Identification needed

[Herb in Pa]

182063182064A shooting buddy bought out a guy selling some miscellaneous molds and etc. What are the items picture below???182062

[kungfustyle]

Looks like a swage kit. Core mold on the left and the forming die on the right. If so, they are very pricey. Can you pull the pin on the die one the top and the bar slide out? I may be talking out my xxx but as a guess...

[ReloaderFred]

An adjustable core mold, and bullet swaging die from Herters. The base punch is missing from the swage die.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[porthos]

the above items are mine. i don't do pictures; so he posted them for me. can anyone post pictures of a complete unit; so that i'll know what is missing? i may be able to track some more down. don't know what i'd do with it; but, it will be complete anyway. can't find anything on the internet about these items.

[Bent Ramrod]

The Herter's 1970 Catalog describes (with typical modesty) your split die as "Another Great Herter Revolutionary First. Circular Groove Pistol Bullet Swaging Dies For Use In All Reloading Tools. Patents Pending. Eliminates Entirely The Cast Pistol Lead Bullet And Its Many Proven (sic) Faults."

It came with a Herter punch that fit the channel in your die set. This would fit a standard Herter (or other manufacturer's) shell holder, i.e., it had a shell rim machined into the bottom but otherwise had a rebated cylindrical shape, slightly smaller below the business end of the punch. The die set was $11.95, extra shaped die inserts were $8.49, and extra punches $1.39. They were offered in .38/.357, .401 Herter Magnum, .44 Spl/Mag, .45ACP, and .45 Long Colt, in SWC, WC and RN styles.

Herter lists 7 advantages the swaged bullet has over the cast one, including a hint that such bullets can be made with 3% antimony, rather than a tin alloy. I would not use this advice with your die set. Use pure lead, at least for starters, and I would wipe a light coating of lube on the cast cores until this proved unnecessary.

The die is screwed into your reloading press and the punch put into the shell holder. Adjust the die up or down to get the weight (length) you want. The core is put on the punch, guided with the fingers, and pushed up into the die. The shell holder should push the shaped die inserts closed at the top of the ram stroke, and when pulled back down, the die should open again and a swaged, grease-grooved bullet should drop out.

Someone (I think it was Floodgate in the ARTCA Journal) actually tried this "Great Herter Revolutionary First" and found it to be extremely critical as to core size vs. bullet length and fillout. Too little lead and the grooves don't fill; too much and there is flashing on the sides of the bullet. Apparently, George L. Herter neglected to include a bleedout hole for any excess lead.

Still, with some experimentation and selection, usable bullets should be possible. If you don't have the punch, a machinist should be able to make you one, with, say, a .30-30 rim cutout. A snap-in punch, like standard swage dies use, could also be made.

Those dies don't show up often. You have a real piece of reloading history there!

[porthos]

thanks for the info.

[ascast]

nice find, and talk through thanks all