What did I get myself into - Hollywood Swage Dies

[toecutter]

So I was at one of the local reloading stores today and came accross a .50 cal ammo can ominously marked "swage". I asked the shop owner how much for the package, and he said he hadn't gone through it yet, I said "as is". He told me $30, and here's what I got...

* .45 Cal (SWC style) hollywood swaging die
* .38 Cal (SWC also) Hollywood Swage die
* .30 Cal Spitzer swage die, with a big bag of jackets, the core insertion plug, and some other little dodad (which looks like it's how the cores are inserted)
* Wire cutters that seem to correspond to the .45, .38 and .30. Each has a number written on them, and it seems there is some kind of stand this originally hooked up to.

It seems I may be missing the ejector yoke, and maybe some other parts. I had never seen these dies until today, and it was pretty easy to figure out how they probably work.

I would include pictures, but I'm retarded and don't have a camera. I'll have to borrow my girlfriend's when she comes over later.

The use seems pretty straight forward, the pointing tool goes into the top of the press, the swage body looks like it connects to a press with a pacific style ram and has a pin that sticks out the bottom for core ejection. I guess bullet weight is set by how close the top die gets to the bottom of the bottom die... (the sides of the die are spring loaded) and it looks like the excess squirts out through a hole in the top of the die.

Unfortunately, these dies won't fit on any of my presses (because all of my presses were made in the 80's, not the 60's). However, I think I can adapt my RCBS BIGMAX to the job.

I don't know if anyone else out there has any experience with these. Perhaps knows the location of a scanned instruction sheet?

[toecutter]

So I just tried out the dies, a little bit anyways. The point forming die does a very good job of forming the point. However, it does a really bad job of letting the bullet come out of the point forming die. Is there some trick to this I'm missing? I used a little bit of lanolin based case lube (what I use for swaging bullets at work).

[ReloaderFred]

I have a Hollywood press those dies would work on. If you decide you can't use them, I'd like to be first in line to buy them from you.

Thanks,

Fred

[toecutter]

Which press do you have? the big turret press?

Realistically, the only die I'm interested in is the rifle die. I'll have to figure out a price if you're interested.

[ReloaderFred]

I have the basic Hollywood single stage that I bought used in 1963. Some refer to it as the "senior" but the Senior had the reinforcing rod on the front.

Let me know what you come up with, as I'm interested in most things Hollywood. I still use my press, along with a Hornady LNL and a Rockchucker.

Fred