Swaging with a Rockchucker Supreme Question

[badluther]

a3fd2

[Smokin7mm]

What type of lead are you making your cores from. I do not use a reloading press for my swaging as I have a Walnut hill swaging press and it is effortless but I did one try some on a reloading press once and when using pure lead it didnt take that much leverage to complete the stroke from what I remember. Are you speaking from a needed leverage standpoint or to get the core size/weight you want you have to screw the die way up? If this is the case your punch may be too long.
Bret

[badluther]

a3fd2

[DukeInFlorida]

BadLuther, I have some comments, and it is likely better if you call. You have the number.

My idea involves making a sliding sleeve that is the right length, and fits over the punch. You drop a slug into the sleeve, and sent the punch up.
Might have to go spring loaded. Set screw maybe.

Kind of like the way RCBS press installs primers.

There's an inherent issue with shortening the punches

[badluther]

a3fd2

[DukeInFlorida]

You can cut springs with side cutters (wire cutters) to make them shorter....

Might have to try and make something here, and see how that goes. So far I have been able to easily balance the cut preforms on the tip of the punch.

Just had another idea. The issue comes from the need to have a hard mechanical stop. That's the only way to get a consistent weight.
When you hit the normal hard mechanical stop for the press, for the weight that you are seeking, the die has to be up so high.
If you change the hard mechanical stop location, you can lower the die.

How about making an adjustable mechanical stop. The pressures don't require getting to the normal over cam position.
Brian had a thread where he was controlling the lever arm on a press to make it stop before the normal stop point.

That would be a better solution. Might be easier to do also.

I'll take a look at that.

[Lizard333]

As far as the wait at RCE, I can attest that he is BUSY! He normally gets right back to you on your emails and questions, but the last email took over a week to get back to me and all i was ordering was stuff he already had in stock. He said he had some visitors and was swamped with work. MY order of a boat tail die and pinch die was well over a month ago, and I have yet to have my credit card billed.

He is worth the wait. Don't buy something else just because you can get it faster. Get the right stuff the first time, you be more help in the long run. And hopefully, your wallet a little fatter not buying stuff twice.

If your looking at the Sea Girt, why not the walnut hill? Bigger press, for not a whole lot more. Worth it for the extra money.

[rda72927]

Would it be to diffcult to made the stroke shorter, so you could run the die deeper?

[Rolling Stone]

I was having this problem as well on my de-rimmer. To try and figure it out, I made a shorter punch out of a grade 8 bolt. If I remember correctly, I made it 1/2" shorter. This enabled me to screw the die further into the press and get the full power of the press at break over. I used that punch for a while until it started showing wear ( I didn't harden it). My lead swage die is doing just fine, but I'm using it on an old lyman press and the length of the punch allows plenty of threads on the die to be engaged. I think if you want to, the punch can be cut off and the edge rounded with a grinder of some sort. I think they are made to long in order to cut them off when the end becomes worn.
Are you making "Heavy" bullets and that makes the die need to be screwed in less? As hard as the die body is, it doesn't take many threads to be strong enough to withstand the pressure in making .224 bullets.
Rolling Stone

[DukeInFlorida]

BT Sniper, this is something to consider for your next wave of .224 core swage dies.

Shorter punches, and lower dies, so that we can easily get the pre-cut wire chunks into the die. Tough to do when they are so far up into the press frame.

[BT Sniper]

BT Sniper, this is something to consider for your next wave of .224 core swage dies.

Shorter punches, and lower dies, so that we can easily get the pre-cut wire chunks into the die. Tough to do when they are so far up into the press frame.


Yep! I actually spent all day in autocad designing and trying to get the lowest posible setting of the die in the press. I noticed the same challenge with that die.

Quick question.... what diameter is your extrusion lead?

Next question... how many bullets have you made/shot :)

I may have a better sollution if I can make it work. It would require no hands to guide the piece of lead into core swage die.

Count on me to make it as user friendly as possible but there are certain limits I am trying to work around like the different presses and the total length of my dies. All of it comes into play in locating that bleed hole which determins the max depth postion of the die in the press.

It looks like I should get the bottom of the die very close to the bottom of the opening in the top support of the press making it easier and faster then the brand X core swage die you have. I'll give it a good chamfer too so that will find it's way a lot easier.

BT

[Rolling Stone]

I used my core swage by Corbin today for the first time in quite a while and discovered I had forgotten about this quirk. What I did today was, make a short piece of aluminum rod into a 7/8-14 threaded rod. I cut off a piece about 1/2" long. I drilled a 1/4" hole thru it length ways and tried to screw it into the bottom of the die thread on top of my press. I had to take a hack saw and saw a screwdriver slot into the piece in order to screw it in. I wound up screwing it in from the top as there is a burr or something that keeps it from going in easily from the bottom in addition to having to use a short screwdriver to miss the ram. I took it back out, made a fairly large countersink (5/16") on the lower end of the 1/4" hole, put it all together and it works MUCH better. The aluminum piece doesn't have to be tightened against anything as there is nothing causing it to turn or change position. My swage die bleeds through the punch so you can change the length to almost anything you would want, within reason.

I also changed the linkage on my Lyman spartan press to press on the up motion instead of on the down. I feel I will keep my fingernails longer with it working this way as the ram stays down and doesn't keep trying to attack me!

I am making my swaged lead 47.8 gr at .190" and this fills the derimmed cases the best for me. I have about 10% that have the lead protrude some and those I run through the tipping die and they have a sharp lead point. I cannot get all the brass to make exactly the perfect bullet, either with a 1/16" flat or sharp point. It has to be the difference in the cases by different makers. Finished weight 57 gr.

I tried annealing each piece for a while when I was getting my feet wet and decided that took to long so this time I used an old cast iron skillet with a cover on my plumbers pot. I put enough derimmed cases in the skillet to cover the bottom about an inch deep. I adjusted the burner to about the lowest I can get it to burn well. This burner makes a lot of noise and I am keeping it to a gentle roar. It takes about 15 minutes to get the skillet up to about 650 degrees measured with a laser thermometer. I took the top off, stirred the brass with a paint stirrer and put the lid back on. I did the stirring twice in 30 minutes and then turned the burner off and let every thing cool off.

I have swaged about 500 or so out of this lot and they have worked well. I haven't had any that show folding or striations on the radius like some of the ones I individually annealed. Lucas oil treatment works better for me than the other commercial products (Corbin and RCBS) I have tried.

I better shut up now, this is going on to long.

Rolling Stone

[badluther]

a3fd2

[a.squibload]

The aluminum plug is a core guide, good idea.

My Classic Cast tried to attack me, the lever extension makes the handle section
heavier so it falls. I tied a string to the handle, ran string over back of press and
through a hole in the table. Attached a lead ingot to the end of the string for a
counterbalance (drill hole in ingot, screw in cuphook).
Adjust string so the ingot sits on the floor in the "handle up" position.
Will have to replace the string occasionally.