Thank You to the Swagers out there

[Rabie]

I just want to use this opportunity to say thanks to all the contributing swagers out there. My journey started in 2016 when I procured my first press and dies from Corbins. The capital outset was enormous back then as I live in South Africa and exchange rates are not doong us any favours.

The project the stayed dormant for a couple of years. Reason being I was unable to source the correct tubing for the die sets obtained. Due to tough conditions I had to leave the corporate world and had to scratch to make ends meet. That is when I dusted off the swage set and try to make a business out of it.

I started to swage in March 2022 and can say in all honesty it was one of the biggest mountains I had to climb. My first problem was that for some reason I popped the Core Swage Die on my 308 set. Getting another from Corbin was months away so had to find another way. Got a local company to manufacture one for me but that was also not cheap.

My second problem was that doing anything in considerable numbers on a hand press was just not going to fly. So I dreamed up a fancy Hydraulic press. After popping another Die and broken probably 10 punches it was back to the drawing board. From then till now I had to rebuild my presses 3 times.

Started drawing my ideas by hand. Then taught myself to draw via CAD software. I at least had a good lathe when I started off. So had to learn about steels and their properties. Punches got sorted to a stage where a broken one can be replaced in literally 3 hours.

After being done in on my first Hydraulic set, I had to learn how that works and source what I need and assemble at lowest posible cost.

Where this formum was of imense value is making your own dies. To each contributor I want to say thanx you have helped me immensely. I am now building my own dies and have succesfully launched 6 different Calibers of self built dies. We are now doing about a 1000 bullets a day of tubing jacketed bullets. The results of hard work continuous learning and getting your hands dirty is spectacular. Although tubing bullets is not match grade we get a lot of feedback from customers getting 0.5 MOA groups and terminal balistics of our hunting bullets is awesome.

By understanding some of the principles of how things work I am now capable of changing and improving on some of the concepts. Especially to make the manufacturing of the equipment easier.

My next embargo is to do strip jackets and to somehow automate the machines slightly. The strip jackets part from a die perspective is easy, I just need to figure out how to speed it up to a pace that can keep up. Where I had 2 steps producing a jacket I am now going to have 5.

Automation is a minefield right now as I do not know where to start and what is good and what is hogwash. But it will be figured out.

Anyways long story short, thanx to everyone sharing their knowledge and experience.

[MrWolf]

I am always amazed at the depth of knowledge and ability to think outside the box by our members here. Sounds like you are doing well and will contact do so as you have the drive and aren't afraid to work. Best of luck.
Ron

[contender1]

Kudos on your endeavors & perseverance!

I'm a new hobbiest swager & I can echo the fact that the help here has been excellent!

[dverna]

I fear in less than 20 years, being able to swage may be necessary if we want to shoot jacketed bullets.

Rabie, we cannot legally sell bullets without some costly hoops to jump through. And frankly, it would be next to impossible to make a decent profit when we can still buy Sierra GameKings for less than $50/100. A few years ago, I stocked up on 2000 premium .30 cal bullets (cost about $30/100). For my needs, that is a lifetime supply. But things here will change for the worst wrt to both price and supply.

Glad to hear you can currently support a side business with your endeavor.

BTW, match grade bullets like the SMK 175 gr are selling for $52/100: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1482335572/

Producing 1000 bullets a day is not easy. I assume you are using lead wire cut cores as it would take over an hour to cast cores. It is a better production rate than I would have guessed. Good for you!

Keep us updated. There will be more and more interest in swaging as the future unfolds.

[Three44s]

I never considered making my own dies because of the knowledge gap and I would need a good tight lathe (I do have a couple old worn out ones in our farm shop).

What I do have though is a Sunnen Hone (MBB 1600) but my one and only mandrel is a size that fits some of the common old school automotive slave brake cylinders .... a little big! The additional tooling is still available new and used however.

Three44s

[Rabie]

Dverna, I do understand your logic regarding current selling prices in the US. For us here in the Southern Tip of Africa the scenario is looking very different. The exchange rate between Dollar and Rand is steep. Currently something like Sierras is on shop shelves for anything from $90 to $100 for .30 Cal bullets. Bergers are now sitting at $125. That makes things very difficult. My bullets are very simple thick tubing jacketed flat base bullets. They retail for $35 max on shop shelves.

The second thing is that commercial ammunition here is unobtanium. Most shooters are forced to reload. That in itself has became a science. It was these gaps that allowed me entry into the market.

Regarding your core comment. I am not using wire at all, it increases cost a lot and not readily available here. Secondly to produce my own in enough quantity need hydraulics far beyond what I am comfortable with. I have designed my own core mould where we cast 15 cores at a time. And you can do 2 in a minute. That amounts to about 5000 cores in a day taking into account lead melting time and cutting the cores from the spine with metal scissors.

Ron, thank you for the well wishes. This project has been very hard work and a lot of uphill. I think if I knew 2 years back that it was going to be this difficult I might have looked for something else. But there is also the reward of pride in doing it yourself, perseverence paid off and every little effort is for yourself. That makes one happy in another way. The biggest lesson though is keep at it, go from dreaming to planning and most importantly do something. Even if it is wrong, your second try will be from experience.

[dverna]

Being able to make bullets is an important step in independence. And in your case, there is an economic driver as well.

[MrWolf]

That is what makes the endeavor special - not knowing the outcome. That is life my friend and it seems you are doing it right. Keep it up.
Ron