Made myself a dipper for my Sharps bullets.

[Maillemaker]

So I had been dipping the entire bullet end of the cartridge in lube, which, of course, lubes the nose of the bullet also. This seemed unnecessary to me and possibly even detrimental to accuracy, depending on how evenly the lube was deposited and remained on the nose during firing.

Anyway I decided to copy an idea I picked up from somewhere around here of making a dipper, kind of like the old Paas Easter Egg dippers, that the bullet could sit in during dipping. It would support the bullet, but also shield the nose from lube. Worked like a charm, though I will make the handle longer as it got a little warm during use.

The holder is made from a .45 ACP cartridge, which I expanded to the needed size using a dapping punch from Harbor Freight.

http://i.imgur.com/ecFX44yl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qFAPDJfl.jpg

Then I made up about 200 rounds of ammo for doing a serious load workup session tomorrow, if the rain holds off:

http://i.imgur.com/GyZU9g1l.jpg

Steve

[Ron The Old Reb]

Great Idea. What are you using to make your cartages and make the ends flat they look so nice and neat.

[RaiderANV]

Necessity,,,,,,,the Mother of Invention.....

[Maillemaker]

Great Idea. What are you using to make your cartages and make the ends flat they look so nice and neat.

Early period cartridges for the sharps had folded tails like traditional musket cartridges, and the sharps falling block would, in theory, slice off the tail on the up-stroke, revealing the powder. There were some problems though. For one things, sometimes instead of neatly slicing off the tail, it would tend to smear and fold up between the block and the breech face, making an impenetrable barrier for the cap to blast through, resulting in misfires.

Also, when the tail sheared off, necessarily some powder was lost. This resulted in inconsistent charges and accuracy, but also you'd end up with a bit of powder sitting on top of the breech block, which, if not dumped or blown off before firing, would result in a nice little flash in your face!

Later they switched to flat-bottomed cartridges that were designed to sit completely in the chamber, and had tail coverings of thin material that the cap could easily blast through.

I roll my cartridge bodies from 17 pound vellum paper. It is light enough that it blasts to smithereens without the need for nitrating, but heavy enough to easily work with. The end cap is made from hair curler paper. Originally I just cut it into approximately 1" squares, and then put some glue in the end of one of the tubes, and then put the square over a dowel and shove it through the tube until it comes to rest flush with the glued end of the tube. Then you set them aside to dry.

Lately, however, I bought a 1" punch from Amazon, and now I punch out hundreds of 1" circles in a few seconds by punching through a stack of the hair curler paper. These round disks make for very uniform end caps for the cartridges, and minimizes the amount of extra material so that they fold up nicely on the former as they go down the tube.

Steve

[marv762]

i got a 300 win mag case from a friend that i cut down that works great with the same piece of wire for a handle. keeps the nose clean.

[Ron The Old Reb]

Thanks Steve
I'll try to make them that way this winter when cabin fever sets in. They look so much better then the ones I make out of cigarette papers.

[pastore]

So I had been dipping the entire bullet end of the cartridge in lube, which, of course, lubes the nose of the bullet also. This seemed unnecessary to me and possibly even detrimental to accuracy, depending on how evenly the lube was deposited and remained on the nose during firing.

Anyway I decided to copy an idea I picked up from somewhere around here of making a dipper, kind of like the old Paas Easter Egg dippers, that the bullet could sit in during dipping. It would support the bullet, but also shield the nose from lube. Worked like a charm, though I will make the handle longer as it got a little warm during use.

The holder is made from a .45 ACP cartridge, which I expanded to the needed size using a dapping punch from Harbor Freight.

http://i.imgur.com/ecFX44yl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qFAPDJfl.jpg

Then I made up about 200 rounds of ammo for doing a serious load workup session tomorrow, if the rain holds off:

http://i.imgur.com/GyZU9g1l.jpg

Steve

What is a dapping punch ?

[Maillemaker]

https://www.amazon.com/EURO-DAP-708-00-Punch-Dapping-Block/dp/B003155LAK

Steve

[pastore]

https://www.amazon.com/EURO-DAP-708-00-Punch-Dapping-Block/dp/B003155LAK

Steve

Thanks. I learned something new.

[Hal]

Does lube build up on it while in use, or does it get up to temperature after a few rounds and the lube not stick to it too bad? In other words, are you constantly having to clean it off during use?

[Maillemaker]

No lube sticks to it at all. Being brass, it heats up straight away, and the lube runs right off of it. No cleaning off was required at all.

The only modification I had to make is I made the dipper using a case that had been deprimed, so it had a hole in it. The lube is so viscous that bubbles come out from around the bullet and wax leaks in through the primer hole, and was touching the nose of the bullet with wax.

So I pressed in an old spent primer and now that problem is solved. So, moral of the story is don't deprime it before you use it to make a dipper! :)

Steve

[Hal]

Thanks Steve. Gonna give it a try.

[Hal]

Made one last night. I didn't have the punches you used, but I had a Lyman M Die for 50-70 cartridges. The first attempt resulted in splitting the 45ACP case wide open, but a few seconds with a propane torch annealed the next case and it stretched out nicely. I kept going slowly, checking it against a Sharps bullet and a Starr bullet until I got it like I wanted it. I used it to dip some Sharps ammo and was very pleased with the results. At the very least, it will save lube, and hopefully, will increase accuracy. I don't see how it could hurt it.

[bobanderson]

Made mine out of a 50 Action Express case. Twisted a piece of bare 16 gauge wire into a handle, and dipped my assembled cartridges in a coffee cup of my lube heated in a microwave. I think a 56-50 Spencer case would work too.

Worked like a charm. Thanks, Steve.

[Maillemaker]

Glad it worked for everyone!

Steve

[Maillemaker]

Did some more dippin' tonight!

http://i.imgur.com/SFc8Ep2l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pwbJk0El.jpg

Steve

[leontev]

Interesting idea!
My way to lube bullets https://youtu.be/cSWclTwrLYw