Making Jacketed Bullet Swaging Dies

1911MAN · Jun 21, 2009

This one is really for the tool & die makers out there I hope some of them are interested in gunsmithing since this appears to be the only forum I can start a thread on. I don't have the opporunity to get on this site as often but didn't there used to be a tool & die forum. OK to the point I have checked the sites of suppliers for swaging dies for jacketted bullets but not satisfied with what was available so I would like to attempt to make my own dies to swage the jacket, core and then join the two. I'm going to assume that making a reamer for the desired length and ogive would be easiest however I have never cut curves on a lathe and have no idea on how I would then cut the flutes in a mill on such a shape. If you reply keep in mind I have zero training or experience in tool & die work all of mine is gun smithing and an odd part or fixture I needed to make a job easier.

freakshow10mm · Jun 21, 2009

Corbin has a book on how to make swaging dies. It's out of print but book resellers have it at times.

Castboolits.gunloads.com has a swaging forum that has pics and experiences of guys making their own swaging dies. It doesn't seem that hard. You can grind a spoon yourself to form the bullet or buy a reamer made to your specs.

I've though about it and will be taking the plunge myself in the coming weeks.

1911MAN · Jun 21, 2009

Thank you for the info I'll check it out and let you know how well I do.

MrM4 · Jun 21, 2009

As someone who casts I understand everything takes time, but it would seem like to much effort ( for me) to take the "rollin' your own" jacketed rounds. Casting the core and then swaging the jacket and joining the two, and finally to the bench. :confused:

lots of tiem and work, I dont understand the benifit other then "hey guess what I can do" factor.

best of luck with it

deltaenterprizes · Jun 21, 2009

A big reason is the lack of commercially made products at this time. Do a search for .223 and .308 rifle bullets.

freakshow10mm · Jun 21, 2009

MrM4 said:
As someone who casts I understand everything takes time, but it would seem like to much effort ( for me) to take the "rollin' your own" jacketed rounds. Casting the core and then swaging the jacket and joining the two, and finally to the bench. lots of tiem and work, I dont understand the benifit other then "hey guess what I can do" factor.

best of luck with it

You can cast the core but I elect to buy lead wire and cut to length. Much easier and you don't need heat, etc as with casting. Cut the core to length, swage to uniform, seat in the jacket, then swage the bullet to form it. Much easier than casting. I used to cast commercially and swaging is a lot more fun and easier. Using .22 rimfire jackets to make .224 bullet means it costs me $25 to make 4,300 bullets.

xring · Jun 21, 2009

freakshow10mm said:
You can cast the core but I elect to buy lead wire and cut to length. Much easier and you don't need heat, etc as with casting. Cut the core to length, swage to uniform, seat in the jacket, then swage the bullet to form it. Much easier than casting. I used to cast commercially and swaging is a lot more fun and easier. Using .22 rimfire jackets to make .224 bullet means it costs me $25 to make 4,300 bullets.

Mind if I ask how accurate these bullets are and how the wire is accurately cut to length for a specific weight wanted? Thanks.
Bob

fouttyw · Jun 21, 2009

Video

freakshow10mm said:
You can cast the core but I elect to buy lead wire and cut to length. Much easier and you don't need heat, etc as with casting. Cut the core to length, swage to uniform, seat in the jacket, then swage the bullet to form it. Much easier than casting. I used to cast commercially and swaging is a lot more fun and easier. Using .22 rimfire jackets to make .224 bullet means it costs me $25 to make 4,300 bullets.

Anyone able to post a video of this process?

freakshow10mm · Jun 21, 2009

xring said:
Mind if I ask how accurate these bullets are and how the wire is accurately cut to length for a specific weight wanted? Thanks.
Bob

There are several core cutters on the market. The core swage die will make a perfect cylinder and has a bleed hole in the punch to bleed excess lead. This gives cores of uniform weight.

freakshow10mm · Jun 21, 2009

fouttyw said:
Anyone able to post a video of this process?

There's several diagrams on the Net. Google it or visit the swage die manufacturers.

Butch Lambert · Jun 21, 2009

Go to the EDM forum. Dies used by the competition bullet makers are burned with an EDM machine. The are made from carbide.
Butch

MrM4 · Jun 21, 2009

thanks for the explination Freakshow, I was about to go hit up the guys on glockpost about how its done. Im still well stocked on .223 and reloading componets but its the primers that is hard to come by as you know. Trying to feed my subguns and M16 is getting harder :bawling:

freakshow10mm · Jun 22, 2009

I don't think anyone on GP swages, at least currently. I'm banned over there so I haven't been there in a month or so. The Castboolits subforum for swaging is probably the best resource on a forum for swaging.

1911MAN · Jun 24, 2009

freakshow10mm thanks for the info on castboolits I jion the forum the other day lot of good info there.

JasperMc · Feb 27, 2013

Thought I'd throw this out there if you're wanting to make some dies. Could save a bit of machining .

http://www.midwayusa.com/find?userSearchQuery=PTG+Do+It+Yourself+Die+Blank

butchlambert · Feb 27, 2013

JasperMc,
It won't save anything. These are dieblanks for resizing. Bullet dies are a different story.

Anvil Jenkins · Feb 28, 2013

butchlambert said:
JasperMc,
It won't save anything. These are dieblanks for resizing. Bullet dies are a different story.

I suppose for $16 (for the most basic one) somebody or other might be able to use it for something, but 4140 would not be my pick for bullet swage dies or other dies used to make jacketed bullets.

speerchucker30x3 · Feb 28, 2013

I have made bullet making dies and I have bought bullet making dies. I have made gobs of bullets over the years and just so that you know. By the time you make dies or buy dies, get a source for jackets and lead, track down and buy some good Hollywood press's or go all out and make a couple hydraulic press's and screw up about 1000 bullets getting the hang of it. You begin to realize that you have to shoot about 10,000 bullets per year to recoup your expenses and you are still not making bullets any better than the manufactures are making on their chikinchit, modern, multimillion dollar equipment. The only bullets I ever made that I genuinely liked to shoot were made from used 22 LR casings for jackets when I could get wheel weights for free. I made a gang mold to cast my own cores. They were not to accurate, as memory serves after a lot of trial and error and practice within a half grain but they shot about an inch in my triple deuce which was good enough for gophers. They would go to peices if I shot them in my 22-250 and would not stabilize in my K Hornet. But I had to try it and it was a fun project. I think I gave away my last 3,000 jackets and dies to a friend and sold the press's. It was one of those $3,000 learning experiences.

moaprecision · Feb 28, 2013

Well Chucker, Your 10,000 bullets a year number won't faze many of the serious competition shooters out there. I shoot 3gun and action pistol, only at the local level, and typically am too busy to shoot more than one match per month in either discipline. I probably go through 3,000 rounds of .40 a year JUST IN MATCHES, not counting practice. Add to that the fact that most bullet manufacturers are quoting 6 month lead times on bullets ordered TODAY, and some of them are not even accepting orders until they get a handle on existing backorders, and makin your own starts to make sense. Not necessarily from a saving money point of view, but from a no-other-choice point of view. If you are not a tool and die maker type,and just want to buy ready made equipment, Corbins in White City, Oregon builds both hobby type and production grade bullet swaging stuff. Not cheap, but again, if it is the difference between shooting and not......
Oh I suppose I should add a link- Corbin Home Page
Contains lots of info so you get an education even if you don't buy their stuff.

kuraki556 · Feb 28, 2013

I've made my own dies, but, seeing castboolits swaging forum has lead me to change my design and to decide that I would build the swaging press from plans also in that forum.

I set up my derim die with a 4" air cylinder and an extra Lee press I wasn't using, so I can derim hundreds of cases an hour with little effort. If it wasn't for that little bit of automation I probably wouldn't be doing it.

25lbs of lead wire from Rotometals is $99 shipped. I paid $20 for 15,000 (estimated) .22 casings from a guy who collects them at an indoor range. Cost per projectile is going to be something like .03 cents, minus my time.

I reamed my point forming die with a spoon cutter, but will probably make a new 4 flute reamer for my new die set.

ETA: BTSniper is making and selling dies including boat tail dies at Castboolits. They seem to be highly regarded by the forum members.

Making Jacketed Bullet Swaging Dies

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Stainless

Aluminum

Plastic

Plastic

Aluminum

Aluminum

Titanium

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

butchlambert

Guest

Hot Rolled

Titanium

Aluminum

Cast Iron

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