30 Cal swaged bullets and equipment that i made.

[lead chucker]

Hi. I have been busy. I made dies to make 120 gr bullets out of copper tubing. I have never run a lathe before so its been a real learning experience. I made a core mold that makes a 75 gr core. I had a friend make the ram for my rock chucker press. It works real slick. I shot some to see if they would feed in my AR Blackout and they worked good. Now to see if they are accurate. What do you guy think for my first try.

[lead chucker]

When I took the pic I had not finished the core swage die. When I finished it and tried it and the lead bled off like its supposed to It was exciting to see. I must say you can make a pretty repeatable core.

[lead chucker]

Here is another pic. The pressure band on the base of the bullet is from the round over die. They are perfectly smooth. I will have to make more and then run them through my SS pin tumbler.

[varmint243]

You have never run a lathe before and you did all the turning, threading, knurling, grinding, and polishing to +/- .0001 to make the swaging dies out of high grade steel shown in the pictures for your first project ?
You must be truly gifted

[xman777]

Well he is from Alaska. I'd say that automatically qualifies for fast learner status.

[clodhopper]

Looks great! anxious to see your targets, and how did you shape the point form die?

[Cane_man]

those look fantastic, great job!!!

[skeettx]

Wonderful, wonderful
Please give us updates when possible
Mike

[lead chucker]

I turned a 3/8 O1 rod to the diameter I wanted and used Remington core lock for a reference. Milled the drill rod in half ground the relief and sharpened it. I then Heated it up so that it was orange and little white spots started to appear. I then dunked it in peanut oil that had been sitting around for awhile. While it was still real hot to the touch I put it in my toaster oven that I use for powder coating bullets and let it sit in there at 400F for an hour. Once hardened it cuts like a drill bit. I will post pics of the reamer. I went about it the same way when I made a reamer for the round over die. The cool thing about making a reamer is I find my self using them for other things.

[tiger762]

That's 1st class work there, LeadChucker.

[lead chucker]

I cast some cores this evening and ran them through my core swage die. It is so satisfying when you make something and it works like its supposed to. I need to come up with some way to catch all the lead that bleeds off.

[clodhopper]

I made a lead bleeding funnel from a milk jug.
The threaded mouth fit over the die, then using scissors and heat, formed a spout to land the wires in a can.
This works pretty good when the squirts are long.
If you first attempt goes bad you aren't out much.

[lead chucker]

Here is the d reamer I made for the point forming die. It seemed to work real good. it doesn't look very sharp but it is. One thing I learned was to go real slow and clean chips frequently and lots of cutting oil. Once you get through where you step drill go another 1/8th of an inch real slow and then start lapping forever it seemed like. I have a lot to learn and I might not be doing it right but it seems to work. I learned a lot from this forum. Watching jixter Bill's, im sure I didn't spell that right youtube video gave me the inspiration to try making my own dies.

[lead chucker]

That's a great idea. A couple more bowels of Captain Crunch and i will be in business

[hardcase54]

Really good job. Interested in how the swaged core comes out of the core swage die. Thanks

[runfiverun]

I just cut a hole in a big flat piece of plastic and pushed it down over the die.
once I get a little pile of the bleed off tabs I wipe them off the plastic and dump them in a cup to be recycled.

[lead chucker]

The core comes out the top of the die. The die screws into the ram. It is ejected on the handle up stroke. It's like the Dr. blackman ram for the rock Chucker press. I made up a set of plans and had a friend machinist make it for me. There is a slot that runs up the ram and a stationary pin goes through the reloading press into the slot in the ram.
My cores are 69.5 grain once I get every thing dialed in. My jacket and core come out right at 120 gr. Perfect for what I wanted for my 300 blackout.

[lead chucker]

Cleaned some bullets tonight and loaded some test loads. Going to head out to the range after work if weather isn't too bad. They look a lot nicer when they get all cleaned up.

[LoopSoosStroop]

Fantastic work!

[hardcase54]

Thanks