I'm considering experimenting with breech seating swaged bullets in my 40-65,.also knurling them to hold the lube, no grease grooves. .As my barrel is .400 bore and .408 groove I was not sure what diameter it would be best to .have the bullet at. If the bullet was say .400 dia and a slip fit into the barrel what would be the best temper to make the bullet alloy from ?. Would it still bump up OK using say 20.1 ?.
Just curious if anybody else has been down this path, and how it worked out. I.forgot to mention that I will be using BP only.
Mike.

US military rolled the lube grooves into bullets for the 45-70.   Ought to work.  I have a device to do that, but it is a PITA to operate.

People have swaged bullets from cast slugs ---  cast with lube grooves and lubed before swaging.

CHRIS

Chris
.I read somewhere that the old buffalo hunters used to cast their PP bullets and then put them in a pound die to presumably bring the projectiles up to final dimensions prior to being patched. My plan was to do something similar. I think Corbin make a tool for both knurling the surface of a finished bullet and also one that rolls on grease grooves , I .will check if they still do.
Initially my plan would be to just cast the slugs and then.knurl them.. This brings me to the subject of diameter and alloy, any ideas would be appreciated on this front.
Finally on the subject of lube, I use SPG and was just going to dip the bullets in that, my purpose of the lubricant is solely to .avoid leading, not to soften the residual fouling as I wipe between shots. I know someone is going to chip in and suggest I go the PP route, been there, done that, just need a new challenge and PP ing .40 cal bullets is a bit of a PITA.
Mike.

Mick B that is how the Bennet bullets are being made and CPA has his contact information if you just want to buy some already made or just to try. If memory serves me right the swaging wire / bullets are 30-1 and the knurling is a cross hatch.

Bits of info I've retained:

Original ammo I have for my Mauser 71/84 is dead soft, clearly swaged prior to being patched. Makes sense, since swaging with machinery can be done faster and more cheaply than casting.

One of the famous upstate NY muzzleloader gunsmiths made a press to extrude lead wire, to be cut into slugs and then formed in a pound die.  

The old buffalo hunter Frank H. Mayer said in an interview for  the Rifleman that the hunter of his time bought their bullets by the gross from eastern factories, already patched. 

Jim makes swaged bullets for PP guys. Maybe he has something for lubed bullets too. 

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Didn't notice where you are, Mick.

Let's not overthink it.  This is such an easy and cheap experiment to do that you might as well go through with it.  Maybe it will work, maybe not.  Worst that can happen is that you'll have a barrel de-leading job.

MickB my friend who has the swaging equipment lubes his cross hatched bullets with liquid Alox if that might be of any help. I have made a couple of hand swages for myself but I was never real happy about the end results. The equipment to do it right will set a guy back a couple of thousand bucks plus. At least that is what it cost him to get started doing his own. Not sure if Michael Bennett can ship any of his bullets across the pond. But if he can I would personally recommend that you give his a try first. Also from what I understand there is some difficulty using a richer lead and tin alloy greater than 30-1 but that could also not be 100% correct.