Swag-O-matic

[BGM56]

I have the opportunity to buy a swag-o-matic press. For the time being I'm only planning on doing 22lr jackets and bullet forming for .223. Is this press up to the task? What are the major limitations?

[fc60]

Greetings,

The Swag-O-Matic has enough power to bump a 20:1 slug into a 0.314" HBWC.

I have 0.452" dies; but, they are intended for pure Lead with minimal bleed off.

The 0.224" will certainly require less pressure to form a bullet.

Give it a go, worst case put it on eBay.

Cheers,

Dave

[green mountain boy]

i own one but can't find dies for it.

[rbuck351]

They were designed for half jackets and a soft lead core. They are made from aluminum and not very strong. They were never meant for point forming a copper jacket. It might work for point forming 22lr brass but you will have to make your own dies as a normal ogive style die doesn't exist. If you try it and it doesn't work, you probably will have a two piece press.

[1hole]

SwageMatics were fairly common in my callow youth but I'm no expert, I've never even seen one.

That noted, my memory says they were intended ONLY for half jacket pistol bullets with soft cores (as said above). Home swaging was a fad for a time but they soon faded into oblivion; that one fact tells me a lot about their value to most of us.

Even the highly vaunted RCBS RockChucker presses really aren't strong enough to make many jacketed bullets and even the dies for tiny .224 bullets are horribly expensive.

[BGM56]

I would like to thank everyone for the input. I didn't end up getting the swag-o-matic. It was sold before I got back to it, so I'll just build a dedicated swaging press that I don't have to wonder if it will work.

[rbuck351]

I use mine mostly for reforming and uniforming cast boolits. I made a set of dies to make 32cal 1/2 jacketed bullets from a 50bmg primer and a 73gr lyman 25cal boolit as a core. It comes out as a 85gr swc but is almost a full jacket for that weight bullet.

[Sixgun Symphony]

Check out the Champion press and swaging dies from CH/4D

[Sasquatch-1]

i own one but can't find dies for it.

"Hawks Precision Bullets" sells single die sets. I have two sets, one for .44 and one for .45. They work well for reforming bullets as stated previously. I have made half jackets for the 45 using 40 s&w brass. I also reform a 250 grn round nose 44 to a full wadcutter using the dies. I do not use the the Swag-O-Matic press but use a Rock Chucker.

[Wayne Smith]

I went on Hawk's website and did not see the single die set?

[Char-Gar]

They were designed for half jackets and a soft lead core. They are made from aluminum and not very strong. They were never meant for point forming a copper jacket. It might work for point forming 22lr brass but you will have to make your own dies as a normal ogive style die doesn't exist. If you try it and it doesn't work, you probably will have a two piece press.

This is the correct answer. The C-H presses were an answer to Jim Harvey's Jugular bullets. These were handgun bullets made by swaging pure lead wire into a half jacket. They were available in .357 and 44. You bought the pure lead wire in coils and the half jackets. For a time, they were also made in 30 caliber. They really were a piece of junk. They were never intended to swage anything but pure lead wire. I threw mine in the garbage 35 years ago.

[rbuck351]

I have C-H dies in 30, 357, 44 and 45. I have made dies for 32, 41 and 458. Mostly I use mine for bumping up cast boolits to fit slightly larger bores. I use acwws and have even used wcwws in the smaller calibers. So far it's still in one piece.

[Sasquatch-1]

I went on Hawk's website and did not see the single die set?

Forgot to mention he does not list them on the site, but if you call he will gladly help you out.

[GONRA]

GONRA has 3 of these handy units. Made all sorts of parts, dies over the years.....
Original (purchased NEW waaay back when) is setup asa Dead Weight Press
for consolidating dry loaded primer mixes. Currently setup for 9mm Berdan primers.

Other 2 are "Ebay Specials".
Pretty good shape (by my low standards) but both could tell all sorts of stories.
One was used asa reloading press I guess....
Heard one should check for cracked frames but these 2 were Just Fine.
Just needed some parts…

One is currently setup to form 9mm diameter primer cups
(for Chicom LCS 14.5mm Soviet cases)
from 7/16 blanks punched from 42 mil Copper Sheet.

Other is currently setup to dehead .22 Winchester Rimfire Magnum cases.

Note - STP Oil Treatment makes a great forming lube!

Decades ago GONRA swaged soft lead cast .45 ACP bullets in CH Swag-O-Matic dies
with home made "Spring Loaded Deeeep Hollow Point Nose Punch" and
a Hemispherical Base Ejector to seat .45 caliber gas checks.

These were used for EXTREMELY effective explosive bullets.
>>> NO BORE EXPLOSIONS! <<<

Hemispherical GAS CHECK BASE prevented Bad News "bore explosions"
from burning powder gas creeping up thru "casting imperfections".

(Shootin’ resulted in 1 1/8 inch holes in usual sheet metal.
Left shards of lead and interesting "Inside Out Hemispherical Gas Check" target debris.
Was experimenting with various Remington Arms Clathrate Inclusion compounds at that time…)