A fantastic resource is Round Ball to Rimfire by Dean S. Thomas. It is a 4-volume set.
Many, if not most, bullets produced by modern governments were made by swaging lead under pressure. There were machines that extruded hot lead into wire, and this wire was wound onto spools. Then there were machines, like the Naylor bullet machine, that fed in the wire, cut off the appropriate amount, stuffed it into a die, and then a piston rammed it into a compound die to take shape, cannalures and all.
I'd love to see this technology reborn. There are companies, like Corbin, that sell bullet swaging equipment, but nobody, to my knowledge, makes a compound die that can open to release a bullet with cannalures.
Steve
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
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