Time to play "what in the heck is this thing"

[reloaders4you]

I picked this item up in a deal last week and in 15 years of reloading I have never seen one. The lock ring is stamped Herters and the numbers 451 are stamped on the die body. It appears to be some sort of boolit sizer...mabey. Any info would be great

[Newfoundlander2]

Looks like a Herter's bullet swaging die for .45 calibre bullets.

[reloaders4you]

Thanks for the info

[atr]

yea..Herters swaging die....I have the exact same thing in 35 cal

[reloaders4you]

So is mine complete?

[reloaders4you]

Also, any idea how it opperates, and or instructions.

[Bent Ramrod]

Screw the die into your press until it touches the shell holder, put the cylindrical nose punch into the shell holder, insert a piece of lead wire into a .45 half-jacket and by judicious adjustment of the black top portion of the die, squeeze the jacket and lead together until the bullet is completely formed. Tap the bullet out by hitting the ejector (the punch with the large head) with a leather or rubber mallet or the palm of your hand. Remember the bottom of the jacket goes up into the die and the lead nose is formed in the punch on the ram. Clean any grease or oil out of the die before use and put a light coating of lube on the jackets before swaging. If your die is a .451, the nose punch should fit in a .45 ACP shell holder.

The weight of bullet is the weight of wire plus weight of jacket. After the dies are set up, if you've cut your cores consistently you should be able to repeat these steps until you have the bullets you need. Check the diameters; the word "nominal" does not begin to describe the diameters of Herter's swage dies.

[atr]

You also need a pretty strong press....

[reloaders4you]

Thank you so very much

[reloaders4you]

You also need a pretty strong press....

RCBS Ammo master

[MtGun44]

or Rock Chucker Bullet Swage (RCBS) Rock Chucker ......

Bill

[scrapcan]

Or you can pass it along to another interested party, I would step up for being the interested party.

[Gerry N.]

I had one of those in .30 cal years ago. It worked OK once the learning curve had been ascended. Only prollem being their .308" was everyone else's .289" so I gave it to a friend who had M95 7mm Mauser to feed. Yes, it was marked ".308". My Pacific Super Deluxe "C" press worked well with it.

I always kind of wondered if the discrepency was poor workmanship or mismarking.

Gerry N

[mikenbarb]

Just one thing your missing is the solid shell holder Herter's made for their swaging dies. You can find them from time to time on auction sites. Its just a solid shell holder with no priming hole in it. Otherwise its complete and its a good swaging die that works fine with a Herter's Super 3 press or similar thats real strong.

[Relodah OO]

You also need a pretty strong press....

. . . and if you want to keep it in the Herter's family, try to dig up one of their Model 81 double ram presses. I'll not try to move mine again until after I get my hernia repaired! I use other presses, but am planning to oil up ole 81 to swage FMJ boolits.

[shotman]

Also one of the Herters killed the biggest meanest critter with one of the bullets LOL