JonathanL Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 hi can anyone tell me if there are any legal issues in buying a set of .224 bullet swaging dies from the usa and swage your own bullets from .22 r/f cases , bearing in mind that some of the bullets you can produce would be classed as expanding missiles which is what i would be interested in producing how would you stand with the powers that be in your local firearms dept , at the moment the only thing putting me off buying a set is the cost of the dies , and if there are any legal issues of producing your own expanding missiles in the uk the american shooters i,ve spoken to on american websites who produce their own swaged .224 bullets claim execellent results in .222 and .223 amminiution as i would be interested in doing 55 grain expanding bullets for my .222 rifle and because my rifle loves 55 grain pills regards andy Swaging non-expanding bullets is not a problem and you need to authority to do it. I swage .308 and .357 ones. If you wanted to make expanding ones then you would need section 5 authority from the Home Office. However I'm not sure that frangible ones (designed to fragment) fit the definition of 'expanding', which is; ' designed to deform in a predictable manner on or immediately after impact'. One the wider subject of swaging - You need to be really sure that you want to do it. The equipment can be very expensive and it takes a long time to be able to do it properly, usually. I've never tried it but I believe that reforming .22 brass can be a right pain in the posterior. Also, you might find that you will need a proper swaging press rather than just a reloading press. You might get away with a reloading press for the type of bullets you want to do but if you are ever going to use proper jackets as opposed to .22 brass then you definitely will. Even with a reloading press you need to use a good one (Rockchucker at the very least) or it probably won't last too long. J. that depends on what you do with the gun, how much you shoot, how far the dealer is and the depth of you pockets. For someone with a suplly of scrap lead and the time and inclination........ Some people do it simply because they want to as a further extension of their interest. As I say above though, you need to be really sure you wan to as it isn't cheap. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Just stop being a tight **** and buy ready made bullet heads. If you could make bullets better than the manufacturers we would all be doing it. most people reload for accuracy some for cost some as a hobby but all strive to make a custom round made to fit your gun and to be far more accuratate than factory ammo. but if every bullet you make is not identical weight,mass, size with the same ballistic co they would be all over the place.. if you have a steady supply of lead weight it in and buy bullet heads In some instances you can make better bullets than the big makers do. Many Bench-rest shooters swage their own bullets for that reason. Also, 'better' is relative. If you can make something which you need but can't buy then you are making 'better' bullets by definition. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 I reload because it is cheaper, accuracy improvements over factory are a by product what makes you think you cant make better bullets than a factory? you make better complete rounds than the factory! whats the difference? there is a chap over on SD who made his own dies and uses .22lr and .22WMR cases to produce .224 up to 6.5mm jacketed soft point for normal use no reason at all they cant be run at normal velocities or be used on game with good accuracy You usually need to keep velocities on rim-fire jacket bullets a bit lower than normal as the jackets are thinner and the bullet can tend to spin it's self apart as soon as it leaves the muzzle. You can even do it with commercial bullets if you push them fast enough. I had a .257 Weatherby and you could easily make 75grn bullets come apart! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 6, 2012 Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 Because your not making anything when reloading, your just assembling components like flat pack furniture. If you cast your own jacketed bullets and get a slightly thicker jacket on one side it throws the whole thing out. You don't 'cast' jacketed bullets. You form a lead core from lead wire and press it into the jacket under high pressure. There is no reason as to why the jacket should be thicker on one side if the jacket and - importantly - the press is of sufficient quality. That is actually another reason as to why you should use a proper swaging press rather than a reloading press. reloading presses don't have the alignment that a swaging press does. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) You may find now with the US restrictions that its harder to get anyone to ship jackets to you. Antique and Modern Firearms near Bournmouth used to do swaging gear. That side of the business is now called Nalan http://www.nalanswaging.co.uk/ Edited September 7, 2012 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewsher500 Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Swaging non-expanding bullets is not a problem and you need to authority to do it. I swage .308 and .357 ones. If you wanted to make expanding ones then you would need section 5 authority from the Home Office. really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 You may find now with the US restrictions that its harder to get anyone to ship jackets to you. Antique and Modern Firearms near Bournmouth used to do swaging gear. That side of the business is now called Nalan http://www.nalanswaging.co.uk/ There isn't any problem with getting jackets from the US, as far as I'm aware. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 really? Yes. Items subject to Section 5 are much more stringently controlled. Whereas you could quite legally build your self anything subject to section 1 or 2 of the Act, section 5 requires HO authorisation to manufacture. So, even if you had section 5 authority to acquire and possess, say, a machine gun, you would need specific authority to manufacture one in addition to being able to simply possess one. '(1)A person commits an offence if, without the authority of the Defence Council [F1or the Scottish Ministers (by virtue of provision made under section 63 of the Scotland Act 1998)], he has in his possession, or purchases or acquires, or manufactures, sells or transfers— ' J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amazed Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I can see the appeal of this to say hardened bench rest shooters that have perfected everything else in there set up, Or to someone shooting an obscure caliber. But for the less stringent world of game shooting or plinking with more common callibers I see it being a lot more hassle and time consuming than its worth. Don't get me wrong it would be a real achevment to produce them for your self as more of a true home load rather than assembly, but I would prob draw the line at this if heads I require are readily available and of reasonable quality i would just take a trip to the shops . It's been an interesting thread tho, thank you. Karl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) There isn't any problem with getting jackets from the US, as far as I'm aware. J. No but things are going bad slowly. Five years ago my mate used to buy 50,000 bullets at a time from the States and sell the surplus on ebay. Not now, he can't buy the bullets and ebay won't allow him to sell them if he could.. You can never be sure what is going to happen next. Just saying Edited September 7, 2012 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I can see the appeal of this to say hardened bench rest shooters that have perfected everything else in there set up, Or to someone shooting an obscure caliber. But for the less stringent world of game shooting or plinking with more common callibers I see it being a lot more hassle and time consuming than its worth. Don't get me wrong it would be a real achevment to produce them for your self as more of a true home load rather than assembly, but I would prob draw the line at this if heads I require are readily available and of reasonable quality i would just take a trip to the shops . It's been an interesting thread tho, thank you. Karl. For anybody with the common calibres thats fine. But look at £7 a bullet for a big game rifle ( thats not a round thats just a bullet) and you start to think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hafod Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 that was my point exactly when i started the thread , things are going to get worse , i,ve got a stock of bullets and my quota of expanding bullets on hand , but that was not the point , a lot of people seem to think that the good ole times are going to last , sadly they are not , which we,ve just seen with royal mails decision to review delivering shooting bits and bobs , look at royal mails decision on delivering shooting bits and bobs , i rest my case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanL Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 No but things are going bad slowly. Five years ago my mate used to buy 50,000 bullets at a time from the States and sell the surplus on ebay. Not now, he can't buy the bullets and ebay won't allow him to sell them if he could.. You can never be sure what is going to happen next. Just saying Absolutely! However, even if you couldn't get jackets it wouldn't be a problem as you can buy tooling to make them from copper strip. If you coouldn't get copper strip you could make them from something else. It all depends on how much money you want to chuck at the problem J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 is this what you was looking for on evle bay 120995133127 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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