Help Identifying Hollywood Swaging Dies

[StratsMan]

Hi all...

I'm not a bullet swager, but a friend asked if I could help identify some dies he came across. They clearly say "Hollywood Gun Shop"; one group is marked for 6mm and the other group is marked "38 Spl". While I recognize the calibers, I really don't know what the dies are called, or if they are complete sets (but I'll wager they're not).


6mm dies...
These dies appear to have a tip swage, and one with a long rod out the top and no opening at all on the bottom. The small "inserts" have a full diameter through-hole (sizer??) and the other has a rounded bottom, like the cup goes into it.

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38 Spl...
The 38 dies may be complete. The die marked "38 Spl" in the photo looks to be the tip swage. The large one appears to attach to the press like the shellholders for Hollywood presses, and has a spring loaded part that presses down. I assume that is for removing the finished bullet. Can't find any way to take it apart; wonder how it was put together. I have no idea what the two rods are for, or if they belong to this set. They were in the box with the dies.

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Any info you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.

StratsMan

[Bent Ramrod]

I am just going by the line drawing of the Hollywood swage setup in one of the early Handloader’s Digests and elsewhere. The die with no rod out the top in your first picture should be the point former which goes into the die station on the Hollywood Senior press.

The die assembly with the spring-loaded housing is the base forming die, which screws into the shell holder base that’s raised and lowered by the lever. The links on the Senior press would be shortened to the closer holes for more leverage.

The description of use for the Hollywood system was guesstimated by Townsend Whelen in the 1951 version of The Ultimate In Rifle Accuracy. It had just hit the market and nobody had actually used one yet. A core/jacket was put into the spring-loaded base and the lever raised to form the point. Apparently, the bullet would remain in the base, since there is no provision to eject a bullet stuck in the point former. The bullet is, according to Whelen’s description, is not finished yet, because other parts (not shown) need to be arranged in the press to run the bullet through a sizing die to iron the bulge or ring that is always formed by two-piece swaging die designs. Maybe the rods on the left side are the posts that replace the priming post and push the bullet through the ring-removal die. Those extra pieces with the holes might be the ring removers (?).

The blank die with the rod coming out the top and the other dies don’t seem to be mentioned. If Hollywood made a C-H or Herter’s-type half-jacket swaging die, this is the first I’ve seen, but that’s what some of that .38 stuff looks like to me. The plunger with the rimmed base would fit into a shell holder and form the nose of the bullet, but there normally would be an ejector in the die to push it back out.