Pro-Swage Die RFJM Jacket MakerPro-Swage Kit
Make FREE 224 or 243 Bullets!
A special kit to make FREE 22 caliber centerfire bullets using recycled materials (fired 22 cases and range lead or soft lead wheel weights) is available from
Corbin Manufacturing. The kit includes: Rimfire Jacket-Maker, to turn fired .22 LR cases into excellent .705-inch length (standard commercial)
bullet jackets, Core Mould to form .185-diameter lead cores of any (adjustable) weight four at a time,
Core Seat Die to press the cores into the jackets and form a concentric, tight assembly of the two,
Point Form Die to finish the bullet by forming a 6-caliber spitzer radius ogive, Corbin Swage Lube, and the
Corbin Handbook of Bullet Swaging on CD-ROM, with full instructions and illustrations. (Click for price list)
The kit makes it possible to produce high quality jacketed .223/.224 caliber bullets in the range of 50 to 80 grains.
The .22 LR cases make their best bullets in the 52-60 grain range. The same dies can be used with regular commercial bullet jackets.
An extra core seating punch is provided for use with the commercial jackets. Open tip, lead tip, and full metal jacket styles can all be made with the set.
For a higher quality lead tip, an optional LT-1-R 224 6-S lead tip forming die can be ordered. This reshapes the
somewhat blunted lead tip into a spitzer shape for a more professional appearance.
For additional weight control, the optional CSW-1-R core swage die can be ordered, which bleeds off
surplus lead from the lead cores, leaving a fixed volume of lead on each stroke. The weight can be set by you by the position of the die in the press head.
Use any sturdy reloading press that accepts 7/8-14 threaded dies and has a t-slot ram that takes standard RCBS type button shell holders with the
Corbin KIT-224R or KIT-243R. Progressive style presses, turrets and other special designs that do not accept a standard RCBS type button shell holder are not
suitable. A kit can also be made for any of Corbin's own swaging presses. Usually these would include a core swage die. The FJFB-3-S die set, plus the RFJM-22S
jacket maker, lead wire, core cutter, and swage lube would be the same components as this kit. You can substitute the CM-4 core mould in .185 diameter for the
lead wire (LW-10) and core cutter (PCS-1).
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Questions About Rimfire Jacket Bullets
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Are rimfire jackets hard on the barrel?
Rimfire jackets are only about .010-.012 inches thick, made of 70% copper and 30% zinc. Most commercial jackets are around .018-.022 inches thick, and are made of 5% to 10% zinc with the balance copper. These two facts lower the friction of the rimfire jacket, so that it is actually easier on the barrel than a commercial jacket. Zinc lowers the co-efficient of friction, and the thin jacket engraves easier by the rifling. (Higher copper content alloys do not break up on impact as much as the rimfire cases, so they make better bullets for edible and dangerous game hunting. Rimfire cases tend to break up when they hit the ground, so they make better varmint bullets with far less richochet potential.)
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Do rimfire jackets foul the bore?
Any bullet fouls the bore to some degree. The rimfire jacket generally causes less fouling than commercial jackets, for a couple of reasons. First, it usually has lower surface friction, being thinner and slightly less "gummy" than the softer copper alloy. But it also can't be fired with as high a velocity due to the thinness of the jacket, so it forces the handloader to use less powder, less speed, and therefore causes less fouling than a bullet fired at higher speed.
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What about the rimfire "dent" from firing?
Cases which have been fired in certain guns with sharp, square edged firing pins may in fact have an actual tear or hole in the edge. This will become evident when you unfold the rim, in the rimfire jacket maker die. Just toss out any drawn jackets where you can see an actual hole through the brass. Marlin lever action rifles at one time were notorious for their sharp, rectangular firing pin dents. Even a rather severe tear in the case edge won't cause major problems if you make the cases into bullets and shoot them, but they can cause flyers if the tear is right at the edge of the bullet base.
Most of the rimfire cases will simply be dented at the rim, and the dent is pushed back out again when you seat the lead core in the jacket. Remember, in bullet swaging, you'll be applying up to 30,000 psi inside the jacket as you compress the lead core. That's as much pressure, sometimes more, than the powder generates when you pull the trigger! Primer dents are pushed back out again since it didn't take that much pressure to create them in the first place! You can usually see where the dent was, from the slight discoloration of the surface, but it causes no problem and doesn't affect accuracy.
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Are rimfire jacket bullets accurate?
Rimfire cases themselves are surprisingly consistent within a given brand. Benchrest matches have been won using sorted Eley 22 LR case jackets in a .222 rifle. The least accuracy would be from assorted brands used to make bullets fired into one group. Even so, a gun that
can hold a half minute of angle would usually group about the same as it would with a group fired using assorted commercial jackets. If you sort the headstamps and use the same brand, the groups will usually be comparable to any commercial bullet in the same gun, once you work up the best load for that bullet. The answer to the question would be the same as if asked "Are Sierra bullets accurate?" or "Are Hornady bullets accurate?" Sure, but you have to work up the best load for each in any given gun, and some guns may perform slightly better with one brand than another. The short answer is "Yes! Surprisingly accurate."
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Are there any restrictions on using rimfire jacket bullets?
Yes, there are. Because the jackets are thin, the velocity should be reduced to prevent bullet disintegration in flight. Start loading below 3000 fps, and work up until your bullets start to create one or two flyers out of a group of five shots, then back down until you get the tight groups back. Some guns will handle higher velocity than others with the thin jackets. A general rule of thumb is that the limit in a 1-10 barrel twist is somewhere around 3,200 fps, but many shooters have reported good results at higher velocity. The jackets are thin so the bullets open up quickly or blow up on impact, making great varmint bullets but poor edible game bullets. Of course, because they are thin, they act as if they impact at 4,000 fps even when the speed is only 3,200 fps, saving powder and barrels in the process!
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