Making Your Own Cases

[mattman]

Has anyone ever developed a do it yourself method for making your own cases from brass blanks. Is there a way to draw them on a high strength press like the Corbin swaging presses? I am just talking about simple straight cases like a 9mm for example. And yes I know its cheaper to just buy them but from a self reliance stand point how do you do it?

[Bug Splat]

Are you talking about making a case from a sheet of brass like the big manufacturers or re-forming a brass of one caliber to another? If the first option, I'd think it would be cheaper to buy a lifetime worth of brass then the cost of the machines needed to form raw brass.

[mattman]

Are you talking about making a case from a sheet of brass like the big manufacturers or re-forming a brass of one caliber to another? If the first option, I'd think it would be cheaper to buy a lifetime worth of brass then the cost of the machines needed to form raw brass.

I am talking about making it from scratch. Punching it from a sheet of brass. What steps are necessary like annealing the case and so on.

[a-shot]

Wow, big job. People are thinking about trying to make primers now too. Both of those components are just like the powder, it's all a process, not a job or a machine. And you are dealing with a separate commodity market, the brass itself, copper. So would you try to source your brass, melt it to the sheets and then stamp? Do you have connections for the brass? Then you have to maintain SAAMI spec, and I'm fairly sure you have to deal with ITAR and DDTC stuff, whatever that new regulatory group is that charges a lot for reg fees on almost all manufacturing components. It's not something you just want to try to cook up in the garage, and would probably be, at the least, a very expensive undertaking. Front Sight broke it down in the latest issue.

[mattman]

Now that I think of it you could probably also punch primer cups from a sheet of brass. I think its just a matter of machining the drawing dies. I have no machining skills but there are some do it yourselfers out there.

[a-shot]

I think Winchester cups are brass....but that's only the cup. Not the anvil or the explosive for the spark. 3 things are happening just for the primer. DIY is way out of the scope of a project like this.

[mattman]

DIY is only limited by the space in your garage.

[a-shot]

I hope it goes well if someone tries. I will certainly sell their brass too if it grows into a commercial venture.

[mattman]

I guess all the tool and die makers on this forum are at work right now.

[merritt]

I have heard of people using lathes to make casings for wildcats. The concentricity is probably awesome ... and everything else is up to your skill as a machinist

[Fjold]

Large cases like 4 bores are often made one at a time, turned on a lathe from bar stock. This 4 bore case was made that way(on the left, next to the 223 cartridge case):

[jwest]

Fjold,

What is that on the left?

[Seesm]

I guess...

If you can get the specs right and they are safe to shoot count me in for some. Oh and the price has to be right. Sounds like a awful lot of work however...

[mattman]

Anyone have any experience with anything similar? Looks like I might be able to turn the head with a modified neck turning tool.