How to get started with swaged bullets?

[johnsonian09]

I can weld and drill steel are such in my garage, however most of my ability is closer to repair until I can afford to replace.

I read through the forum on how to make a swage press. I know between buying the materials and time and upgrading my current outfit. I’d spend more then if I bought Corbin’s hydraulic press. As I’d be in over my head I believe.

My hand me down great grampas tool makers lathe that I play with every once and awhile is from the 1890s. I’ve only really ever used it to make reamers and small brass parts. However if I upgrade to a new lathe it will definitely be a screw lathe or one with a 2inch bore through chuck for barrel chambering.

I’ll probably buy corbins S press in time, with his 22lr-224 die set to start. Or 30 cal and use commercial or copper pipe jackets. I read Jon’s post about 5.7 jackets. That sounds very resourceful however I don’t own a gun that shoots 5.7 and I figure if im buying brass I may as well buy jackets.


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[BadgerShooter]

I've made tens or hundreds of thousands of bullets with a Corbin S press. It can't do everything an H press or a MegaMite can do, but you can make lots and lots of high performance bullets with an S press.

[sharps4590]

I posted earlier about it being an expensive proposition, unless you get lucky. Making your own equipment never occurred to me

I got lucky and bought a slug of equipment, dies and jackets well worth the money. I've enjoyed the learning process and the quality of the bullets I made but, I haven't fired 200 bullets. Most I gave to my son.

As I read through the thread I saw others had commented on why I checked back in and what I was going to post on, the time factor. After making about 500 bullets I had the thought that in the same amount of time I probably could have cast 1500-2000 bullets. Cast bullets have served me well for over 50 years and swaging was something I wanted to try but, definitely was not willing to pay for new equipment. I came across the deal and got to satisfy my curiosity and add to what little knowledge I have. As it stands now, I believe I'd rather cast bullets as swage them.

[bangerjim]

Get a 2nd job or win the lottery.

The equipment (if you buy it) is totally ridiculous in price. Not worth the price to me! I could make most, if not all, of it in my machine shops. But if you shoot 10's of thousands of "need to be swaged" boolits (I do not) and have an excellent source of the powder and primers you will need to feed them (and the money), go for it......and have fun. Now is really not the time to delve into a new-to-you and VERY expensive branch of this normally rather expensive hobby.

Let us know your progress! And your costs.

Good luck!

[ReloaderFred]

I've bought all of my swaging equipment used, which saved me a ton of money. While it's fun to experiment and see what you can make with your swaging gear, it's also very time consuming. I had a friend ask me what I'd charge to make him some .44 Magnum bullets, and I told him if I charged him for the time, it would be somewhere in the area of $5.00 per bullet, if I counted every minute that went into every step of the operation. He was aghast at the amount of time that went into making my XTP look-a-like bullets, which he claimed shot just as well as the factory bullets from the ones I'd given him in the past. I gave him a couple hundred to play with, since he's a great friend.

Over the years, I've accumulated swaging dies to make .356", .357", .400", .410" and .452" diameter handgun bullets. They're fun to play with, but slow to make.

For presses, I've used my Rockchucker, Hollywood Sr., C-H Swage-O-Matic and Corbin CSP-1. In dies, I've got Corbin, C-H, Wells, Hollywood and even a couple of Herters, but the dies that get the most use are the C-H and Corbin, with the C-H doing most of the work and producing most of the bullets. I've also got a BT Sniper Notching Die, which I use a lot.

Just yesterday, I was making HBWC bullets with a set of Corbin dies in my Rockchucker, and then making SWC-HP bullets with the Swage-O-Matic.

I've never sat down and actually figured out how much money I've spent on swaging equipment. That's probably because I don't want my wife to find out, and to tell you the truth, I don't really want to know.......

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Sasquatch-1]

I had a friend ask me what I'd charge to make him some .44 Magnum bullets, and I told him if I charged him for the time, it would be somewhere in the area of $5.00 per bullet, if I counted every minute that went into every step of the operation.

I have given several people 50-100 of my swaged bullets. They come back and want to buy more. I just tell them they can't afford it and let it go at that. I also keep some components that show the steps involved and tell them what I go through to make the bullets.

[ReloaderFred]

I have given several people 50-100 of my swaged bullets. They come back and want to buy more. I just tell them they can't afford it and let it go at that. I also keep some components that show the steps involved and tell them what I go through to make the bullets.

I do the same thing with the steps. I keep a set in a small plastic bag in my shooting bag.

I took several sets to the SHOT Show one year and gave them to the reps from Sierra, Nosler, Hornady and Speer. I didn't bother with Winchester, since they always come off as arrogant at the Show and act like they're doing everyone a favor by being there. These were .44 bullets made from .40 S&W brass. The reactions were mixed, from disdain to admiration. When I pointed out that several of those companies were started by making .22 bullets from .22 LR cases, they agreed that innovation was the key to success. When talking to the reps from Sierra, I explained that I had stumbled on a process for making a bonded bullet without the use of flux and they asked me to explain it. When I did, they looked at each other, but I don't know if the look meant they hadn't heard of it before, or it was some trade secret they'd been using themselves. The booth was very busy and others had started to talk to them, so the conversation was ended at that point.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Meatpuppet]

I have a few of BT Sniper's die sets. They are worth every penny because the value to me is in the process and experimenting, not saving money.

While I can swage jacketed projectiles from commercial jackets or used brass cases, they are time consuming (with the exception of the one-step .40/10MM and 44 Mag). However, over time I learned I can simplify everything by casting undersized cores by the hundreds, powdercoat them and then swage (bump-up) in BT's dies with a reasonable time investment. The swaged powdercoat really does a great job! No jackets necessary!

If you are simply swaging up powdercoated cores, the super-strong (expensive) presses and multiple (expensive) "Draw Dies" for the jacket are not necessary, just the single "Point Form Die". It is really quite a savings in both time and money. As a bonus with powdercoating, you can change the projectile weight without worrying about the jacket size/length.

Nowadays I only swage jacketed projectiles a few times a year. Everything else is powdercoated then swaged.

Just my opinion.

[Cane_man]

if you like to work with your hands get a lathe and learn to make your own dies, lots of fun!

or, there are many handgun calibers you can swage with using reloading sizing dies, for example 45acp can be core seated with a .308 sizing die, and pointed using a .243 sizing die