Anyone swaging 172 projectiles?

[Bills Shed]

To all fellow powder burners,
Is there anyone out there swaging their own .172" jacketed projectiles out of .22LR brass?

When the Aust dollar was better than the US dollar I invested in a set of dies/press to swage .224 jacketed projectiles using .22LR cases as jackets. This works exceptionally well and I would like to now get into making .172" projectiles. Unfortunately the Aust dollar is not what it was and the cost of another set of dies would be in the vicinity of AU$900.00 + and that is for steel dies and not carbide.
I have made the ring dies to swage the LR cases down to .168" in two steps so that is a cost I do not need to cover.
If there is anyone out there who is willing to swap components, or if you know someone who makes swaging dies (in Aust) please drop me a line.

Some may be asking why I do not buy the jackets! Here in Aust we do not make jackets ( not that I have found anyway) and to import them in from the U.S. is cost inhibitive. Even the .22 LR ammunition made in Aust uses imported brass cases, besides the LR brass costs me nothing!

Bill

[Supporter]

A bit off topic sorry, but as it might relate to the 0.172"... How is the accuracy of your swaged .224?

[chrispy]

I am keen to follow this topic. I am learning swagging for 224 pills, and want to eventually do 172 and 264 pills.

[Bills Shed]

A bit off topic sorry, but as it might relate to the 0.172"... How is the accuracy of your swaged .224?

This is a fair question and like all projectiles different weights work better in some rifles than others. I have a mate in Queensland who has used my 55 grain projectiles in his T3 with grouping at a inch. The 40 grains projectiles out of my Sako K hornet will do better than a inch at a 100 m but it did take a while to get the load right. There were some members on this forum that pointed me in the right direction to get it to that accuracy.
I have made some junk along the way and they shot poorly in comparison ( less than 2 " at 100) but like reloading ammunition it is a learning curve to get repeatable results. With good notes and a little patience you can get projectile target weight to 0.1 of a grain. It is all about being very anal with regards to everything, ie, annealing,cleaning,lube and lengths.

Bill

[Bourt]

$900??

What did a set of carbide dies cost (just for shock factor)

[Bills Shed]

$900??

What did a set of carbide dies cost (just for shock factor)

I did end up getting a set of steel dies in .172" dies and they were in the area of AU$600.00 delivered. A set of carbide dies would be $1000.00 plus and a lead time of many months.
I have only just got the dies and am looking forward to making some jacketed projectiles. The draw die to make the jackets is another cost on top of that. Return on investment is a long way off, but when I look at current projectile prices, maybe not so far.

I am making some 70 gn, .224 projectiles for a bloke up the road. His barrel twist is 1 in 8 and I do not think a .22lr jacket will hold up, nor is it long enough to make a projectile of that weight. I derimmed some .22 magnum cases (.242" OD)and then swaged them down to .220" using a small punch so that the wall thickness was not reduced. Hopefully the wall thickness will be thick enough and consistent enough to remain balanced. We will see if they hold together at high RPM. Will let you know the results......good or bad

Bill

[Sender]

A grand for carbide dies, bloody hell.....