Legalities of making your own bullets and brass?

[sharky47]

Ok, I know you can pour your own lead bullets - but what about precise lathe-turned bullets? I know you can buy them, my friend uses them in his EDM .408 - but what about "rolling your own"? I know you cannot manufacture "armor piercing" bullets, but assuming you use some kind of soft metal like a copper alloy......is there anything wrong with this?

Second question - what about lathe turning your own brass casings - especially for hard to find calibers? I know you would not be able to sell them without being a manufacturer, but if you make and consume them soley for yourself - is this a problem?

 

[Bullseye Shooter]

There's no problem making your own bullets. That's how Speer (I think) started after WW II, using spent .22 LR cases as jackets for bullets.

Brass is a different animal. Even though it would be legal to make brass cases, they are not turned. A brass case goes through a process to be made and it starts with a brass slug that is formed and swaged, not turned. Plus I think you would have a problem getting the primer hole and overall dimensions consistent on every case which would be a problem. And you're talking about something that would be extremely expensive considering what brass is selling for at the scrap yards these days. In reality, not worth the trouble. There are places out there that sell hard to find calibers. Also, most cases can be formed from something else. I seem to remember in one of my reloading books or maybe it was in a gun magazine, of a list of cartridges that could be fire-formed or trimmed to make other calibers.

 

[sharky47]

Thanks for the info....

I know about the brass, it's not that much trouble if you are a CNC machinist with any machine at your disposal.....I just don't want to violate any of the 20,000 unconstitutional gun laws out there.

And I know for a fact they can be turned - saw some .308 that were made for a DOD contract specifically because they had no headstamp.......

 

[idleprocess]

Thanks for the info....

I know about the brass, it's not that much trouble if you are a CNC machinist with any machine at your disposal.....I just don't want to violate any of the 20,000 unconstitutional gun laws out there.

And I know for a fact they can be turned - saw some .308 that were made for a DOD contract specifically because they had no headstamp.......

I can hardly imagine how difficult it would be to turn .308 from a bar... 95% of it would become chips, then there's removing the material behind the neck, nevermind how it's going to behave verses drawn/forged brass.

Keep the chips and hope they're worth something on the scrap market!