Swagers Nightmare

[Sasquatch-1]

I managed to pull off the swager's nightmare yesterday. Broke my 357 lead die yesterday doing what I should not have been doing. That's a $200.00 lesson I won't soon forget. Dave Corbin lead swaging die.

[Pee Wee]

Ohhhh!!!!!! I feel for you brother, I hate when I do something like that and know I shouldnt be.

[clodhopper]

A horrible loss, right when you think the bullet supply is endless.
So please tell us the gory details.

[Sasquatch-1]

Reforming hard lead bullets and realized I had too much pressure and continued anyway. left the press in cam over and as the old nursery rhyme goes "Pop goes the weasel". Should have none better. Now I have to contact Dave Corbin and see exactly how much to replace it and how long.

A horrible loss, right when you think the bullet supply is endless.
So please tell us the gory details.

[Hickory]

Your core may have been too hard.
Too much antimony or tin will cause that.

[uncle dino]

Oh I hate when that happens..maybe Corbin's can build the replacement heavier for you..d

[ReloaderFred]

I don't think chewing gum, duct tape nor bailing wire are going to fix that one........ I would think the swaging body would be all you'd need....

Fred

[Smoke4320]

super glue
Flex seal

[JRPVT]

I feel for you. I know that sound too well. Dave

[rbt50]

I broke a couple of H dies awhile back, now I use nothing but pure lead. I think you can get stronger die but also comes with a higher price.

[Prospector Howard]

Further proof that swaging dies should be tempered to make them less brittle. The dies I'm making are tempered back to Rc30's and Rc40's, and are PLENTY hard to use with brass, copper, and lead without being so brittle. People making their own dies, and die manufacturers get too worried about making them "super hard" without considering other issues that can happen.

[BT Sniper]

60+ RC Nitride outer surface (shell) with mid 30s RC inner core makes for a pretty strong die

I'm sure you'll have another die soon.

Swage on!

BT

[BT Sniper]

Was it bleeding any lead? Or did the bleed holes close off from adjustment issues?

[alfloyd]

I had the same problem when I was making swage dies. Got this one too hard and it broke when I used it.

Lafaun

[Forrest r]

Try putting the hard bullets in an oven @ 400* for 15 minutes next time. That will anneal the alloy making it softer/more malleable.

[Sasquatch-1]

As I said before, It was my fault. I was using range scrap and reforming a semi wad cutter to the strange little bullet you see next to the die. I thought I should have backed off but kept pushing on the handle. If I had not left the handle in cam over I would have been OK.

Brian, A small amount of lead would bleed off the bullets but not much.

Forrest, I don't anneal because I lube before to reshaping and the lube I use is fairly soft.

[Prospector Howard]

FYI, when you consider commonly known engineering principles, catastrophic failure is almost always a result of more than one factor.

[Sasquatch-1]

Dave got back to me yesterday. $99.00 to replace just the die body. I am debating whether to spring for the $200.00, and get a couple of different punches.

[Sasquatch-1]

I received my replacement die Yesterday. I mailed it on 2-21 and got it back on 3-7. Not a bad turn around. Plan on giving it a run today.

[DukeInFlorida]

When ever I cast for "cores" or core material, it's always dead soft lead.

I used to extrude lead wire using cast lead bullets as the raw material. I used a ChuckBuster custom extruder set. The raw materials were always very soft on purpose. Even with a long extension on the press, it was too difficult to extrude harder (shootable) bullets. When I cast the soft ones, I always marked that package as soft lead cores so I didn't accidentally shoot them. I then discovered the joy of casting the cores, but still do so with very soft lead.

I have some commercial (Corbin) lead wire here that I should stop storing, and just sell off. Additionally, I have a bunch of lead wire processing stuff. Wire choppers (both Herters and home made), and the extrusion set I got from ChuckBuster. They are currently surplus to my needs. Let me dig those out, and see if they get any attention. I'll let the swaging community know about it first.