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So I recently picked up a ch swag o matic. I basically picked it up to reshape cast bullets and play around building dies for it on the lathe. I know that the strength of this press doesn't allow for much beyond 3/4 jackets with no ability to turn a jacket over the ogave on the press. Jackets in the 3/4 and 1/2 variety are not available reasonably as I can see. All that said what all have you guys done on these?
Not on a Swag-o-matic, but one time I was gifted several hundred 44cal swc's that got turned into 45cal swc's in my swaging press. The lube stayed in the grove and they shot well for me.
I've reshaped cast bullets and made half jacketed bullets on mine. I was able to pick up a bunch of old stock half jackets for a reasonable price on an auction site, so that will keep me busy for awhile. When reshaping cast bullets, I normally use the SWC-HP top punch to make some hollowpoint bullets from roundnose or semiwadcutter bullets.
Hope this helps.
Fred
I use mine for reshaping and perfecting cast boolits. Also I found that 50BMG primers with the anvil removed make a really neat half jacket for 32 cal pistol bullets. And it seats gas checks like nothing else.
Thanks for the idea! I am currently working on 32 cal pistol bullets!Quote:
Originally Posted by rbuck351
Could a set of dies be made to make half jackets out of some other brass? Maybe .380 into 38 half jackets or something along those lines. Just brainstorming.
They can, and I do, but the Swage-O-Matic isn't strong enough to do it. For that, you need a stronger press. I've used .32 acp, .380 acp, 9x19 and .40 S&W brass for jackets, but those have been done on my Rockchucker, Hollywood Senior and Corbin CSP-1 presses, with dedicated swaging dies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plate plinker
Hope this helps.
Fred
ReloaderFred is spot on. The Swag-o-Matic is an aluminum press and will barely swag harder cast boolits. I won't even use water dropped ww with mine in calibers larger than about 30.
GONRA has 3 of these handy units. Made all sorts of parts, dies over the years.....
Original (purchased NEW waaay back when) is setup asa Dead Weight Press
for consolidating dry loaded primer mixes. Currently setup for 9mm Berdan primers.
Other 2 are "Ebay Specials".
Pretty good shape (by my low standards) but both could tell all sorts of stories.
One was used asa reloading press I guess.
Heard one should check for cracked frames but these 2 were Just Fine.
Just needed some parts…
One is currently setup to form 9mm diameter primer cups
(for Chicom LCS 14.5mm Soviet cases)
from 7/16 blanks punched from 42 mil Copper Sheet.
Other is currently setup to dehead .22 Winchester Rimfire Magnum cases.
Note - STP Oil Treatment makes a great forming lube!
I need to make a die retaining ring for the ram and find a 357 die. It might be a poor excuse but I bought it because I had a 357 swc and holder in the box-o-random dies in the shop. Mainly just want to be able to try some assorted hp pins and try some ideas out.
firebyprolong's probably outgefiggered all this loong ago but just in case:
GONRA's original Top Knurled Screwon Ring can be generally described as:
OAL 0.558 inch 0.719 inch ID, 1.014 inch OD over knurls.
Four 90 degree spanner wrench holes on knurl.
0.866 x 20 (7/8-20) male threads, not relieved, 0.307 inch long.
Best bet is to remove the Swag-O-Matic Ram.
Make threaded ring in a single chucking, thread-to-selective fit the ram.
Remove the chuck, screw it on a dividing head on your vertical mill
or use live tooling (think Harbor Freight Grinder mounted on compound)
and (home made) lathe spindle indexer.
Drill spanner wrench holes.
Cut it off & use it....
Just found a set of dies on flea bay and got the press set up only to realize my backup washer is gone. Anyone have one handy that could provide dimensions? I'd like to thank gonra for his help on the retaining ring I got one single pointed out with no problems. It even fits.
I wore out an RCBS Rockchucker so bored it and made a new ram to use the CH Swage-o-matic dies. I have a lot of 1/2/3/4 jackets in various calibers and the Rockchucker does them with ease..
RB
Finally got all the parts together and finished building all the missing parts. Proceeded to sit down last night and swaged up some of the prettiest swc hollow points. Had some HB wad cutters laying on the bench and just hit the base with a swc top punch. Closed them down into a really nice conical hollow point. Giggled like a little kid the whole time and didn't stop till I got them loaded and all shot. Now I just need to get some dies other than 38 built. Thank all of you for your help and advice.
I have a few and use them for changing diameters of plated bullets ,up and down, like the .50 plated Berrys for the 50AE . I use a half inch ball bearing in the base to hollow base and expand them to .502 so the seated neck tension is a tad less prone to push back. worked well. I've made dies and punches for several projects, hollow pointers and core seaters for the .354 Mannlicher bullets I need for the 9x56MS( I use 9mm Styer berdan cases for the jackets) and they shoot better than I expected. Ended up looking like the old TUG style bullets.