The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting > Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old August 2, 2020, 08:40 PM   #1
Grey_Lion
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 15, 2018
Location: Baton Rouge - Louisiana
Posts: 406
New swaged JHPs - process & expended round pics

I've been working up more of my .40 S&W JHP's using 9mm cases and here are some pictures -

I had been using full length 9mm brass in a BTSniper swaging die on a Walnut Hill press to make .40 JHP's before, but spent a couple months off & on refining the projectile because using the full length 9mm case as a jacket made an overly long JHP and that 187 gn round caused a few problems when it came to seating depth. The most serious problem with this long of a projectile is an over-compression of the powder space in the shell. The second problem which caught my eye later is that this long of a projectile ruins the brass - you can't use the .40 brass again after a full length load as the seating depth stretches the brass case open by .002 to .005.

The steps to make the new JHP -
1 Sort & clean 9mm range scrap - remove primers ( mostly Blazer )
2 Anneal the brass with a propane torch to soften it - this makes forming the ogive easier down the line
3 clean the brass again to remove carbon -
4 new step - ream the 9mm brass down appx 3MM lengthwise on the lyman case trimmer - then de-burr the case mouth -
The core is a standard 9mm lead wad-cutter molded from soft lead - I cast these myself in a standard lee mold just for this purpose
5 new step - cut down the lead core removing about 35 to 40 grains of material
6 new step - weigh the lead core & brass together to the desired projectile weight of 140 gn - use bits of scrap lead to bring the components up to weight The reamed case material comes in at between 55 and 58 grains ( which speaks volumes about why I scrap Blazer brass )
7 seat the core material into the cut down 9mm case using a case expanding die
8 take the core and crease it with a creasing die to begin forming the ogive of the projectile
9 finish forming the hollow point ogive on the walnut hill press in the BTSniper swaging die

I use a light powder load for this projectile. Going through a stack of wet magazines, the round tends to go through between 4 to 6 inches before halting. The end wound track of the round tends to vary in size from a large grape to a golf ball sized hole depending upon how the round opened upon impact. This projectile can separate on impact into the brass jacket and the lead core which can break up into multiple pieces due to the creasing of the ogive.

My next project will be increasing the citric acid in the second brass wash after annealing to reduce the zinc and tin content of the brass to make the jacket even softer. I'm looking to do this to reduce barrel wear and increase jacket fragmentation.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Step 1.jpg (601.1 KB, 23 views)
File Type: jpg pic 2.jpg (965.8 KB, 26 views)
File Type: jpg pic 3.jpg (961.0 KB, 24 views)
Grey_Lion is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:26 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.04934 seconds with 9 queries