.40 cal Brass out of 44 Mag

[bluetopper]

Been thinking of firing range pick up 40 caliber handgun brass and filling it with molten lead and shooting it out of my 44 Magnum handguns. I thought of putting the spent primer end out and not quite filling the 40 brass all the way with lead so the 40 brass with expand and seal the 44 bore.

Anybody ever tried this?

 

[Chuck Perry]

There are swaging tools out there that help you make 44 jackets out of 40 brass, which you then use to make complete bullets. Google and you should be able to come up with some info.

 

[rcmodel]

I got enough ways I have heard of to ruin a perfectly good .44 Mag revolver without trying something like that.

Yes, it would probably work.
No, it is probably not a great idea.

Or somebody would already be selling them as Zombie Defense loads or something.

rc

 

[FROGO207]

A better option would be buying a 40 and set of dies.

 

[bluetopper]

It ought to make a good 44 wadcutter bullet.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

It ought to make a good 44 wadcutter bullet.

So would a mold...

 

[murf]

the back end of a projectile is the steering end. you wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that thing!

murf

 

[MachIVshooter]

If armageddon comes and jacketed bullets become unavailable, I suppose this would be an option. In the world we live in? I see no point. The .40 case is going to be very tough, so hard on the bore and almost certainly won't expand. If it's penetration you're after, you can make hard cast bullets much easier.

Nothing wrong with thinking outside the box, but sometimes things should stay in the box.

 

[41 Mag]

It's a little expensive, but if you want to be able to build your own jacketed bullets from used cases, like was mentioned there are swedging dies which can be had to do it properly. Here is a good example,
BTSniper Custom Tools and Dies

If your going to do it you might as well do it right....

 

[Bula]

My advice, get into casting lead. The added hassle of messing with brass and swaging adds little or no real world advantage in most handgun calibers. As for terminal performance, if it is really important, it's tough to beat the reliability/predictability of an XTP or a Gold Dot.

 

[CraigC]

I don't think it's nearly as far-fetched as some people think.

http://www.corbins.com/kit-224.htm

 

[ReloaderFred]

I make swaged bullets from cartridge brass in several calibers, including .44 Magnum. It's a labor intensive process, but works quite well.



The brass must be annealed all the way through, especially the base and rim. I do this in a ceramics kiln in batches of about 800. In this particular caliber, I also bond the core to the jacket in this step by placing the cores inside the brass prior to annealing. I heat the kiln to 1150 degress F. and then turn it off and let it "cook" overnight. After 10 hours in the kiln, the temperature of the brass and cores is still well over 250 degrees F. when I remove them. They are allowed to air cool and then are ready to work.

The cores are then fully seated in the core seating die, the notching added with the special notching die, and then final formed in the swaging die. After these steps, the bullets are bathed in a citric acid solution to remove the tarnish from the annealing process, and tumbled to make them shine. Then I add the cannelure and the bullets are ready to load.

My bullets are the equal of the Hornady XTP in both accuracy and performance. I fire them in my Model 629 and Marlin .44 Magnum rifle with equally good results.

Bullet swaging isn't for everyone, but it is satisfying to make a "silk purse from a cow's ear" so to speak.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[CraigC]

I make swaged bullets from cartridge brass in several calibers, including .44 Magnum.

After the speculators, safety police and assumers get done, it's always nice to hear the truth from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

 

[rcmodel]

You have to admit ReloaderFred's multi-step swaging die process is quite a bit different then the OP's idea to pour lead in empty cases and shoot them.

rc

 

[CraigC]

Well that's true enough.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Here are the tools involved:



And a top view of the individual steps:



And prior to annealing:



After annealing:



And the whole annealing setup:



Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Arkansas Paul]

There is surely a difference in knowing what the hell you're doing, and saying, "Hey Jim. Hold my beer and check this out." :banghead:

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Wow.

Now I have seen everything (someone will prove me wrong tomorrow)

You know, just had a conversation with a neighbor. His comment was that there were those in government who would ban the sale of ammunition and components to effect the same result as a ban on guns. I told him that he had no idea how resourceful folks could be. That was BEFORE i saw this string....wow. Just....wow.

 

[bigfatdave]

I am mightilly impressed with ReloaderFred's method

I'm curious - is that a use for otherwise unacceptable non-useful brass?

 

[ReloaderFred]

I mostly use military .40 S&W brass for making the .44 caliber bullets. It's very consistant in weight for one thing, and for another, there is so much .40 S&W brass on our range that most of it ends up at the scrap dealer for $2.00 a pound. The Coast Guard uses our range for their qualifications, along with a couple of police departments, so there's no shortage of .40 brass, believe me. I've tried selling it for the club to reloaders, but most of them want to pay less than scrap prices and balk at the shipping costs, which are flat rate boxes from the Post Office, with nothing extra charged for counting and packaging. At one time I had 5 five gallon buckets of once fired .40 brass in my garage, and after trying for months to sell it for basically scrap price, I finally took it to the recycler.

It's the same situation with 9x19 brass. We get lots and lots of it, and it ends up at the recycler for the same reasons. I use 9x19 for making .40 and .41 caliber bullets. I use .380 acp and .32 acp brass for making .357" bullets, and those are a little harder to come by, and I load for two .380 pistols, too, so I reload them a few times and then make them into bullets.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[mdi]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=41 A lot of shooters are doing that over here. Check out the stickies. Also using 9mm brass in .40 cal...

 

[ReloaderFred]

One additional note on making swaged bullets from cartridge cases. The bullets will be long for their weight. This reduces the volume of the case by quite a bit, so this has to be taken into consideration when developing loading data for these bullets.

A good example is my .44 bullets that come out at 230 grains. I used data for 240 grain bullets to work up my load and I reached a point where I had sticky extraction before I got up to the maximum loads listed in the manuals and was due to less volume in the case. This is because the base of the parent cartridge used to make the bullet is thicker than a "normal" bullet jacket, and even though it contributes to the weight of the finished bullet, it still takes up more room inside the loaded cartridge.

Primers also made a difference when approaching the maximum load for the bullet. While CCI primers resulted in sticky extraction, Winchester primers didn't with the same powder charge. For safety's sake, I backed off the charge with that powder.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[jjjitters]

What alloy are those lead ingots behind your Kiln on the floor? (drooooooool)

 

[ReloaderFred]

They are mostly wheelweights, with some recovered bullets from the impact berm at the range. They have a Bhn of 12. That's about half my current stock, and I'm always looking for more.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[tryshoot]

ReloderFred thank you and that is fine work. I had no idea that could done.