First time swaging cores???

[customcutter]

OK dropped about 350 cores from my home made .185 core mold for .223. I then started swaging them with my home made core swaging die. I noticed that most of them have a little bit of "flashing" on each end after the swaging process. At first I was trying to remove it with my finger nails, but quickly gave up as it is too time consuming. It ranges from 1/16" to 1/8" sometimes. I thought that maybe I could use a vibratory tumbler, or a rotary tumbler to "knock" the flashing loose. I hate to think that each one has to "handled" again to remove it.

Do you get flashing on the ends? If so how do you remove it?

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

If you weigh the flashing you will see it doesn't weigh that much. When I clean my cores in acetone (to get the swage lube off) I swirl them around in a bucket and it knocks a lot of it off. Tumbler might work equally well.

[customcutter]

I'm using roofing lead, and it is extremely soft. I didn't think about using any lube, but the cores swaged much easier than de-rimming 22 cases.

Did you make your own dies, are you using commercial dies? If so what brand, if you don't mind my asking?

thanks,
CC

[supe47]

CC, if you use a small amount of lube your flashing will decrease.

[garandsrus]

You can use punches that fit the die a little better also. Did you put a bleed hole in the die?

[customcutter]

Supe47, next time I'll try the lube and see how it goes.

Garandsrus, I left .004" clearance on the fit. The "captured" punch inside the die is about 4" long, I'm not sure if I can machine it much tighter without the run out interfering with the punch freely sliding up and down in the die. Right now I need to work on making an auto ejector, wasting too much time tapping the cores out with my brass hammer.

I'll check the weights of a few with flashing and see how much the vary.

thanks,
CC

[anotherred]

Swirl the cores around in a little water, and the flashing will nock right off and there should be almost no difference in core weight.

[runfiverun]

that's a lot of clearance in a swaging die.
ohh and the soft lead will form around and to the punch a bit even with a tight tolerance.
the trick/point is to keep the weights as consistent as possible, that's why you are squishing them.
you can control that quite a bit by using a consistent handle speed/pressure from core to core.

try for a .001 with the next stem.

[midnight]

duplicate

[midnight]

What you really need is a closer fitting punch. 0.001 clearance is a good goal. That's why I make so many core seat punches. Polish out the last 0.001. Too make runout less of a problem, remember only about 0.250 of the end of the punch needs to be the proper diameter. The shank of the punch can be slightly smaller. Also, try swaging each core twice. Pause near the end of the ejection stroke and swage it again. You will find you will remove a tiny tiny bit of lead on the second stroke and get much more consistant cores.

Bob

[customcutter]

Thanks, I didn't think of leaving the tip the correct size and removing more material from the rest of the punch shaft. I'll try that on the next one, if I make another. I also haven't checked the weights on the cores to see how consistent they are, hopefully I won't need to double swage them. I did read an article this past weekend and the author had made bullets with a Corbin press and dies using .22 cases. He indicated that his weights were more consistent than 3 different well known bullet mfg.'s. Of course he was using a single brand of spent brass.

Ken

[fredj338]

You can use punches that fit the die a little better also. Did you put a bleed hole in the die?

My thought exactly. I have only swaged about 1000 cores using BTs dies, but the flash is very minimal.

[Utah Shooter]

Yup again with a tighter fitting punch.