Getting Started - Need Guidance

[Bigslug]

Long time loader, a couple years into casting, newcomer to the casting forum, and have been lurking here on the swaging forum for the last week or so. Got to say that the prospect of turning fired brass into jacketed bullets is utterly fascinating.

My initial motivation towards swaging is the .375 H&H (A.I.?) rifle that I am in the early stages of building. .375 slugs aren't cheap, cast bullets even with gas checks won't allow for full potential of the round, and I have access to plenty of free .223 brass and pure lead (or close) shotgun slugs that have been splattered against steel targets. There are other centerfire rifles in the family, however, most notably the not-cheap-to-feed .416 Rigby, as well as a number of .30's, 7mm's, 6mm's, and .224's. Also curious about the benefits of swaging for the large bore Civil War and buffalo hunter era rifles versus the casting already being done.

My main line of questioning lies in what would be the best approach to get started in a way that minimizes retirement of "starter" equipment in favor of "advanced" equipment. I assume compatibility of thread pitch between various manufacturers dies and presses is the major bottleneck here. Spending money hurts, but spending money twice to accomplish the same process in a better way is just annoying.

I do my single stage loading on a Hornady Lock-N-Load with the "bayonet" bushings for holding the dies. I'm guessing that this would not be a suitable swaging platform?

I guess what I mainly want to know is what CAN'T I do with a garage-sale Rock Chucker that would make me want to go for the dedicated swaging presses and/or non-standard thread-pitch dies? How do you all skin this particular cat?

Thanks all!:drinks:

[Reload3006]

My advise to you because your talking large calibers, I know BT will disagree but so be it I would advise you to get a Walnut hill from RCE you can get his reloading adapter and use anyone's dies whether they are for reloading or buy dies from RCE The big bullets take a corresponding higher amount of pressure to form you get that with ease from the walnut hill. you dont get that from the rockchucker. I know I have both. IF you were only talking about making 224s or 243s then just a rockchucker or lees classic cast would get the job done nicely. since your talking big boys your going to be doing a lot more than core forming and pointing up. your going to be drawing jackets making jackets cores seating pointing .... In my opinion you need a press that is designed from the ground up to be a swage press.

[Grandpas50AE]

Reload3006 has made a spot-on observation. When you get into the larger caliber jacketed rifle slugs, such as the 375 and 416, they are long bullets with long jackets, and that takes a good amount of force to form them, particularly in the point forming dies. Also, in the larger calibers for long rifle bullets, the dies have to be thicker to withstand that force, and typically the die bodies will be larger than a standard reloading die. I started with the RCBS Rock Chucker, which worked fine for anything under 30 cal. for rifle bullets, and 44 cal for pistol bullets, but when I started doing 30 cal. rifle bullets it bent the ram face, so then I knew I was better off reloading on a reloading press and swaging on a swaging press. Do it right from the start and you will be much happier.

[midnight]

I'm probably the last guy you need advice from cuz of my inexperiance but I'll give it anyway. I bought a .428 die set on ebay for $38 just to see what a swaging die looked like. It was just 2 punches (point & base) with a die body inbetween. Next I got an old Swag-O-Matic here with a 44cal die and finally swaged a 44 bullet out of a 245gr rifle bullet I had cast for the Whelen. That was cool and now I'm hooked. After reading a lot here on the forum I jumped in feet first and got a Walnut Hill with "S" & reloading adapters and havn't looked back. Even that $38 die from ebay makes beautiful bullets. I bought a couple used die sets here and am figuring out how to use them. Once that's done I'll get around to sending BT some $. Now that I;ve invested about 1K I can really start pouring $ into this money pit called swaging. Good luk in your endevors.

Bob

[Bigslug]

Yeah. . .I figured one of the MONSTER presses would probably be inevitable. That Walnut Hill press looks like a lot of bang for the buck.

The pricier Corbin CSP-2 Mega Mite is PROBABLY overkill for anything I would do, but there is a slight chance that I'd want to dabble with 12 gauge slugs, and it might be a better platform for my old man's torpedo-shaped buffalo slugs and .54 caliber Sharps - though given the cost, sticking with old school casting methods may make more sense than embarking on the path of truly mad science.:veryconfu

[Grandpas50AE]

Bigslug,
I have the CSP-2 Mega Mite press, and it is indeed impressive. I once had the smaller Mighty-Mite (CSP-1 I think) that used reloading sized dies, but the leverage just wasn't enough for the .50 cal. pistol (50 AE), so probably not enough to be comfortable trying to form 12 ga. slugs (and the die body would be too small in anything but the H-series dies I imagine).

[DukeInFlorida]

Reloading and swaging have a lot in common.

BUDGET being one of the big factors.

I know that I can easily swage .500 S&W magnum bullets, using 45 ACP brass as the jackets, using my RCBS Rock Chucker press. So, it's not all about diameter or even length. It's about getting a die set that is made specifically for the caliber you want, and most importantly, the brass you will use as the raw material.

For example, the .308 bullets that I will swage will be formed from 5.7X28 (FN) brass. That requires a few steps, and the tools will be made for that sequence and brass. I probably won;t be able to swage anything else into .308 bullets with that die set. That's OK, I know that it will make wonderful .308's from that 5.7X28 brass. And, do so easily on the Rock Chucker press.

I don't have the budget to buy a $500 press, and $800 tools. But, I'm certainly able to form wonderful bullets on the cheapo (by comparison) RCBS press that I do have.

So, if you have an unlimited budget for this project, go for it. Get the big boy toy press, a proper set of tools to go with it, and go to town. If you really want to do it up, and money's no object, buy the real deal copper jackets (J4) and have bench rest quality bullets.