swaging 40 cal from 9mm punch

[goblism]

I am wondering what everyone is using for a punch when going from 9mm to 40? I have a CH4D 101 set and the included punch is too big without resizing the brass before core seating.

I am wondering if anyone uses a Lee push through punch? I can get a 356 one for $3.59 and figure worst case scenario I wreck it after a while, not a big deal at that price.

Let me know the pros and cons. I might try and get a 9mm core seating punch from Lee but for now I will plan on using this. I see a BTsniper mandrel and sizing set in my future too which would solve all of this

[andyt53]

First post on this forum........but Im in for answers. I will be acquiring the same dies pretty soon and would like to know if I need a special punch or if my punch from a Lee push through sizer would work.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I am wondering what everyone is using for a punch when going from 9mm to 40? I have a CH4D 101 set and the included punch is too big without resizing the brass before core seating.

I am wondering if anyone uses a Lee push through punch? I can get a 356 one for $3.59 and figure worst case scenario I wreck it after a while, not a big deal at that price.

Let me know the pros and cons. I might try and get a 9mm core seating punch from Lee but for now I will plan on using this. I see a BTsniper mandrel and sizing set in my future too which would solve all of this

If you could elabotate a little more on exactly what the problem is, it'd help.

When Swaging 40 cal bullets from a 9mm Case and a Lee 356 120gr.TC boolit as a core, I flare the case mouth of the "fully" annealed 9mm case/jacket, and seat the core, nose down into the case/jacket, using a Bonanza 380auto expander die (it has a flat face on the expander). I seat the core til the case just starts to expand. This is done in a single stage press, and the case/jacket is in a standard shell holder, that I modified so there is no hole and it supports the spent primer so the air pressure doesn't push out that spent primer.

God Luck,
Jon

[tiger762]

I think I know what he's talking about 'cuz I have a #101 in 44cal myself. There is no way to seat the core *below* the jacket mouth. In this case, he's using a 9mm brass. The core seat punch is the same diameter as the OUTSIDE jacket diameter. This is in contrast to the 45cal set I have from RCE which included 5 punches of various function, one of which has a "452 seat inside jacket" mechanically etched into the side of it. It has a reduced diameter at the tip, and is the one I use a lot for making jacketed bullets where there is no exposed lead in the finished product. With a design like the #101, one can make a 3/4 jacketed. To the OP: You'll need to use a core weight that assures that at least some lead will be above the brass mouth throughout the whole core seating process, otherwise you'll crush the brass.


If you could elabotate a little more on exactly what the problem is, it'd help.
Jon

[andyt53]

Like the OP asked, what about using a 9mm Lee push through punch to seat the core? Sure it doesn't have a bleed hole, but could it be used to seat the core? Im interested in this also since I will be getting a set of the 40 cal 101 dies pretty soon.

[tiger762]

It should. Only thing you have to watch out for is lead blow-by. When you go to withdraw the punch you may see thin lead foil between punch and inside of brass case. The thing with that is it may not be easy to get the seated core off the punch. If it were me, I would have no hesitation trying it as I can't see how it could damage anything. It would just be a PITA. Don't go too deep in it, or you'll run into the inside taper of the brass.

[jimrk]

check out this Ammosmith link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdzm7zM16r4

[andyt53]

check out this Ammosmith link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdzm7zM16r4

I watched that video last night. But he mentioned using the CH4D 9mm punch. Maybe drill a bleed hole in the Lee 9mm push through punch?

[goblism]

I have uses the 9mm punch successfully for like 50 bullets, it works fine with minimal blow by. Didn't know if there was something to be concerned with. I am sure it is a soft cheap punch but at $3 a pop I expect nothing less.

The bullets did not stick in the point form die at all but sometimes were stubborn in the core swage, the punch came out but took a decent wack to get the core out

[andyt53]

Well that's good to know! Thank you goblism! And sorry for hijacking your thread.

[andyt53]

I'm not at home to check on this but I'm thinking something. Today I swaged a few 9mm to 40 with my new CH4D dies and I used the Lee 9mm push through punch since the provided punch doesn't allow for seating below jacket mouth. But what if I was able to flare the 9mm just enough to get th CH4D punch started? Would that work? Like I said, I'm not at home to try. I get off work at 6:30 am. If nobody tries or can provide an answer, I will report back with one.

[tiger762]

I'd love to know the answer with that. because I'll be core swaging with a separate die, I can live without using the hemispherical concave punch that CH4D ships with, to instead use a Lee push through sizer punch to have less exposed lead. I've never thought about seating below the jacket mouth, but I think the problem you might run into is making sure the punch centers with the jacket and doesn't try to crush one side of the jacket. This is the other benefit of a real swaging press. The bronze bushings that keep everything aligned. In all my reloading presses there's a lot of slop...

[goblism]

i am fairly new to swaging but if you flare the mouth of the case/jacket a little bit it seems to get stuck onto the punch. Than you will be struggling with how to get it off of the punch in a time efficient manner. I personally don't like spending 4-5 second a round messing with the punch. This has been my experience so far which may vary with others.