Anyone made 6.5mm jackets from 1/4" copper tubing?

5/16" tubing has gotten pretty expensive so I looked at 1/4" tubing and bought 50 feet of ebay which comes out to about 6.5 cents per inch. I am planning to make my own tubing to jacket die as it looks simple enough to do. I think there is couple ways of expanding .250" tubing to .262 - .263 diameter. One is by seating lead core which I think won't look pretty or come out uniform. 2nd way is to run expanding mandrel through cut up ~1" pieces which might need to be annealed first and have them strip off mandrel on return stroke. I've done this with thin 22 mag RF jackets and it worked well. It was easier setup because I used a shell holder to hold the case in place. I am thinking I can do similar thing to expand to 30 cal but I have no idea if this is going to work or not. Please share your experience / knowledge.

it can definitely be done. After you cut to length, then end round, then during flattening and closing the end of the jacket in the core seat die, it will require a punch dedicated to the tubing dimensions to flatten the end of the jacket and also expand or flare the 1/4" jacket. A slight taper to this punch or mandrel was needed. Then swap in the core seat punch and drop the core which is going to be a much smaller diameter than the 22mag jacket due to the wall thickness obviously and seat it then you're on your merry way.

I will say I've only attempted to expand a cut jacket without end rounding step because I was looking for the same option, but the concept of expanding the jacket with a tapered punch/mandrel I made to be used in the core seat die worked just fine. I just haven't turned an end rounding die yet since I've got thousands of 6.5 jackets, but it's on my list of things to do. I can find some time between work and kids soccer tournaments this weekend , I'll get you dimensions of the expander punch/mandrel I turned.

I did not anneal prior to expanding, but then again I didn't core seat or point form yet either so I'm not sure if that'll be required. The expansion isn't as dramatic and stressful though as drawing down 5/16 I would think so maybe it's not necessary depending on how soft your tubing is. Now I'm curious.

Most tubing and pipes used for plumbing are measured by the ID not the OD so if copper is measured ID (I assume it is) it would already be bigger wouldn't it?

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Originally Posted by SSG_Reloader

it can definitely be done. After you cut to length, then end round, then during flattening and closing the end of the jacket in the core seat die, it will require a punch dedicated to the tubing dimensions to flatten the end of the jacket and also expand or flare the 1/4" jacket. A slight taper to this punch or mandrel was needed. Then swap in the core seat punch and drop the core which is going to be a much smaller diameter than the 22mag jacket due to the wall thickness obviously and seat it then you're on your merry way.

I will say I've only attempted to expand a cut jacket without end rounding step because I was looking for the same option, but the concept of expanding the jacket with a tapered punch/mandrel I made to be used in the core seat die worked just fine. I just haven't turned an end rounding die yet since I've got thousands of 6.5 jackets, but it's on my list of things to do. I can find some time between work and kids soccer tournaments this weekend , I'll get you dimensions of the expander punch/mandrel I turned.

I did not anneal prior to expanding, but then again I didn't core seat or point form yet either so I'm not sure if that'll be required. The expansion isn't as dramatic and stressful though as drawing down 5/16 I would think so maybe it's not necessary depending on how soft your tubing is. Now I'm curious.

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I though I replied but I didn't. I experimented with expanding just by running a mandrel through it first to get to .263 - that was success and then to .306 and that was success too! What surprised me was I totally expected to struggle to strip the jacket off however it came out rather easy! Because of this I though I would have to run this as separate step, however now I can see how this can be done all in one step. I think the tubing is already very soft and no annealing required.

Now I just need to figure out how to make that 45 degree angle end of the hole in the die. I am thinking of using endmill with this angle for it.

Yes, you are correct, but the tubing for refrigeration is measured as OD. Personally I wouldn't mind at all if it sold as 1/4" ID at this price point :) It would be a 5/16 and would be perfect for 30 cal jackets.