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Sizing jacketed bullets?

gunguy30_06
There are many sources of cheap surplus jacketed bullets. Some of them have not been sized. This there a die our there that can size a jacketed bullet? How to the distributers do this?

Thanks!
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • jonk
    If you want to make sure they are of uniform size, running them through a Lee lube and size die (without the lube) would do it. But I've shot a lot of surplus bullets and never sized them- US M2 surplus is pretty consistent, for instance.
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  • haroldchrismeyer
    Please post some sources for cheap surplus bullets. All my good sources have dried up.
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  • XXCross
    Please note that jacketed bullets are NOT sized by squeezing them
    down, but rather by bumping them up. If you try to squeeze them down, the jacket springs back a bit and you loose the core/jacket bond. (makes for real sloppy targets)
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  • jonk
    So I've been told. I think it's a myth. I have no doubt it CAN happen, just that I haven't seen it happen and I don't think it is as easy to get happen as sometimes claimed. I've squeezed jacketed .338 bullets down to .329 for my 8X56R M95 with no problems- you just have to do it in steps. I have also to see 'spring back' after measuring a lot of sized down bullets.

    If they're surplus and BULLETS they MUST have been sized- swaging bonds the core to the jacket to start with. Or?
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  • greyghostt
    quote:Originally posted by jonk
    So I've been told. I think it's a myth. I have no doubt it CAN happen, just that I haven't seen it happen and I don't think it is as easy to get happen as sometimes claimed. I've squeezed jacketed .338 bullets down to .329 for my 8X56R M95 with no problems- you just have to do it in steps. I have also to see 'spring back' after measuring a lot of sized down bullets.

    If they're surplus and BULLETS they MUST have been sized- swaging bonds the core to the jacket to start with. Or?


    swaging the core doesn't bond the core to the jacket! bonded cores are
    chemicaly bonded including heat.
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  • jonk
    Ok. I'm pretty sure I have seen home swaging setups that include a really beefy press, jacket material, and lead wire along with swage dies. One inserts the core into the jacket and runs into the swage die. Now I admit, I might be ignorant (in fact I am on bullet manufacture) but where does heat and chemicals come into this? The jackets aren't epoxied to the core...
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  • XXCross
    Jackets for bullets always start life smaller than the finished product. The lead core is inserted and the combination is swaged in a die that is the final diameter of the bullet. Since the jacket has a "memory", it tries to return to it's former dimention. That's where the "bond" comes between the jacket and core. (mechanical bond)
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  • fire for effect
    I have a ring die I purchased from Corbin MFG, for resizing .357 bullets to .355. Corbin states that you can resize a bullet .002 to .003 with out a problem. any more and the copper springs back too much and the core becomes loose.
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