Hello - new member here, intro plus swaging questions with Hollywood press and dies

Hello all,
I have been reading this forum for awhile as a visitor and finally had the time to take a deeper dive into swaging bullets.
I have been using my Hollywood Junior press for some time to do the bulk of my 45 ACP, 308 WIN, 300 AAC and 223 REM reloading. I recently acquired a Forster Coax which has taken over all the reloading duties and has freed up my Junior. The Hollywood Junior is my first single stage press that I received from my father along with several dies to include the 30 cal swaging dies and top hats. Additionally, I have received several swaged 30 cal bullets (170-180gr) that I plan to test fire down the road. My dad's memory isn't what it use to be and he has no memory of how the swaging dies work and doesn't even remember making the bullets that he gave me. So long story short, I have been trying to figure out how these various dies, top hats, punches, etc are supposed to work. Did I mention there was no instruction sheets either.
Thank-you for all the posting on these dies and how to make bullets using these dies. I have figured out the general use of these items because of many of you! I think now I just need to jump in try my hand at it!
Now for the big question, I have been looking on several websites about acquiring the copper cups and lead cores. I want to try my luck with these dies without having to spend a fortune in copper cups and lead cores. Does anyone know where I can obtain a small number (100 of each) of theses in 30 cal so I can try it?
Thank-you all for your attention and expertise!
Best regards,
Steve

I just got done looking at some of the pictures on these posts...Wish I had looked before starting. They are a great help.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...aging-articles

Thanks Traffer! I'll take a look see.

if you only need a handfull of something try asking in the helping hands section, there are lots of members that help and share small amounts of items to get somebody going.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stevenlgts

Hello all,
I have been reading this forum for awhile as a visitor and finally had the time to take a deeper dive into swaging bullets.
I have been using my Hollywood Junior press for some time to do the bulk of my 45 ACP, 308 WIN, 300 AAC and 223 REM reloading. I recently acquired a Forster Coax which has taken over all the reloading duties and has freed up my Junior. The Hollywood Junior is my first single stage press that I received from my father along with several dies to include the 30 cal swaging dies and top hats. Additionally, I have received several swaged 30 cal bullets (170-180gr) that I plan to test fire down the road. My dad's memory isn't what it use to be and he has no memory of how the swaging dies work and doesn't even remember making the bullets that he gave me. So long story short, I have been trying to figure out how these various dies, top hats, punches, etc are supposed to work. Did I mention there was no instruction sheets either.
Thank-you for all the posting on these dies and how to make bullets using these dies. I have figured out the general use of these items because of many of you! I think now I just need to jump in try my hand at it!
Now for the big question, I have been looking on several websites about acquiring the copper cups and lead cores. I want to try my luck with these dies without having to spend a fortune in copper cups and lead cores. Does anyone know where I can obtain a small number (100 of each) of theses in 30 cal so I can try it?
Thank-you all for your attention and expertise!
Best regards,
Steve

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Do you know the jacket length you need?

Long time since I was on the forum, but I still tinker. If you have the two piece Hollywood dies, I can probably walk you through the process. The first step is to set up the base die so that you can seat the cores in your jackets. The base die is the one where the one that threads into your ram. Thread the seating punch into the head where the reloading die usually goes. seat the core firmly but no need to reef on things. You will quickly get a feel for the process. drop the ram and the seated jacket is ejected. repeat till you are out of materials. Then replace the seating punch with the point die. now comes the fun part, you want to make sure that your die is set so it fits flush together at the end of the stroke. You may have to experiment to get the setting right so you don't get a line on the bullet. There is a relief hole in the end of the die so you can get a little squeeze out, but you don't want to use this as a way to set bullet weight. These dies can be split if too much pressure is applied.