C&H Swage O Matic press?

[richhodg66]

One advertised kinda, sorta local (it would be a significant trip, but I could probably justify it for other things) along with what looks like a nice Lyman 45 and a box of gas checks. The seller hasn't a clue, but I managed to get out of her that the die that's in the press seems to be a .41 swaging die of some type.

Is this press only for swaging bullets? Seems like it uses something other than 7/8x14 dies, in which case it's worthless to me and I would be dealing on the Lyman 45 alone, and I really don't need another one.

Good press for anything other than swaging bullets?

[rbuck351]

Not really. It is a press for using 1/2 jackets and a core of lead to swag a 1/2 jacket bullet. About it's only other use is to reform cast boolits into another profile. You can take a swc and turn it into a pointed or round nose boolit or vice-versa. The dies are nothing more than a cylinder of steel with the proper size hole through the middle and a punch that sets in the bottom of the die to push the formed boolit back out. There is also a top punch of rn, swc, or pointed.
I have one I use to swag cast boolits to make the bases very flat and square. I also make an 85gr 32 cal 3/4 jacket bullet for my Tok and CZ using 50bmg primers for the jacket and a 73gr 25cal boolit for the core.
These aren't a very strong press but work well for putting 1/2 jackets on fairly soft lead cores or somewhat harder lead in smaller caliber bullets. I'm sending a PM.

[ReloaderFred]

I have three of them. They're swaging presses only, and work on the upstroke. Without a set of the dies made specifically for the Swage-O-Matic, they're pretty much useless. They're made of aluminum, and are for only light duty swaging, and like rbuck351 points out, they were made for swaging half jacketed bullets. I also use mine for reshaping cast bullets, specifically into semi-wadcutter hollow point bullets, sometimes with gas checks.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Bazoo]

I appreciate this discussion. I had wondered bout those presses myself.

[lotech]

I haven't had one of these in years, but I'd certainly agree with what others said. Even if it could be used for handloading, it's not very stout. I don't miss mine or the swaging dies that went with it and I had a bunch of them.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have most of one, with several die sets. However, the (missing) top punch holder and the (missing) ring that holds the die bodies in the ram are both oddball threads and diameters. I keep meaning to get replacements made, but the project keeps slipping in the face of more important ones.

The shapes for the half-jacket pistol bullets are pretty rudimentary, and you are unlikely to get a factory ogive shape (if that’s what you want), nor will you be able to use longer jackets than half without a lot of strain on the press. Half-jacket bullet swaging became a craze in the late 50s-early 60s, with the gun mag writers lauding the process, but once real people tried it, it fizzled out pretty quickly. It’s an interesting curio (if you have the space), but not a very practical proposition, even if you have a few boxes of half-jackets around.

I believe GONRA is the authority on the Swag-O-Matic. He’s posted a few threads on the subject. You might send him a PM and see what he says.

[Pressman]

It's an OK design for the purpose which it is intended. Trying to convert it into a reloading press could be done, though you need to be a skilled machinist with nothing better to do during the winter.
Herter's sold a competing press that follows this design, though they used stronger cast iron and the dies are just different enough that they cannot be interchanged. They even painted it the same color red. Then they used the frame to make 2 reloading presses, Model 9 and 9M. They are not convertible either way for swaging or reloading. Too many different parts.

Half jackets were a great idea that didn't work when put to the test. They offer nothing over gas checks and are limited to a single boolit design. There is none of the variety that casting offers.

Fun to play with yes, offering a practical improvement, no.

Ken

[richhodg66]

Thanks guys. I've lost interest in it now. Not gonna swage bullets.

Amongst all my other stuff I got in my Dad's stuff is stuff a guy older than Dad who died in the 80s had including some half jacket bullets fr various things he must have swaged but I'm quite sure I don't have any of his equipment. Been kind of wondering what to do with them. I'll probably shoot them up eventually.

[ReloaderFred]

Thanks guys. I've lost interest in it now. Not gonna swage bullets.

Amongst all my other stuff I got in my Dad's stuff is stuff a guy older than Dad who died in the 80s had including some half jacket bullets fr various things he must have swaged but I'm quite sure I don't have any of his equipment. Been kind of wondering what to do with them. I'll probably shoot them up eventually.

Speer used to sell half jacketed bullets in SWC and SWC-HP, so they may be from those.

Hope this helps.

Fred