new to swaging

[bigted]

just some newby questions about swaging...probably asked n answered many times but if i can get your indulgence this once....trying to decide at 56 years of age whether to or not to get into another art for my shooting.

1- ussual beginning cost for a press [good one] and 2 sets of dies?

2- could i swage greese groove boolits?

3- how close to the final diameter does the wire/cast slug have to be?

that should do for now and i thankyou all for your patience and answers for this ol fart.

Ted

.........

[Yadkin]

I dont size my bullets and most of the time i dont lube them just cast, load and shoot

[Jim]

I dont size my bullets and most of the time i dont lube them just cast, load and shoot

Please, oh, please! Share your secret with me! How do you do it?

[Trey45]

I dont size my bullets and most of the time i dont lube them just cast, load and shoot

And your barrels are spotless with zero leading too.


Riiiiiight.....

[I'll Make Mine]

Well, since no one is answering -- a press and two sets (diameters) of swaging dies will probably set you back between $600 and $1200, depending how strong your wallet arm is and what you think you can get away with. Yes, you can swage lubed boolits, though you'll still need to use a bleed die to control weight (or the variation from one to the next might break stuff), and you should plan for some diameter increase in each swaging step, typically at least .005 to .010 -- the lead has to be deformed enough to flow, rather than spring back.

[Reload3006]

It all depends on the way you go. If you go David Corbin Corbin MFG your looking at about 3.000 for a press and 2 sets of dies. RCE LLC Richard Corbin your looking at around 2,000 a little less or more depending on options. BT has his prices here. Doctor Larry Blackmon you can get press 150. Dies about 400 per caliber. + / _ it all depends on the route you go you can go Deutsh and pay 3000 for a set of dies.

If your just wanting to swage Lead bullets. you can use your reloading press and get a hawk die for I think 150. off of Ebay If your making Lead pills the wire can be just slightly smaller than your die as long as it goes in easily it will squeeze out a good bullet. Smaller diameter wire can get to be a problem as you will run out of room to get it in the die and smashed down.

as far as grease grooves you cant Swage a Grease groove in your bullet but you can roll a cannelure in them to act as a grease groove. Or you can do as I do and knurl your bullets to hold tumble lube.

[Yadkin]

Trey 45 yes my bbl's are quite clean and smooth.

Jim:
I use only Lyman molds these people have been doing it right for over a hundred years, their mold making process and QC are one of the best if not The best.
I shoot hard cast bullits only B-rating around 20 are more ( just a guess).
Out of a 10 pound pot I will use about 9 pounds of wheel weights, some of my shot bullets if I can collect them and then add 1 pound of 97-98% tin solder, keep it fluxed with bees wax or parrifin.
I need to mention that everything I cast is for 19th century (cowboy) cartridges, and the molds I use are the same molds that have been around for years, also the rounds I shoot are loaded very close to the ballistics that were produced back then, (no really hot loads).

32 S&W mold #313249 85 grain aprox. 700 FPS
38 Long Colt & 38 Special mold #358311 160 grain aprox. 850 FPS
44-40 mold #427098 205 grain aprox. 1200 FPS
45 Long Colt mold #454190 250 grain aprox. 760 to 850 FPS (2 dif. loads)
45-70 Gov. mold #457193 405 grain aprox. 1330 FPS

[Jim]

Lyman is not fault free. I have three that cast undersized. One is supposed to come out at .460 and the as cast is .453!

As for your blend, I don't see anything miraculous or marvelous there.

What stumps me is your statement that you can cast, load and shoot lead bullets without any lube and not have any issues with leading. I ain't sayin' it ain't so 'cause I ain't there to see it. But, because I ain't there to see it, I ain't buyin' it, either.

[Yadkin]

Please, oh, please! Share your secret with me! How do you do it?

oh well
you asked I replied.

[waksupi]

I hate it when a pilgrim lies to me.

[I'll Make Mine]

as far as grease grooves you cant Swage a Grease groove in your bullet but you can roll a cannelure in them to act as a grease groove. Or you can do as I do and knurl your bullets to hold tumble lube.

Okay, no, you can't swage a bullet from lead wire or a smooth core that has grease grooves (other than rolling in a cannelure after swaging), but you can take a pre-lubed grease groove boolit and swage it into a different shape -- change the nose profile, add a hollow point or hollow base, etc. The incompressible lube in the grooves will keep them from just disappearing, as would be the case if you used an unlubed grease groove boolit as a core.

[Trey45]

I hate it when a pilgrim lies to me.

This.

[bigted]

whewww 2 or 3 thousand is a bit much this late in my game...but the die that will go into my rcbs press sounds interesting. mainly i shoot blackpowder and the boolits i wanna swage would be paperpatch slicks anyway...the greeser question is just sumtin that occured to me so i asked.

i have several moulds for the diff slicks so i bet my cores are already here so where do i look for these dies that will work in my press?...ill look up 'hawk dies' and see where that leads.

thanks for the info.

[bigted]

did and found em but looks like all they do is handgun boolits...i shot em an e-mail so will wait for there answer....thanks again for the info.

[0verkill]

Knowing what calibers you wish to swage too would help. The CH dies are a good deal foor the styles and calibers they come in and they work in your standard press. Check sites like GunBroker too, I got started with a set of .357 swage dies with both flat nose and hollow point punched for about 75 bucks. I've saw a lot more expensive brands and things like jackets and lead wire for sale too.

It's also sad that Yadins was banned, I was kinda wondering his swage technique with those Lyman moulds.

[Buckshot]

It's also sad that Yadins was banned, I was kinda wondering his swage technique with those Lyman moulds.

...................Could have been entertaining for awhile. My take was that he was maybe 11-12 years old. He went a wee tad over the top with one of the mods in conversation.

BigTed, if you were to go with the RCE type setup, the swage press would be the one large initial outlay, but then the following diesets could be purchased over time one at a time as the need arose. My personal thinking is that the RCE setup would be optimum overall.

You can get the Walnut Hill press and a set of dies for about $800.00, so you'd be in 'bidness'. After that additional diesets would be all yo'd need. Check him out at: http://rceco.com/MN.asp?pg=default

I'm completely happy with my RCE eqipment.

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

[bigted]

thanks buckshot...that is an emence help.

[midnight]

I too concluded that RCE's Walnut Hilll and dies that fit it were the way to go. This summer Richard posted a half dozen die sets on ebay. Evidently he had too many of them and dropped the price way below retail. I picked up a couple to get me started. I now swage for my 375 H&H and 270 Win. I'll probably have to pay full price for 224 & 30 cal but at least I'm started well without breaking the bank.

Bob