Representative BOGGS. How are these cartridges loaded mechanically--not
like this hand loading.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. It is all done on large machines. They buy their lead,
for instance, in rods. They ask for a lead alloy of a certain hardness.
Then these machines--they feed in the rods in the bullet-making
machines, and they cut them off to length. They have different diameter
rods. For a .38 the rod diameter would be approximately .357" or .358".
Then this machine comes down in a swaging operation.
Another machine puts the knurling around--forming the lubricating
grooves, and another groove. They tumble out as fast as the machine can
run.
Then you have your case formation. They buy their cases--they look like
little cups of copper. Actually it is a copper alloy. And then you go
through a drawing process, and then an annealing, and a drawing and
annealing, and a drawing and annealing of these brass cases. And then
once you get them to approximate length, you full-size them and form
the cases. The machine keeps tumbling them out.
And a small lathe--as these cases are going around--turns the case
and puts in the extraction groove--all automatically. Another machine
comes up from the bottom and puts the head stamp in. Another one is a
drilling operation, and it puts in the holes for the primer and also
the flash holes into the case. All done automatically. And they tumble
into a big box.
Then they take those components and they put them on the line. The
primers are all done by hand, except for shotgun primers at Western.
There are girls sitting at these presses who do 50 or 100 at a time.
They put guide plates into the machine in which the girls put the
primers. They are automatically loaded. All the primers are put in by
hand, in essence.
Mr. EISENBERG. Mr. Cunningham, what is the advantage of hand loading in
terms of cost, if you do not have your own shells to start with?
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. There again your initial cost is fairly expensive.
For instance, for the .38 Special, unprimed cases, the list price per
hundred last year, was $4.60 a hundred. The primed cost $5. The primers
cost 20 cents----
Mr. EISENBERG. So there is a saving even if you do not provide your own
shells?