About those bullets........

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I was just over at a fellow "enthusiast's" place and saw something interesting.

A box of 144gn, .311" diameter flat-based FMJ bullets.

The story is quite intriguing.

The raw material is the standard Oz 144gn, BTFMJ (ball projectile) for the 7.62 x 51 as loaded into L2A2 and F4 ammo by the Footscray factory.

These particular bullets have been run through dies that bump the boat-tail back out square and also push out the diameter to .311. I suspect that you would need something a little more robust than, say, the old Lyman "portable" press.........something equipped with a 3" hydraulic ram sounds about right.

He has had these bullets for several years and understands that the bloke who made them has gone to the big loading bench in the sky (or somewhere).

So, apparently, you CAN reform boat-tails into flat-bases AND increase the diameter a few thou.

I reckon Mr. Corbin might have the very tools to do the job, though, by the time you spend that much dough, unless you got the 7.62 bullets FREE, you may as well be making Mk7 projectiles from scratch.

Barnaul Cartridges list a 174gn, .311" FBFMJ in their on-line cattle-dog; anyone ever seen one!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[lee_enfield223]

I have an original footsgrey mk7 303 swaging die plus a copy of one that I made up ages ago to suit my 7/8 thread on my rock chucker press and I used to bump up adi 7.62 144gr projectiles the same as you have described ,, I also bumped up some sierra 168 gr pills with great results so this process is not new and does work,,, but a word of advice !!! use lanolin as a swaging lube as if you don't the projectiles will stick in the die

[ActionYobbo]

I was just over at a fellow "enthusiast's" place and saw something interesting.

A box of 144gn, .311" diameter flat-based FMJ bullets.

The story is quite intriguing.

The raw material is the standard Oz 144gn, BTFMJ (ball projectile) for the 7.62 x 51 as loaded into L2A2 and F4 ammo by the Footscray factory.

These particular bullets have been run through dies that bump the boat-tail back out square and also push out the diameter to .311. I suspect that you would need something a little more robust than, say, the old Lyman "portable" press.........something equipped with a 3" hydraulic ram sounds about right.

He has had these bullets for several years and understands that the bloke who made them has gone to the big loading bench in the sky (or somewhere).

So, apparently, you CAN reform boat-tails into flat-bases AND increase the diameter a few thou.

I reckon Mr. Corbin might have the very tools to do the job, though, by the time you spend that much dough, unless you got the 7.62 bullets FREE, you may as well be making Mk7 projectiles from scratch.

Barnaul Cartridges list a 174gn, .311" FBFMJ in their on-line cattle-dog; anyone ever seen one!

I am still here I just moved out of there. here are some pics of some more recent ones made from LC FMJ's





I stopped making them when tipans came out because everyone started buying the tipans

[Stevo]

Very cool. I've never heard of this being done before.

[Bindi2]

I have been trying to get those dies for a number of years . Always told join the QUE i will get to you nothing has come my way yet.

Mr E you must have had a business making dies and projectiles at some time which way are you going now Tiapan are not manufactureing.
I have a supply of Highland 174gnFMJ BTs that need the BT removing.

[ssj]

Barnaul Cartridges list a 174gn, .311" FBFMJ in their on-line cattle-dog; anyone ever seen one! "

Note sure, ie I have 5 boxes of these, except they are hand marked 0.3105 or 0.310 on the box.

They are soft steel jacketed with a thin copper coat some microns thick (20?), ie very thin. The base is flat and open, dished (helps with expansion?) and seems to be around 0.311 while the main body is 0.310 (I am using a 0~25mm micrometer). Im paying about 31cents NZD for them. So far I am getting about 48mm MOA at 100m, but that is on a std P14 with a sling. I have some to shoot this weekend at 300m V .311 sierra matchkings out of my second accurised No4 mk2. I'll try and put up a electronic target output. NB The sierra matchkings are 83cents NZD. I hope to get to the 100m range in the next month with a hole load of stuff to try out.....

My previous shooting impression with them is Im very happy with them especially for the price.

[ActionYobbo]

I have been trying to get those dies for a number of years . Always told join the QUE i will get to you nothing has come my way yet.

Mr E you must have had a business making dies and projectiles at some time which way are you going now.

I am going the way of retirement and lazyness/
I have made a few die sets to use in a large reloading press like a rock chucker. they are not hard to make but are slow and time consuming but rewarding if you want the goodies with out the headache of searching for them. I have also been reforming the 168g and 175g SMK's



if you know a machinist that can chamber a barrel I can show them how to make dies
the reforming will work on any lead core bullet but not on steel core and not real good on steel jacketed

[Bindi2]

I do and yes please.
Tell me more about the 175 SMKs. I several heavy presses as well as a corbin.

[ActionYobbo]

pt1 of die instructions sent to those who asked except Bruce clear your inbox

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Cleared!...I hope