Hammer swage die

[Goofy]

Anyone here know anybody that will make a hammer swage for final forming cast bullets?

[rancher1913]

what are you trying to accomplish. I guess any swag die could be used as a hammer die by inverting it in your press and then hammering the punch. a little more info on what your doing will give you better feed back

[ReloaderFred]

Consistency would be a big issue with this. When I swage bullets on my CSP-1 press, I know I'm using the same amount of pressure each time I pull the handle. Keeping the handle in the full travel position for the same amount of time on each bullet provides as much consistency as my method can produce. Smacking a punch with a hammer doesn't seem very consistent to me.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[kimoleto]

What kind of consistency is ideal? I´m making 30 cal slugs, so far weighted 85, average weight 72 gr, standard deviation 2.1 gr, whats the ideal or standard?

[rbuck351]

If you can find an old Swag-O-Matic press, you can swag a cast pre lubed bullet very nicely. I also use a 50 bmg primer cup as a 3/4 jacket to make jacketed 85gr .312 bullet for my 32S&W long and 7,62x25 Tok. I use a lyman 258 65gr boolit as a core. If you use a boolit mold for your core, you should be able to keep consistency within =/- .2gr fairly easy.
If you are just wanting to uniform your pre cast lubed boolits or change nose profile or size up or down a bit, the Swag-O-Matic works very well.
The main problem is getting the dies in the size you want as this press and dies haven't been made in years. I have a lathe so I make my own dies.
I don't think there is a standard weight consistency but by weighing your cast cores, you can reject any that don't suit you and keep your final weight to what ever you choose. For pistol I believe =/- .2 is plenty close.
What are you using a 30cal 72gr boolit in? I assume a pistol.

[kimoleto]

I have Condor air rifles (.25, .30 and .410), and yes I can weight individual slugs (not cores), consistency is improving as Im learning and checking on details. I make my own dies and even built the press, no previous experience on swaging and not a skilful machinist so I have a lot of room for improvement/learning. Sorry if Im kidnaping Goofy´s post, I opened one about áir rifles hp slugs but got no answers

[Goofy]

Hammer dies have been around for a very long time, and they work remarkably well. I’ll get back tomorrow with some pictures to clarify what I’m inquiring about.

G

[Goofy]

Die set for a very old muzzle loader, .50 caliber. Bullet on the left is from the mould, one on the right has been hammered so to speak.


Disassembled


I use a brass hammer and it takes little force and time to run a slug thru the process. Light lube, down the hole and a couple of whacks, job done. I knew a fellow some years ago that made remarkably high quality dies but he has gone to the other side. Couple of his products below, include a 900 gr .56 caliber on the right and a 850 gr .50 caliber two piece bullet next to it.

[rancher1913]

learn something new everyday, thats kind of neat.

[Nueces]

In Ned Roberts' book, "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle," Ned talks about late caplock era target bullets being formed from two chunks, a hard nose and soft cylindrical base (sometimes hollow), hammer swaged together. The soft base took the paper patch and rifling, and the hard nose withstood the ramrod forces.

[Goofy]

Another way to view that is the base obturated (soft lead) and the harder alloy nose which was the bore riding segment does not slump. Both pieces are cast and find Union with the help of a hammer. Most but not all are used with target rifles. Largest I’ve seen is 1,300 gr for a .56 caliber gun.

[Goofy]

I will close my comments with a request that if any of you folks stumble across someone who has crafted such things please let me know at your convenience. And a FYI for all, you have likely never seen lead bullets in the past that are so consistently precise at very long range as those finished with such tools. They are the red ribbon for paper wrapped bullets.

[Traffer]

I will close my comments with a request that if any of you folks stumble across someone who has crafted such things please let me know at your convenience. And a FYI for all, you have likely never seen lead bullets in the past that are so consistently precise at very long range as those finished with such tools. They are the red ribbon for paper wrapped bullets.

I make them for a press...Could make them for a hammer ...