Has anyone here tried the Lead swage die from Dave Corbin? All you need is his die and a solid press.
To get started in the setup all you need is around 300bucks unless you want a custom peace, which is not needed.... unless you 1 like to pay more 2 competition shoot, or 3 hard to find lead bullets that work in your gun...

or, need a bullet that will shoot over 1400fps without leading...

To swage, bullets need to be a very soft alloy. Anything much harder than 1:40 will be fun to work.

Rich

the best thing i can think of about swaging is that it pushes out any air pockets from the lead.
so?
make cores for jacketed this way.
or make shaped profectiles for paper patching.
time consuming you bet but if you want the best time is what it takes.
I'll just cast mine and sort.

quote:

... or make shaped profectiles for paper patching.

I have done that. I found it too difficult to get the bullet shape from the mold so I made a sizer die with swaging capabilities to get the final shape, This allowed me to adjust the position of the taper position from the seating shank to the bore-ride section. Now all I require is an oversized casting. The swaging part comes from shaping the nose and creating the hollow point. The thing is, sizing a mold to produce the perfect bore-ride section is a bit challenging! Temperatures change, alloys change, tempo changes and so on. Now I can take a fired bullet and reform it and fire it again. Trouble is, WW needs a stronger press than I have but it does work.

I believe the hardening effects of rapid cooling are lost when lead alloys are swaged. I haven't tested for that.

my money says you will return the alloy to it's former hardness with the heat and pressure from the swaging process.
near pure with a small amount of tin is about all i'd wanna swage.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
my money says you will return the alloy to it's former hardness with the heat and pressure from the swaging process.
near pure with a small amount of tin is about all i'd wanna swage.

I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject. Currently looking at Dave Corbin's swage die for the reloading press.
Pro-Swage Die
The only problem on my end is, when its -20* outside, and I want to work in my shop....its not heated... I m thinking I m going to need to bring in some equipment this winter.
The cold temp.'s wont bother my swaging much will it? I m thinking it will. I can see my self busting something this winter because of the temp.'s we have been getting.
I have yet to email Mr. Corbins Swage die co. and see what they have to say on the topic.
On a side note, I m in a Machining class to get my associates in precision machining tech. Talked it over with my instructor and I m looking into making a press for the final project.
I have started a thread on the topic if anyone wants to jump into it and add there .02 or maybe learn something as well.
Thanks for your time and help!

-20 will change the grain structure of some steels,and make it brittle.
not sure about lead but the molecules gotta slow down like water does when it's that cold.
swaging is done under atmospheres of pressure,and heat is a byproduct of that.
if it will squeeze air from lead it's gotta be rearranging internal alloy structure also.
you may be able to use antimony alone or tin alone but i don't think both is a good idea.