No home made die threads???

[customcutter]

I had to concentrate on my business for a few months, but things have slowed down now. I'm hoping to finish my .223 dies soon. Seems like there were 2-3 threads going on with different people trying to make their own home made dies. I guess the mfgs are getting commercial bullets available again and the interest has died off a little.

Hoping to get back into the garage and fire up the lathe and milling machine soon. I did get 50# of roofing lead smelted into ignots today. Just have to figure out how to get most of them out of the thin stamped muffin tin. I'm thinking I'll have to bandsaw them apart and re-smelt them.

CC

[BT Sniper]

Through your muffin tins on top of a wood fire till they turn good and black before you use them for the first time then you will have no problem with the lead muffins coming out.

[Cane_man]

CC is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pretty slow on the die making threads around here... some really excellent info was shared on jacket blanking dies... i will have some time around Christmas to continue my 7mm/30 Cal project... as it stands right now, i finished with drawing the jackets, i completed a 'universal' shell holder that will fit stress proof rod in it for punches, and i was just getting ready to make the core sizing die... i also have to replace the bearings on my chicom benchtop lathe :)

welcome back brother [smilie=w: :guntootsmiley: :2 drunk buddies: :happy dance: :kissarse:

edit: also getting ready to begin a powder coating project, they have a new subforum on it here in CB... going to use the 'shake n bake' method so easy anyone can do it -even me

[bangerjim]

Why make 'em when you can just buy them for around $40??????

I spend my machine shop time on other things and spend my money buying commercially available stuff

banger

[Cane_man]

banger, there is just a satisfaction to making and shooting your own that just isn't the same for me when buying them... in addition, it gives me a feeling of independence that i can make them from scratch and i am not dependent upon outside supplies... and to top it off, it is an awesome feeling and priceless to shoot bullets that you not only made yourself but that you also made the bullet swaging dies! :awesome: LOL, sounds likes VISA commercial! i have a .224 point forming die i made that i would never sell...

[customcutter]

Through your muffin tins on top of a wood fire till they turn good and black before you use them for the first time then you will have no problem with the lead muffins coming out.

A little late for that, they already have lead poured in them. I may try putting them in a fire to see if they will dump out though before cutting them up and re-smelting.

[customcutter]

Why make 'em when you can just buy them for around $40??????

I spend my machine shop time on other things and spend my money buying commercially available stuff

banger

Banger,

Not sure what you can buy for $40, definetly not a set of swaging dies? If you're talking about bullets, no one had them in stock. At least not in the calibers I was looking for. Also don't know if you can buy a set of swaging dies off of the shelf. A few months back it was put your money down and get on someones waiting list. Glad that you've been blessed with the coin to purchase commercially available stuff. Some of us prefer to be independent and learn how to make things our self. I'm not a machinist, I just like learning to make things with the equipment I own. Best way to learn as there aren't any machinist classes in my area.

CC

[customcutter]

Cane,

Glad you're still around, I'm sure I'll have a hundred questions trying to get back up to speed on where I was in making my dies and what steps I need to do next. I take it from your earlier post you're still working on your .30 cal dies?

[runfiverun]

just work on the point form die, everything else is a piece of cake after figuring that one out.

[customcutter]

just work on the point form die, everything else is a piece of cake after figuring that one out.

Yes, that's the one I got stuck on. I made 3 or 4 D-reamers out of W-1 and promply snapped them off. Pretty dissappointing when you spend 4 or more hours making one. I finally figured out to use HSS.

[jimbull34]

CC: have you tied to use drill blanks for the D reamer? I get them from Reid Supply in MI and they work great for me. Fairly easy to grind and if you don't force them, they last a while. Also they are only a few $$ each.

[Cane_man]

Cane,

Glad you're still around, I'm sure I'll have a hundred questions trying to get back up to speed on where I was in making my dies and what steps I need to do next. I take it from your earlier post you're still working on your .30 cal dies?

yep, still working on the 7mm/30cal project... i will probably be able to finish the core sizer in a week or so and will post updated pics then, along with pics of my universal punch holder i made...

[Cane_man]

fiver, the point forming die is the hardest die to make for sure, but imo the core seating die is the hardest one to design as the punch can be a little more complicated... i'll have a drawing up soon of the one i will be making for my 7mm/30 cal project

[customcutter]

CC: have you tied to use drill blanks for the D reamer? I get them from Reid Supply in MI and they work great for me. Fairly easy to grind and if you don't force them, they last a while. Also they are only a few $$ each.

Jim,

I hadn't thought of that, I ground down a piece of 1/4" round HSS that was in my lathe bits box. I would think that HSS drill bit blanks would be just as good, and might even get lucky and not have to grind them down to the correct diameter. Thanks for the idea.

[customcutter]

fiver, the point forming die is the hardest die to make for sure, but imo the core seating die is the hardest one to design as the punch can be a little more complicated... i'll have a drawing up soon of the one i will be making for my 7mm/30 cal project

Drawings are nice. I've got to go back and figure all this stuff out again. I didn't bother drawing anything out, and now I don't remember details of construction, measurements etc. I guess I'll be doing a lot of research this weekend and reading all my old threads to catch back up to speed. I think I'll grab a notebook and make some detailed drawings and measurements as I'm doing my homework.:violin:

[bangerjim]

Banger,

Not sure what you can buy for $40, definetly not a set of swaging dies? If you're talking about bullets, no one had them in stock. At least not in the calibers I was looking for. Also don't know if you can buy a set of swaging dies off of the shelf. A few months back it was put your money down and get on someones waiting list. Glad that you've been blessed with the coin to purchase commercially available stuff. Some of us prefer to be independent and learn how to make things our self. I'm not a machinist, I just like learning to make things with the equipment I own. Best way to learn as there aren't any machinist classes in my area.

CC

I am a machinist and engineer and have been making most of my "specialized" tooling for decades. I even have a vacuum heat treat furnace for tooling. With several lathes, mills, and other shop "stuff", I can make (and have) just about anything that floats thru my mind.

But my time is valuable and I, when possible, buy commercial items.

I do not and will never swage anything, I reload standard cast stuff. I can see why you would probably want to try you hand at making a set of swaging dies, as those commercial ones are at ridiculous prices. I figure I can buy many thousand of commercial J's for the price I would spend on making/buying a set!

More power to you and have fun in the shop and on the range!

banger

[Prospector Howard]

Welcome back CC. I wondered where you were. Hope to see you finish your dies up soon and join us in the fun of shooting our home swaged bullets from home made dies. bangerjim, I understand what you're saying; but for me it's partly because it's a hobby and to see if I can. Mostly tho it's because of the political climate and being as self sufficient as I can get. What if projectiles get even more expensive and difficult to find? I've said it before and I'll say it again; casting for .223 is not worth the trouble in my opinion. Any decent swaged jacketed bullet is a thousand times better than a cast .223 boolit. I'll never spend money on .22 cal gas checks again, when I can use free .22 cases for a full jacket and shoot them at 3000+ fps. No comparison.

[customcutter]

Howard,
Good to be back. I'm with you on the political climate changing in America. I believe there is coming a day when you can't buy ammo, then reloading supplies. Hopefully not in my lifetime, but it's coming. I first saw Ammosmith making .223's years ago, and thought that's pretty neat, looked at the prices and said there would never be a pay back on the dies. When you can't buy projectiles, I think the dies will be priceless.

[Cane_man]

^^^ agreed, i lock the dies up in the gun safe now! guess i am paranoid that homie da clown will break into my garage and borrow my stuff :veryconfu

[jimbull34]

CC: I also use the drill blanks for the punches, lot cheaper and easer to make. .199 for 223 cal for de rimming and on up. They are cheap, easy to find and you just can't turn down tool steel that small, too much of a problem..

[runfiverun]

the punch is nothing more/less than a stem that slips inside the jaxket with about .001 clearance.
the top of the inside of the die is a stepped stop for a stem that pushes the jaxket and core back out.
you just need enough stem length on the punch to reach inside the die to be able to adjust it [the die] up and down for different lengths of cores.

[Prospector Howard]

CC, I had a brainstorm today or was it a brainfart, it's hard to tell. Making the fluted reamer and the final cut with the fluted reamer for the point die is the hardest part of this. What about using a #3 center drill for the material for the fluted reamer? It's already got two flutes cut into it. If you put it in your lathe, then use a small angle grinder to shape it the way you want; it just might work. I do something similar when I want to make a cherry for when I've made bullet molds. I run the lathe very fast with a piece of already hardened drill rod the right diameter and grind it to the shape I want. I run the lathe in the opposite direction of the angle grinder so it cuts better. Then I use a file, knife sharpening stone, then sandpaper to finish and smooth it. Sandpaper won't work here with the flutes already cut into it, but the sharpening stone will probably get it smooth enough. You have to go slow and keep it cool, so it doesn't change the hardness. Then use a dremel and cut a slight relief on the backside of the cutting edge and then sharpen the cutting edge. I think I'm going to try this the next time I make a point die. I may be full of it here with my redneck engineering, but it just might work.

[customcutter]

PH,

I finally made a D-reamer out of 1/4" round HSS. Works great and isn't brittle like the W-1 that I tried before. Also like Jimbull34 suggested use HSS drill blanks, and get them in the size you need. I spent a lot of time trying to grind that 1/4" round down below .224. Don't remember the exact size, probably .218-.220. My little air pencil grinder isn't the best set up for grinding ogives.
Your idea also sounds like it will work. Try it out and post us some pics.

Sorry this is such small print, I don't know what the heck happened. The site has kicked me off twice and now slower than dial-up it seems.

[Dave18]

and as to the dies and buying commercial bullets, I USED to do both, and even put the swage dies up for about 20yrs, bought my corbin 224 dies in 80, and then things got so cheap, why bother, remember when a case of 6m of 55g fmj went for 200 dollars, now just try to get a thousand 55grainers , around here , they are still rather hard to come by outside of factory loaded stuff for 20 bucks a box of 20, which no way Im paying that,
my original intent when I bought my dies were, if the day came that I cannot buy them, I will make my own, that day has came, and is still here for the most part, :-(

[Prospector Howard]

Yea, it was hard to get too hardcore about swaging when Wideners was selling 8000 IMI 55's for $240 delivered. 3 cents a piece, man the good old days. Never going to see that again.

[Cane_man]

glad that HSS worked for you CC, it is just too hard to turn on my small lather so i have to stay with O1 and W1

[customcutter]

glad that HSS worked for you CC, it is just too hard to turn on my small lather so i have to stay with O1 and W1

You can't turn it. I had to grind it with that little pencil grinder set-up. I still want to make a tool post grinder like Teddyblu did with the roto-zip. There was way to much deflection with the little 1/8" shaft and 2" diamond grinding wheel I tried to use, plus the air grinder, didn't have any umph to it. It kept binding and sticking/stopping. Too much aggrevation.

[Prospector Howard]

CC, that's why I mentioned the angle grinder. It's the easiest way I've found to turn down already hardened drill rod. It just takes a little practice to be able to take off the right amount at a time and keep it round. Just don't try to cut too fast.