Swaging Cast Boolits for Better Accuracy

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I am again re-reading Ned Roberts excellent old book about muzzleloading.
There are numerous mentions of boolit designs and casting BUT then he writes about swaging the cast boolit for enhanced accuracy due to "Condensing the lead" and shaping the boolit to a perfect state.
I gather the molds maybe were not the best so I can understand the "Shaping" the boolit as the target shooters used intricate two piece , two mix boolit designs.
BUT "condensing the lead".. is this due to the possibility of there being numerous air bubbles and the swaging opporation removing all voids ... ?
So I wonder have any of you swagers run any accuracy tests with cast boolits.. then swaged the same cast boolit and re-run the test ? I realise this is a smooth sided boolit most likely going to be PP.

[blaser.306]

I have been swaging already sized/checked 240 gr swc in a corbin LSW-1 die and it has considerably tightened my groups . I think that flatening the gas check to the base with several thousand LBS of pressure ensures a better launch, and the already lubed boolit retains it's lube grooves during reforming . Just my opinion , for what it's worth!

[ANeat]

I havent been able to better my accuracy. (45acp) I have a great mold, (Ballisticast)

I have been able to equal the accuracy In my bullseye guns but just casting them is certainly easier.

Swaging give you a lot more flexability in adjusting weight and nose shape.

You can also re-swage your cast bullets (lubed)

[stephen perry]

When I was a toddler about 12 my dad bought early 1960's reloading gear. My dad taught me how to Cast and how to Swage. I was the bullet maker in the family my dad was the reloader.

I still have all the CH swaging tools including press and the CH cast bullet sizer/luber. Might need some parts but I never forgot the process. We had a Lyman bottom pour pot and I burned it up. Then we went ot a Kenmore stainless chicken cooker took me 20 years to burn that one up. I can't count or think of how many bullets I have cast. All the way from 22 cal up to 30 in rifle and 38 & 45 in pistol. Now I have a Saeco bottom pour for making bars and a a Lee 4 and 10 for my casting.

I have a shooting friend in Utah that is saving me 4 crates of cast bullet equipment he has traded for, he doesn't shoot Cast. Hopefully there will be a SAECO 20 lb pot I can use and sell and give away some of the stuff to my retired on Social Security casting buddies.

Life is fruitful give away what you recieve and many will benefit, why die with the stuff.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[shaggist]

There are several improvements that swaging your cast bullet will do to improve accuracy.

1. Most cast bullets are not perfectly round and may be several thousands off in diameter, when measured side to side and then rotated 90 degrees and measured again. Swaging will produce a perfectly round bullet and eliminate this eccentricity.

2. A gas check, swaged on the bottom of a cast bullet, will be perfectly square to the longitudinal axis of the bullet, and eliminate the skewing of the bullet upon exiting the muzzle, due to unequal pressures on the base of the bullet.

3. Swaging will reduce/eliminate any void in the cast bullet, that will imbalance the bullet in its rotation, and cause it to have a miniscule wobble around the axis of flight. With bullets rotating anywhere from 30,000 RPM to 180,000+RPM, any imbalance will cause the bullet to rotate eccentrically around its axis of flight and the point of impact will vary from shot to shot.

These reasons are probably only important to bench rest shooters because of the minute variations to the bullet's flight, but those of us who strive for perfection for its own sake will understand why it is done. Just something else to do to eliminate abnormalities in what comes out the end of the barrel.

[runfiverun]

i use one of bt's reworked dies to reshape 429421's
to a skiived hollowpoint. it also reshapes the nose pushing it back and eliminating most of the step,
creating a longer driving band. i have to be careful about losing the crimp area, and have had to use a canelluring tool to slightly reform it.
it did increase accuracy at 50 yds over the standard boolit through my levergun [in my slight initial testing.]
i think it is changing the weight distribution reaward with the reshape and hollowpoint.
and possibly removing any small voids in the casting.
it's one more step and still ongoing but it's an option.

[nicholst55]

I'm wondering if I could eliminate the bevel base from BB cast bullets this way - turn them into a plain square base. Any ideas?

[shaggist]

You can remove the BB by swaging, but you will alter/remove the lube grooves and the crimping groove also. The pressure on the bullet during swaging is so high, that any voids(grooves) offer a place into which lead will be displaced.

[ANeat]

I'm wondering if I could eliminate the bevel base from BB cast bullets this way - turn them into a plain square base. Any ideas?

Yes, the trick is to lube them first, the lube will not compress


Like turning these old commercial cast 130's into swc HP


Ive been able to make a bullet that didnt shoot very well in my gun into one that would shoot well.

But I also have bullets that shoot well as cast that dont need any improvement



http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Swage/DSC01196.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Swage/DSC01197.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Swage/DSC01198.jpg

[Daywalker]

that is really sweet Aneat...

[Doc Highwall]

I have been thinking of swaging my SAECO #315 after lubing them just to give a final truing up of the bullet for bench rest shooting. The gun I am shooting them out of shoots great with my best five shot group at 100 yards of .305" with many groups where three shots are in less then .125" with two shots out. My brother in law put four in .150" with the wind blowing one shot out. The gun shows it has the potential now to eliminate the variables and work on the loose nut behind the but plate.