Plastic top punch???

[abunaitoo]

Has anyone tried to make top punches out of plastic/nylon????
Reasone I'm asking, is I wanted to get top punches for each of my moulds. At $10 to $15 each, the cost is alittle high to me.
I have a lathe and was going to make them out of metal, but plastic/nylon is way faster to cut.
I'm going to do the "JB weld" custom fit nose trick for each, so the machine part will be fast and easy.
If not plastic/nylon, what about aluminium????
Cost more, but would be stronger.

[theperfessor]

How about $8.50 each including shipping in any caliber you want with a two day turnaround?

[nighthunter]

When you say PLASTIC you are useing a term that includes many many different products. I believe there are a few that would work quite well for top punches and most of them would work as easily as wood in a lathe. We'll have to wait for some other members to make a few recomendations for us. It should be easy to come up with a few.

Nighthunter

[SlippShodd]

I turn delrin, teflon, nylon, G-10, HDPE, micarta, linen based phenolics and various other **** for structural components and would think any of them could be used effectively for top punches. Aluminum or brass if you have some stock. Instead of JB Weld or other epoxies for conformation, try sealing wax. Shoot, maybe hot glue. Now you got me thinking about all those RCBS and Lyman top punches that mar my boolit noses...

mike

[MT Gianni]

NOE furnishes Al top punches with every mold he sells. They work great. For a few years I got by with 1/4" bolts turned round in a drill press or grinder. Take the flats off, turn one for 30, one for 44 diameters. Then grind the hardness markings off the bolt head face if the lines bother you. It works great on anything with a flat meplat.

[Danderdude]

SlippShodd, I've tried high-temp hot glue. It simply does not work. In fact, even JB weld starts to give after about 1k pushes.

Do NOT trust the Lee boolits / Lyman RCBS Top Punch compatibility guide. It's burned me too many times. The latest was with the Lee .358 148gr wadcutter. Whoever made that top punch suggestion lied their *** off.

[.22-10-45]

Most of my top punches are now flat-faced..I feel with the not-so -perfect punch/die alignments, the flat faced punch allows bullet to "float" and find center.

[SlippShodd]

Most of my top punches are now flat-faced..I feel with the not-so -perfect punch/die alignments, the flat faced punch allows bullet to "float" and find center.

For a long time I pushed a lot of bullets using the flat head of a big copper rivet afixed in the plunger of the Lube a Matic. It worked very well other than for the depth occasionally. Then I found a flat faced plug in the bins at an old LGS and have used that as well. Sometimes if I can't stop a punch from gouging the nose I just use one that is too wide to touch. One of the punches I got from a guy years ago has had the sealing wax treatment (which is why I suggested that earlier) and it's held up well for years. It's all cat skinning...