Before I start, I'll tell you I'm not one to bad mouth anybody on a forum normally, public or otherwise. That being said, afraid I feel compelled to warn folks away from dealing with a certain person who will remain nameless, but who operates an outfit called JKS Swage.
I found out much too late that I was dealing with somebody operating under the guise of being a skilled die maker, only to find out later that in reality they were more of what some might term a "hack".
So...... I purchased some die sets for my Walnut Hill press & was promised everything was ready to go, shipped right away too.
After many emails & lots of promised delivery dates, various tracking numbers that went nowhere, etc, etc, I finally received some dies that looked good from a distance, but much like a 50 foot paint job, really didn't hold up under anything resembling close scrutiny. First off, I noticed lots of gritty leftovers from the coal slag that was used to blast the outsides of the dies, ugh. What were supposed to pass for threads really aren't, more of a spiralized semi-right triangle shape more or less. Obviously the tool wasn't perpendicular to the work, but hey, what do I know, right? He argued quite a bit that all was well with everything with his work. Even said it was checked with a thread gauge. Hmmm, maybe it was cut with the same setup.........
Borescope showed pits & voids inside the dies, especially the point up dies. Was told they didn't have to have mirror finishes (like my 22 & 6mm dies do), wasn't important.
Next phase of the saga:
Was asked to send everything back & it would be replaced, satisfaction guaranteed, even.
Months went by with more promises (mildly put), more emails that went unanswered for 6-8 weeks at a time, more excuses, etc, etc. Finally got a package in the mail & hey, some dies!!!
Cool, right? Wrong. Same stuff I sent back to the guy. Hadn't done a thing to anything. Was still even grit inside a few of them. Got a note that said he didn't care what the dies looked like inside, they made bullets. Kinda strange the sample he sent had been blasted just like the dies.
This last email from him said he didn't need my derogatory remarks & we were done. Obviously, customer care is #1 in this guy's book. Again, ugh.
Needless to say, lesson learned, albeit an expensive one. During this long process I learned that most likely this same individual had been previously indicted for fraud at one time, so guess it continues. Still selling stuff on ebay too, though no die sets I've seen lately.
Moral of the story is deal with very reputable folks (like we have here) & do your homework BEFORE you lay out that hard earned $$$. I know I will in the future.
Found a thread on this site from ages past that dealt with some shady practices evidently by this same individual. Alas, too late for me.
A couple pics:
First is the 50ft paint job
Now let's see those "threads"
Last, comparing to an inexpensive Lee die. Gee ma, don't see nuthin' the matter here.........