CH swag-o-matic consumables

[colonelsanders]

Hello All,

New member, and my first post. I have been reloading my own ammo for a while and am just now getting into bullet making.

I had originally intended to cast but I just obtained a CH Swag-O-Matic press in a pile of random reloading gear. Of course as is usual with my luck the dies are missing. Now my first thought was to offload it and carry on with my plan to cast hard gas check bullets, but the more I think about it the more I am tempted to use it to make 44 magnum half jacketed bullets. The press also came with about two pounds of wire and a core cutter. Not enough stuff to get started but enough to be tempting.

My question is where would a fellow go to obtain half jackets these days? Are they even available from a current source? Also where does one obtain the pure lead wire?

I realize that with some patience the dies are obtainable on ebay. And if that doesn't work out I may just make a set. But my big concern is getting a hold of the consumables. If the consumables (esp. the jackets) turn out to be unavailable or .... GASP .... expensive, I may stick with casting.

Looking for some thoughts and guidance from those who are walking the same path.

[Swageocast]

Hello colonelsanders,,,,

I suspect after you look around especially looking through BT Snipers Stickies and most of his posts YOU will FIND what YOU SEEK !! :-)

Brian has cleverly mixed alittle casting and a good bit of swaging to help promote a recent phenomenon where you can salvage alot of brass nobody seems to want to reload into usable jackets.

Jackets being the more expensive consumed item of swaging.

Not sure about the Swag-o-matic dies ,,,I think they were a two peice design and were slow and somwehat limited in there weight regulation.

BT SNIPER has some very reasonably priced dies with Truly exceptional Quality. :-)

Welcome to the Area.

[Reload3006]

Finding half jackets is going to prove challenging. You can get them from time to time on Ebay. But to my knowledge no one is making and offering them anymore. But all is not lost. You can cut down and use 40 S&W brass or you have a whole host of other options. Now that I have my 38/9mm/30 cal Tubing jacket dies working I will make a set for 45 and 44 you can go that route. That really is the neat thing about swaging is literally your imagination is your limit.

[DukeInFlorida]

I have a swageomatic press, and two sets of dies, and looking for a third.



I have a set of 38/357 dies, which produces a SWC nose. I don't have any half jackets for that one. But I do use it to REFORM 147 grain 9mm round nose boolits (pre-lubed) into properly sized 38/357 SWC's. Works great, and eliminated my need to buy a mold for the 357/38 size.

I have a set of dies and a bunch of half jackets for producing .308 diameter SWC bullets. Have recently developed a way to make cores for that, but haven't had a lot of time for actual development.

I have half jackets for 44 mag, but alas, no dies yet. I'll keep looking for dies



So, think outside of the box in terms of the dies for this press. You might be able to reform something else that you already cast for, into something that you don't.

The swageomatic press will NOT do a successful job of using brass cases as jackets. Not enough oomph in the design to do that.

[Wayne Smith]

I have a set of Herter's half jacketed SWC dies for .44 and use my Hollywood Sr press to make them. I am following Bian's ideas in using currently 357SIG brass (same as 40S&W once trimmed) trimmed to the half-jacket length. Actually, you can trim them to any length up to the shoulder of the bullet. You cannot go beyond this with these dies, the shoulder transition is too steep for the brass to flow. I am trimming the brass, annealing it completely, cleaning it in critic acid, and swaging boolits.

I have found that my Lee mold for the 1895 Steyr boolit is useless in the rifle (.329" in a .330"+ bore) but an ideal size to make a 44 caliber, 294gr bullet half jacketed. I am casting these out of pure lead. Next I may run the trimmed and annealed jackets through the tumbler to shine them up, maybe. I don't really care, once they are loaded all you see is the lead.

[DukeInFlorida]

Right. BUT... a Hollywood SR press is much more of a press than the swageomatic press is. What I was implying was that you can't use the swageomatic for doing the brass case into jacketed bullets (swaged bullets) trick. The swageomatic press is a simple aluminum casting, with very little leverage. OK for some simple flowing of lead in a copper half jacket, but not much more than that.

[ReloaderFred]

I have two Swage-O- Matic presses and two Hollywood Sr. presses, and there is no comparison between them, period. I do my cartridge case jacket bullet swaging on the Hollywood Sr. press and do light half jacket swaging on the Swage-O-Matic presses, which are upstroke swaging presses. I can get much more leverage out of my cast steel Hollywood Sr. on the downstroke, especially when I move the pivots arms to the second hole.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[colonelsanders]

Thanks to all for the advice.

I am going to stick to my original plan and get casting equipment. The CH Press will be going up on Ebay tonight so as not to tempt me to throw good money at obsolete equipment. Hopefully someone who has dies and a cracked press can make use of it.

When the day comes and I wish to swage bullets, I will make a proper press and obtain a good set of bullet dies. Until then it will be casting for me.

Thanks to everyone for their helpful replies.

[Wayne Smith]

Duke and reloader, I am making half jacket bullets, that's all these dies will make. I'm trimming the brass to replace the half jackets, I'm not swaging the brass beyond that. I think the CH press would be up to that.

[ReloaderFred]

Wayne,

It might be up to it, but boy, that's sure a lot of trimming! I'm not that ambitious, so I just use full length cases and swage them on the Hollywood Senior. I've got a couple thousand half jackets that I've scrounged, so I confine them to the Swage-O-Matic, where they work pretty good. I consider the Swage-O-Matic as a light duty swager.

I just wish somebody could make economical half jackets these days...........

Fred

[DukeInFlorida]

Wayne Snith, If you've never owned one, take it from Reloader Fred and I that the swageomatic is a light duty swager. It's a thin walled aluminum frame. If there would be any brass reforming happening at all, the press won't handle it.

The copper half jackets work fine because they are the exact right size for the die set, and soft enough and thin enough to work with the lead cores without any effort. Most of the actual swaging happens in the nose forming, which is lead only.

[threedflyer]

I have a fair amount of Half Jackets that I am looking to sell.....
May take a few photos and post them soon......have mostly Speer and some Hornady, etc.
Tom

[Reload3006]

I have a fair amount of Half Jackets that I am looking to sell.....
May take a few photos and post them soon......have mostly Speer and some Hornady, etc.
Tom

what caliber and how much?

[Wayne Smith]

I have a fair amount of Half Jackets that I am looking to sell.....
May take a few photos and post them soon......have mostly Speer and some Hornady, etc.
Tom

Tom, you will probably make out like a bandit if you put them on auction down in swapping and selling!

[threedflyer]

I have the following:

2 - 250 count boxes of SPEER 38/357
3 - 250 count boxes of SPEER 30
5 - 25 count boxes of SPEER 44
1 - 500 count box of Hornady 44

Would want to sell them all in a group and ship in a medium USPS flat rate box.

They are now posted up for auction and ends on 1/14/12

Tom
425-785-0093

[Methuselah3]

I have the following:

2 - 250 count boxes of SPEER 38/357
3 - 250 count boxes of SPEER 30
5 - 25 count boxes of SPEER 44
1 - 500 count box of Hornady 44

Would want to sell them all in a group and ship in a medium USPS flat rate box.

They are now posted up for auction and ends on 1/14/12

Tom
425-785-0093

What happened with these jackets?Can't find in auctions.

[ReloaderFred]

They sold, with two guys scrapping over them...........

Fred

[bfuller14]

Who won?

[ReloaderFred]

I don't remember. I left for the SHOT Show about that time and just got back last weekend.

[skeettx]

OLD post,

New info :)

In my shop, I have found a few 38 cal half jackets
Anyone using them?
Mike

[ReloaderFred]

I use them on occasion. They work in both the Swage-O-Matic, and with C-H Swaging Dies to make half jacket bullets.

Hope this helps.

Fred