Hi Mbogo -



Interesting to read your comments on Richard's current preference to not make bump dies for "standard" loading presses. Well, there's always C-H/4D (at least so far).



As I quite commonly bump up bullets for more exact fit to my various rifles, I can honestly tell anyone that in my own experience, at the medium caliber bore level, I have not broken ANYTHING when using either the RCBS Rockchucker or my own RCBS A-3 press for the work. I DO use a proper lube on the bullets, but even there, I don't have to lube EVERY bullet...instead I lube about every 3rd one. Bumping .305" bullets up to .3082" does not feel as if it takes as much leverage as full-length re-sizing a .30-06 cartridge case. In another die, when I bump .308" bullets to .3146" there is still no more apparent pressure required.



One does have to be a bit religious about doing things in a set order, if they want to avoid problems. I gave a friend a set of Dave Corbin's dies for making 6 m/m bullets, and he very promptly stuck a bullet in the point form die so hard I had to send it back to Dave to safely remove the bullet. I had used that same set of dies for over 20 years with no problems at all. I don't know if he forgot to lube, or what, but I suspect that's what happened.



Anyway, there are all kinds of reasons to make one's own bullets either by swaging or by sizing-down. For one thing, if you shoot a lot, the dies will soon pay for themselves and you'll have the ability to still shoot your rifle if a company such as Woodleigh ever goes OUT of business. One thing you probably have noticed in the shooting game...there are VERY few companies that stay in business under the same name AND ownership for more than 10 years. Every time ownership changes, there is the possibility that some products will change considerably or become unavailable. If one owns his/her bullet source, that is "no sweat" for them.



Just because we are in "fat city" right now in terms of component availability does not mean we always will be. As the tide of change continues in the world, many things we take (took) for granted, like $1/gal gasoline, prove to be shifting, unreliable benchmarks of supply.



I have shot various British cartridges for many, many years, and well I remember when Kynoch/ICI originally folded their large caliber cartridge lines in the very early 60's. By the late 1960's-early 1970's, Jack Lott was selling some of his spare cases for over $1 apiece, and that was the equivalent of $10 each in today's money, for who-knows-how-many-times-fired hulls! (At the same time, he wrote me asking to buy several hundred of MY spares, and was offended that I wanted $0.40 each for mine. Well, I guess that's business...Needless to say, I didn't sell him any, as he still demanded $1+ each for the few I needed.)



Also, as others have noted here, bumping/sizing makes it possible to get weights, & construction of bullets & jackets not otherwise available,



Personally I recommend it for other reasons. 1) It's fun. 2) Experimenting with re-making bullets also makes you really learn the dimensions of your own rifle's bore, and what works well within.

If I lived where I could shoot weekly without having to take up nearly an entire Saturday to keep the trigger finger in shape, you bet I'd get one of Walnut Hill's swaging presses and start making all sorts of fun things. Come the day I find myself in possession of a .450 #2, I might do it anyway just so as to have a larger press to reload those beer bottle sized cases as well as squeeze wheelweights into paperpatched bullets. But . . . here in the suburban jungle, where the nearest range is an hour's drive away, my 100 rounds of .318 will probably be all I ever need (sob!) .