My home made 45 cal swaging dies.

[stealthshooter]

I spent a couple hours with my drill press and dremel tool yesterday. I built a core seating die and a nose forming die with a round nose punch and a hollow point punch. The bullets in the picture were made with my dies. The hollow point weighs 330 grains and the round nose weighs 360 grains. I'm pretty happy with them

[Buckshot]

.................Dang! How do ya cut threads and knurl, let alone bore using a drill press!!!????

................Buckshot

[alfloyd]

He is making them out of reloading sizing and seat dies.
That is what was shown in another post.

Lafaun

[stealthshooter]

Yep I just redNecked these ones together! I won't be doing anything fancy until I get my lathe and learn how to use it LOL

[Buckshot]

He is making them out of reloading sizing and seat dies.
That is what was shown in another post.

Lafaun

............I figured. Just a friendly poking in the ribs to get a laugh

..............Buckshot

[Whiterabbit]

very, very interesting. Can you talk a bit about how you put them together from start to finish? Incredible what can be done with relatively simple tools using ingenuity.

[cgtreml]

very, very interesting. Can you talk a bit about how you put them together from start to finish? Incredible what can be done with relatively simple tools using ingenuity.

I agree. I'm not a machinist but I would give it a try. If you have time to describe your project that would be great.

[danr]

if you guys really wanted to make them easily and cheaply, go to leeprecision.com and buy a die body for around $15.. its very simple to adapt reloading dies into swage dies. the key is the shoulder size of the reloading die should be close to the caliber of bullet your attempting to make.. you can pretty much make any pistol caliber projectile this way..

here is quick list of what reloading dies can be used for pistol projectiles.


45 ACP (.451)
280 remington (.441) 17-30
270 winchester (.441) 17-30
25-06 remington (.441) 17-30
**** 243 winchester (.454) 20 sizing die.

44 mag (.430)
257 roberts (.429) 20-45 lee (.431)
244 remington (.429) 26 lee (.431)

40 SW (.400)
**** 220 swift (.402) 21 lee (.406)

38 Spl & 357 (.357) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23 lee(.358)
**** 222 remington (.357) 23
223 remington (.354) 23 sizing die (.351) seat (.358)
17 remington (.356) 23 lee(.358)

9mm (.355) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23
222 remington (.357) 23b
**** 17 remington (.356) 23
223 remington (.354) 23

380 acp (.355) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23
222 remington (.357) 23
17 remington (.356) 23
223 remington (.354) 23

i found that the 17 remington makes a great bullet for anything lower than 357.. compared to the other calibers, the 17 has a munch better nose.

also, there may be other calibers that could be used.. but this should get anyone who is interested going..

thanks,
Dan

[par0thead151]

ok, i am very interested. how do they shoot?
how long does it take to make them?
how much for all the hardware required?

[sly mantis]

So do you just need a seating die for this to work?
ie. if i got a lee 220 swift seating die, could i swage 40s&w bullets from 9mm brass? would anything else be needed?

[Wayne Smith]

if you guys really wanted to make them easily and cheaply, go to leeprecision.com and buy a die body for around $15.. its very simple to adapt reloading dies into swage dies. the key is the shoulder size of the reloading die should be close to the caliber of bullet your attempting to make.. you can pretty much make any pistol caliber projectile this way..

here is quick list of what reloading dies can be used for pistol projectiles.


45 ACP (.451)
280 remington (.441) 17-30
270 winchester (.441) 17-30
25-06 remington (.441) 17-30
**** 243 winchester (.454) 20 sizing die.

44 mag (.430)
257 roberts (.429) 20-45 lee (.431)
244 remington (.429) 26 lee (.431)

40 SW (.400)
**** 220 swift (.402) 21 lee (.406)

38 Spl & 357 (.357) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23 lee(.358)
**** 222 remington (.357) 23
223 remington (.354) 23 sizing die (.351) seat (.358)
17 remington (.356) 23 lee(.358)

9mm (.355) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23
222 remington (.357) 23b
**** 17 remington (.356) 23
223 remington (.354) 23

380 acp (.355) lee (.356)
6x47mm (.357) 23
222 remington (.357) 23
17 remington (.356) 23
223 remington (.354) 23

i found that the 17 remington makes a great bullet for anything lower than 357.. compared to the other calibers, the 17 has a munch better nose.

also, there may be other calibers that could be used.. but this should get anyone who is interested going..

thanks,
Dan

Dan, I appreciate the thought. Can you expand a little? What are the numbers after the parentheses? I fail to see how using a die of .441 will produce a bullet of .451? or are these a series of dies needed? This list just creates more questions in my mind. All I have done so far is use a set of Herter's dies to make 44 cal. half jackets. Using these Lee dies what goes into the shell holder? Is there another thread I've missed?

[littlejack]

Hey to you all:
I have been watching this thread with interest since its beginning. I have always been interested in swaging, but I never could justify the
expense for the amount of shooting I do. This thread will give me the chance to experiment with the swaging aspect of bullet making
on a shoestring budget.
I started my venture on Saturday night.
I looked up dimensions in my reloading manuals on cartridges to swage bullets for my .41
magnum (.410). The 22-250 and the 250-3000 cartridges have the shoulder dimension listed at .414. This will be my swaging die. The 40 S&W case will become the jacket. The 40 case has a diameter of .423 and a length of .850.
First, I anealed some 40 cases.
I have a set of 22-250 dies. I removed the expander ball/decapping pin. I took the 40 case and lubed it with lanolin. I had to use a short piece of round stock to push the 40 case up into the 22-250 die. After some adjusting, it worked perfectly. The 40 case I then punched out of the rifle die with a smaller (.230) piece of rs, lightly tapping with a small hammer. The 40 case had a perfect truncated cone shape that matched the shoulder of the rifle die. It is 28* off of the 22-250 case centerline, with what will be a .250 meplat hole. The best part, was that at the base of the cone (where the cone and body of the case meet) the diameter was
.412.
OK, now time to pour some cores and try a filled case. I melted some pure lead and poured the 40 cases full, to different levels. I did not know as of yet how much core was going to be needed to make the finished bullet.
Now, I needed to seat the core. I realize that the core was poured, but I wanted to seat it for when I was using cast boolits or cast cores, I could get accustomed to the process. I used a home made black powder compression die to seat the core. It worked very well. It was very important NOT to compress the core with too much pressure. The more one compresses, the more the 40 case expands/bulges.
I lubed with the lanolin and pushed a core filled 40 case up into the 22-250 size die. Some of the cores were too full, some were too little, but one was just about right.
I tapped out the bullet and started measuring. The length was .872 with some of the core bleeding over the meplat. I filed off the excess core and the length is .850. The meplat is .265, the diameter at the cone base is .413. The base of the case, just above the ejecter groove is .432. The weight of the bullet is 283 grains, a little too heavy. I may also have to shorten the 40 cases to get the correct weight with the cores.
I will either make me a core mould or buy a Lee .401 175 tc grain mould for the cores. I want to finish with a 250 to 260 grain boolit.
I ordered a Lee .410 push through sizer die and push pin this morning from Grafs. After I finish swaging the bullet and cores as one, I can run the bullet through the Lee sizer die and get the .410 diameter I need.
I will probably get a 250-3000 die to make my final nose punch die with. The 22-250 seat die will only allow the pin to screw in from the top, as the pin is .250 threaded stock and machined smaller to go down through the top of the seater die. One needs to screw the pin in from the bottom of the die to get the proper nose form and length for the bullet when swaging.
I believe this will work very well fellas. If anyone has any tips or advice, I am all ears. I will keep you updated and let you all know my progress.
Jack

[OneShotNeeded]

Awesome... so what would be needed for 45ACP boolits? 45acp die set? Brass? A little confused but very interested.

[DukeInFlorida]

I'd like to be able to produce swaged bullets for my 454 casull and also for my 45-70 rounds.

I'm tagging this thread, and once I land in FL, will be trying to duplicate what has been started here.

[uncleskippy]

I am very interested. Please continue.

[littlejack]

For 45 acp, .451.
It looks to me like a person would need a 243 rifle die set. The shoulder dimension of the sizer die is .454 and the truncated cone angle would be 20*. You need to get some 45 acp cases. You will need a .451 Lee push through sizer kit.
One would need the same things for the .458 caliber, except the Lee sizer would need to be
.458, or the diameter you wanted, .457, .459 etc.
When seating the core in the 45acp case, use a little more pressure and the case will swell to over the .458 diameter. Then one could size it back to .458 with the Lee sizer die.
I ordered a Lee double cavity mould this morning with NO cavities cut in it. I will make my core mould out of this. I can figure out how much core I need for the weight of bullet I want and drill it out accourdingly.
I also orderd a 250 Savage die body to make my nose punch with.
All I need are these items, and time.
Jack

[Wayne Smith]

I'm currently using .357Sig (40 S&W) cases for half jackets with my Herter's die. From my experience let me tell you that if you both trim and anneal your cases, trim first, anneal second. Soft brass is a bitch to trim!

I thought one of the principles of swaging is to swage UP, not down. For that I need a nose punch in my die as a stop so that I can swage up to the .451-.452 diameter.

[danr]

for anyone attempting this, please be aware of this.

brass has spring back.. so if you want a .451 bullet, the lee .451 sizer die will make a .452 bullet or larger. this is very important because a .001 over sized bullet will mean extra pressures.

be absolutely sure of your bullet size before loading, and ALWAYS start at a minimum load for that weight of bullet. a minimum load will likely be an upper range load when shooting a .001 over sized bullet.. so be aware of this.. going a couple of grains under minimum would be considered taking things slow and safe.

i thought i would toss that out there.. when i made my 45 acp swage die, i noticed that the lee sizing die did produce a .001 larger bullet.. this has been the case for even my 40's and 38's and my 9mm's. since discovering this, i have made it a point to order a sizing die from lee that is .001 under sized for what i want my final size to be. worse case, you only have to lap it out a little if the spring back is not exactly .001..

another thing to be aware of, is that the LEE push through sizing dies are designed to work with LEAD only. not jacketed bullets.. what this means is that the Dies are somewhat soft steel. they will work, but could change in size over time, so make it a habit of always checking your final bullet sizes once your done. this way you'll be sure to notice when the sizing die needs replacing.

thanks,
Dan

[OneShotNeeded]

For 45 acp, .451.
It looks to me like a person would need a 243 rifle die set. The shoulder dimension of the sizer die is .454 and the truncated cone angle would be 20*. You need to get some 45 acp cases. You will need a .451 Lee push through sizer kit.
Jack

Hang on a sec are you using 45ACP brass to make the boolit? If so how are you mashing a case that is .480 at the rim into a .451 sizer die. Wouldn't this put way too much pressure on the die or even the press for that matter?

I kinda get the 243 die set to form the "ogive" but what are you using to seat the core?

Just a couple of questions.. sorry I'm still foggy..

[danr]

i just use the swage die to seat the core.. do a half swage with the cup and core upside down.. then turn it over, then do a full swage.. always worked great for me, and it takes the rim from the ejector groove. so it kinda ends up like a semi boat tail.


dan