Corbin swage dies

[andyt53]

My great uncle in California called me out of the blue a few days ago. He heard about my adventures into the swaging world. Long story short, a while back he bought Corbin swage dies to swage .224s. He said it was the Kit-224r which uses a standard reloading press. He has never ised the dies, let alone opened them. Now for the wonderful news, he said I can HAVE them! I offered to pay for them but he insisted I just take them. No problem I said!

He told me he did not buy their optional core swage die. The kit comes with a core mold, derimming die, core seat and point form die. Should I invest in a core swage die? Or should I just hope my cores drop at near the same weight every time? The bullets will mainly be for general shooting fun in the 55-60 grain range with maybe some 70-75 grainers swaged for accuracy. I also look forward to getting BTs auto eject to speed me up. Any tips?

[blltsmth]

Yes, you should get a core swage die. When you have someone as generous give you something, expect to invest a little your self. Corbin makes a good one or check LaFaun Floyd here in the Vendor sponsor section. You can't go wrong with either one!!! Don

[andyt53]

I was willing to pay full price for them, he refused. And I have no problem with investing in other things. as long as the money is available. I'm going to hold off on purchasing the core swage die until I have the dies in my posession. I guess I'm going thru the process of swaging rifle bullets, might as well have all the cores the same exact weight using the core swage die.

Does anybody have any experience with the Corbin core mold? Is it adjustable, work good or anything else I should be aware of?

[kweidner]

I abhore that mold. Really. Buy BT 's and get the core swage from him or the vendorssuggested. RCE adjustable is a different matter in .257 for .30 cals though.

[MUSTANG]

I use the Corbin core mold for .224's. Only problem I encounter is that about 1/2 the time I only get 3 of the 4 cavities with a good cast. The other times I get four good cavity pours.

[Bent Ramrod]

I bought the Corbin kit when they were first advertised. The core mould works all right, but after a while it seems that one of the plungers will stick when the cavity is filled with lead. When the offending cavity is polished out so it works smoothly again, the mould will run on all four for a while and then another cavity will stick. I can get a fair number of slugs out of even three cavities, so it isn't a huge deal.

Decades later, I bought the core swage die, for about the same price the whole kit had gone for. It was a good investment. The cast cores varied by a few tenths of a grain; the swaged ones vary a tenth or less.

[DukeInFlorida]

And, BT Sniper's (in my humble opinion) is the BEST core swage die!

That's the one I would get, and yes you need one.

Reason: The jackets will fill out with the exact amount of lead you put inside. If your lead varies more than a few tenths of a grain, your final point forms won't work out properly. You really want them all to be the exact same. The core swage die is the starting point for that success.


Yes, you should get a core swage die. When you have someone as generous give you something, expect to invest a little your self. Corbin makes a good one or check LaFaun Floyd here in the Vendor sponsor section. You can't go wrong with either one!!! Don

Oh, and BT Sniper also make a wonderful core mold for the 224 bullets. I have been using it for a long time (well over a year and a half), and it runs "raw cores" very well!! It's faster than extruding lead wire, and chopping cores to length (although I also have that system). And, will produce cores that easily run through the core swage die for exactness. Well worth the $$$ to buy BT Sniper's core mold. (I also have his 30 cal core mold, and use it to cast cores for my 5.7X28FN to .308" jacketed bullets)

[257]

I have a corbin 22 core mold it seems to work good enough for me. I am now building a die to extrude lead into wire and then I will just use a core cutter and swage cores

[goblism]

I have a corbin 22 core mold it seems to work good enough for me. I am now building a die to extrude lead into wire and then I will just use a core cutter and swage cores

This is on my to do list as well. Hoping to make something to use with the hydralic press to make short work of extruding lead