Swaged vs. Cast

[MrXrings]

Another noob question, do most the large manufactures swage their lead bullets instead of casting them? I take it this process is somewhat like a forging and the lead is formed into bullets by pressure instead of being poured. Making brass jackets from empty brass is also swaging. When I first read about it in a gun mag it sounded like the craziest thing forming jackets for .223 from empty .22lr.

[TheBigBang]

Yes, the large ammo makers have been swaging their bullets for more than a century. Your understanding of the basics of the process is fairly accurate - it is something like a "cold" forging process (the lead is not molten at all).

[Hang Fire]

All swaged booits i have seen are soft lead, so that rather restrics their usage to certain calibers or low pressure/velocity loads.

Wife got a deal years ago on few thousand .356" 95 grain swaged boolits and they work fine in her .380's.

[Wal']

Most swaged boolits are used in dedicated target pistols, paper punching bullzi's at a much lower velocity than a jacketed or hard cast boolit.

[williamwaco]

Swaged bullets are a lot more work but in my experience they are significantly more accurate.

The only swaged bullets I actually make and use are very soft BNH 8 +/- 148 grain .357 wad cutters lubed in a sizer lubricator to fill the lube grooves then swaged into hollowpoints.

I only actually use them when I want to show off.
They are very accurate but way too much trouble for normal use.


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