New guy need help with info.

S

Spence

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Hello all. Someone on another forum suggested I come over here to ask a question about these bullet jackets. I have gotten mixed info on thier use, manfacturer, and value. My father was a benchrest shooter and he handed down a lot of things to me. Any info would be helpful as I am looking to sell these soon. Thank You.
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Usually the caliber of the brass is stamped on the bottom of the brass. Like "44 Mag" means 44 Magnum.

Those brass appear to be very clean and possibly just once-fired. You should get a good price for them.

They would retail for about $8.00 per 100 at gun shows, if they are 44 Magnum, as they could be. Selling to a dealer, they might give you half that, figuring on a good mark-up on resale. Even so, with the quantity you've got there, that would be a good piece of change!

Good luck--
 
Montana Pete said:
Usually the caliber of the brass is stamped on the bottom of the brass. Like "44 Mag" means 44 Magnum.

Those brass appear to be very clean and possibly just once-fired. You should get a good price for them.

They would retail for about $8.00 per 100 at gun shows, if they are 44 Magnum, as they could be. Selling to a dealer, they might give you half that, figuring on a good mark-up on resale. Even so, with the quantity you've got there, that would be a good piece of change!

Good luck--
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Whoa Montana Pete,
Those are bullet Jackets not once fired brass. They are a component for making custom bullets. apparently for 25 cal used in making 25 cal bullets,
 
Shown below is a bucket of 25 cal jackets I used to make bullets for my 25BR

Your Jackets are a little longer than mine I made 79- 83 Grain bullets I suppose yours would make 95 or 100 Grainers

As to value, they are worth a few dollars as scrap cooper, or around $100 bucks a bucket if you can find some one who wants 25 cal jackets, thats a pretty big if. I put mine on a bulletin board about a year ago and got zero calls. I guess I should list them in the classifieds here again

Dick

Oops it looks like I read you length wrong yours are shorter thus for lighter bullets
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If I were you and wanted to sell them I would take some of them to a gun smith and find out the details for sure of what I have or if you know who the manufacturer is I would contact them and get the spec's Once you know exactly what you have I would then list them on GunBroker.com

I have had good lock selling and buying shooting items on it and some of it was oddball.

Good luck,

Big k

Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!
 
Most gunsmiths will not have a clue in hell as to what you have. Aren't those J4 jacket buckets? OK, your pic came up. Everything you need to know is on the bucket. J4 is owned by Berger Bullets.
Butch
 
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big k said:
if you know who the manufacturer is I would contact them and get the spec's Once you know exactly what you have I would then list them on GunBroker.com
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What you have is two buckets of .25cal x .780" J4 jackets approximately 3600 of them, most gunsmiths will not know any more than that. If you want more detail than that talk to a custom bullet maker who makes 25 cal bullets somebody like Randy Robinette. As to what they are worth it still depends on finding someone who wants them. And Bullet Jackets are only worth something to someone who makes custom bullets and has a set of 25 cal dies.
 
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You don't have a very valuable commodity for sale as they are avaiable new and fairly easy to buy.
25 cal .708 length jackets are not rare .
If you go to the Berger site they should have prices for 25 cal J4 jackets to give you an idea of what they are worth at the moment.
I would do it for you but Bergers site is not loading at the moment .
These jackets would have sold back then for around $140 to 150 a bucket of 1800 or 1900.
However I think the 25 cal .750 sold in buckets of 1900 ?
Anyway these jackets would be a bit long for most 25 cal BR shooters.
Trimming them would not be out of the question.
However your problem is convincing a potential BR shooter that they are infact J4 jackets in that J4 bucket now that the seals are broken and the fact that you never bought them new.
Close inspection would reveal the lack of internal taper that goes with a J4.
Just looking at a few of them that I can see right inside they look like J4's to me.
For me they would only be any good if they were dirt cheap as I would have to draw them down to 6mm and trimm or expand them up to 308 and only make a light bullet.
You might be lucky and find a 25 cal swager that is willing to trim them a bit or runs a 257 roberts or 25-06 . They would make a good varmint bullet as is or a reasonable game bullet if core bonded.
 
Ok thank you guys for the info. Maybe I'll give gunbroker a try.
 
Based on the fact that your father had these jackets at all leads one to question why. Did your father make bullets? If yes, did he have a set of dies among his stuff? Did you also find any lead cores that would go inside the jackets? What was your fathers name and what time period would he have been shooting? Did he have any guns that were .25 cal? Did he have any friends that were aware of his shooting experiences or his involvement in making bullets? One of the buckets in your picture seems to be overfull. Have you counted the number of jackets in each bucket? Did you find any empty buckets around?
Did you find any .25 cal bullets? Or brass for a .25 cal rifle?

Seems like a lot of questions, but if there are .25 cal bullet making dies, they are worth a lot more than just some jackets. You need to be aware of the whole picture, not just possibly one small part of it.

Good luck,
Larry
 
LARRY FEUSSE said:
Based on the fact that your father had these jackets at all leads one to question why. Did your father make bullets? If yes, did he have a set of dies among his stuff? Did you also find any lead cores that would go inside the jackets? What was your fathers name and what time period would he have been shooting? Did he have any guns that were .25 cal? Did he have any friends that were aware of his shooting experiences or his involvement in making bullets? One of the buckets in your picture seems to be overfull. Have you counted the number of jackets in each bucket? Did you find any empty buckets around?
Did you find any .25 cal bullets? Or brass for a .25 cal rifle?

Seems like a lot of questions, but if there are .25 cal bullet making dies, they are worth a lot more than just some jackets. You need to be aware of the whole picture, not just possibly one small part of it.

Good luck,
Larry
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I can answer a few of those. My fathers name I will leave be to respect his privacy. He was very accomplished. He at one time held the Wyoming state record for 100 yards, I can't remember the shot group he said he got there. He also won the Colorado state championship in September 1995 for a .078 shot group at 100 yards small group/ light varmit, Im looking at the trophy as I write.
One bucket is more full than the other you are correct. I spilled one on accident and just piled them into the 2 buckets. I have since hand counted them and straightened it out.
He has several custom made barrels a few of which are 25 caliber. He also made his own bullets at times yes. He had the swaging dies and such, but they were ruined in an accident. I was never able to find any lead cores though. Yet it could have been part ignorance since I was unaware of these jackets existense much less use. I kind of had an idea, but with no real exprience I just didnt know thier use.
As far as his friends go I never really met any he was very busy man between work, hobbies, and family. I can ask him personaly. He is hard to contact as when he retired he became sort of a gypsy with no cell phone. Him and his girlfriend travel from campground to campground across the country and he calls every 3 months or so. I just forget to ask him some of my many questions about reloading when I actually get to talk to him that's why I have sought advice via Web.
Thanks again for all the help fellas. Spence.
 
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