle jack.
same basic rules will apply copper jacket and lead core
this method will work for making any size bullet a bit larger

Just a question Mr E if you use say a highland which has a cannular will the process blow out the cannular and would this be a weak spot in the projie. I think it is a good idea to re form the projies I am interested along with the rest of the crew it would assist heaps to have a set of these dies.

Cheers,
CINDERS

see my earlier pictures on page 1. they are 147 grain FMJ with cannular and they press ok and shoot good. After reading your question I got 3 and over pressed them to the limit of the press and the cannular is still present with no loss of integrity in the jacket. who makes the highlands. is it the ppu stuff?



as an update on my progress
I finished all of the bullets I have on hand. I did 1200 bullets in 4 hours. (done in my spare time so its in lots of 30 min over several days). that includes the time to reset the die between bullet types. reset took about 5 minutes. its basically press a bullet and measure it and adjust the die body down for fatter or up for less fatter until the correct size is achieved.

[RobD]

Looks from the picture as if the re-formed bullets may perform even better than "flat base" in slightly worn barrels. They appear to have a dimple in the base which should open up and seal the bore, a bit like a Minié ball. Could we see a cross-sectioned bullet?

[Thunderbox]

Mr E, please may i have a set of the instructions?

Probably some of us UK-based shooters can get together and get some dies made.


Thx.