NEW! - Jeffersonian

By David R. Corbin
There is a bullet design that lets you tailor
the amount of expansion or penetration
you want to the velocity and kind
of target material you will be using.
With the same external shape, and the
same weight of bullet, you can change the
kind of performance at will by using this
design in your handloads. It's almost like
having two bullets in one: the outer form
gets the projectile to the target and delivers
whatever degree of expansion or penetration
you planned at the terminal velocity;
then, the internal construction goes to
work and finishes the job by either stopping
the expansion or controlling it, by
means of a solid wadcutter sub-caliber
projectile released from the efficient ballistic
windshield of the external bullet.
The technique involves standard bullet
swaging equipment normally used to
make jacketed bullets at home, but used in
a special way with a couple of extra parts.
The same technique can be applied to rifle
bullets; but tha+,s a different story. The
handgun bullets have no counterparts
available anywhere. The only way you can
get them is to make them yourself
The basic concept is to make a bullet
that has two jackets, one inside the other.
The outside jacket can take on the form
you like best to deliver the bullet to the
target, and can have the kind of point that
gives either fast expansion at lower speed,
or penetration at higher velocity, or anything
in between. Inside the bullet is the
upside-down base ofa smaller caliber bullet
jacket, nested over its own swaged lead
core. This rather heavy solid wall ofgilding
metal is more than just a partition; it is a
complete bullet in itself, ofthe solid-point,
open-base type.
The tools necessary are standard bullet
swage dies,with one special part made for
the job, and one standard die that is used
in a very non-standard way. The components
are regular bullet jackets.
The bullet swage equipment consists of
a Corbin Bullet Swage Press, Model CSP-I,
and'the desired caliber ofdies in the threedie
set designated Model FJFB-3. In addition,
one needs the next smaller caliber of
core swage die that will make accurate lead
cores for the jacket that is inside the outer
jacket. For instance, for .45 and .44 caliber
multi-jacket bullets, you would want either
the .44 or .45 caliber die set, plus a Model
CSW-l core swage die only for .38 caliber.
To make multi-jacketed .357 or .38 bullets,
you would want the FJFB-3 die set in .38,
plus a CSW-l die in .308 caliber.
There are three dies in the FJFB-3 set:
the CSW-I core swage, the CS-I core
seater, and the· PF-I point forming die.
Each has both an internal and an external
punch with it. The CSW-l core swage is
made with a straight hole to accept a cast
or cut wire section of lead considerably
smaller than the diameter of the bullet.
For the.38 caliber, the core will be about
42
Do-if-yourself...
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Technique involves standard
bullet swaging equipment,
which enables you to control
expansion, penetration and
velocity with one bullet.
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This .38 bullet shows one multi-;acket style. Outer ;acket houses a shorter/
smaller;acket placed upside down within it. Core fits inside smaller ;acket. Shown
are results of impact into dry magazine stacks at 600 fps to J000 fps.
Principal ofdual ;acket, internal partitioned bullet is shown in cutaway of.30 cal.
bullet with 6mm ;acket inside / seated. Internal ;acket does not touch bottom of
external ;acket. Core contacts outer ;acket; inner expands to fit.
AMERICAN HANDGUNNER ' JANUARYIFEBRUARY 1983