What do I have?

[0802]

I found a really good deal on some casting stuff and already cast boolits.

The guy knew nothing about it and I was showing a little (he’s a reloader but not a caster). As I asking if there are any top punches or sizers, he digs out some boxes of stuff that was in the same lot (we did find four sizers), we come across a bag of 22 bullet cores.

I don’t know much about swaging but I think these are at least parts to a swaging setup. Not many markings and no brand names. I researched the CH4D and Blackmon setups and don’t think this is them. The original owner was 92 and most of the stuff is pretty old. It’s all good stuff, no junk and well taken care of from what I can see.

Can anyone help me determine what these items are?

No matter if this is nothing useful it was worth what I paid and the drive. I’m close to terming it a once in a lifetime find overall.


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[Bent Ramrod]

Your top photo shows three bullet swaging dies, and the holder that fits a 7/8” x 14 tpi press. You screw the die bodies into the holder (note the wrench flats) in turn, for the operation you are performing. Just at a guess, one would be a core swaging die, one would seat the core in the jacket and the third would form the point.

I don’t know what the numbers mean on the die ends in the second photo. Maybe the diemaker’s ogive radius identification. Since everything else seems to be related to .22 rimfire shell jackets and cores, that’s my best guess. Otherwise, I would think they are .270 caliber. Get some gauge pins and carefully measure the holes.

The third photo shows the hole in the die holder that the ejector pins in your first photo stick out of. Typically, there would be a knob that screws on and off the pin end that you would tap with a wooden mallet to eject the contents of the die. If the swager was well-heeled, he would have a frame mounted on the press ram to push the pin on the downstroke. The thin pin is the punch that gets the point-formed bullet out of the die.

#4 might be the setup that holds the various punches in the press ram for swaging, or maybe the ironer for rimfire bullet jackets, or something else unrelated. There are a couple cores and jackets there, but the function of the toothpick, wire with handle, and little bent stuff I dunno. People made stuff to deal with things back in the day.

The next two pictures are the punches for squishing the various parts of the jacket and bullet into the various dies. The round end one is the rimfire jacket ironer (probably), and the rest should be measured carefully to the nearest 0.0001” to make sure you don’t damage a die by jamming the wrong punch into it. One will be sized to exactly fit into a jacket to fully seat a core. The wrong sized punch will crush the core, or let lead flow out against what will be the point of the bullet. This plays absolute hob with accuracy. Don’t ask me how I know this.

The next picture shows that whoever owned that stuff was a serious swager. He wrote down the stroke and holding times for best accuracy in the final product. If the guy you bought the stuff from was the actual user, bring a box of donuts and a six-pack back to his place and ask him how he used the equipment and what fits what. He’s your best chance of finding out for sure. The rest are cores and SAECO sizing dies for the SAECO cast boolit lubrisizer.

Few people marked their names on dies, so if the box they came in was lost, it’s all a guess. They have the extra-finish look of Biehler&Astles dies; if so, you have treasure indeed. I’m green with envy! :mrgreen:

Oh, check the Corbin web site and get a copy of Discover Swaging and Rediscover Swaging. The books have pictures of a lot of die setups, and might help with identification and use.

[0802]

The rest of the stuff...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210810/e754b075c5fad42e6a109d5758336c81.jpg


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[0802]

Thanks for the info. I had read some of the Corbin site before as I pondered getting into this. This allowed me to at least know what I was looking at; now I have to study in detail.


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[0802]

It seems your recommendation of Biehler and Astles is pretty close. This seems to match at least initially.287343


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[sukivel]

Whoa! That’s like finding a Picasso at a garage sale!


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[jimrk]

Might send pics to Richard or Dave and ask if they know who made them.