What is swaging.

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thub

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I am curious about swaging, what is it and how is it done. I would like to know. Thanks very much
 
Swaging is for taking crimps out of the primer pocket in military brass. Basically the tool bends the primer picket of the brass into a reloadable spec. Therefore, the primer can be seated without crushing them. Multiple styles of tools are made to do this. RCBS manufactures both a bench top and press mounted swaging tools. Dillion also makes the super swage. I believe that RCBS somewhat copied Dillion's design. You can also cut out the crimp instead of swaging.

I may have misunderstood the OP.


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It depends on whether you're asking about swaging bullets, or swaging primer pockets. The above post describes primer pocket swaging, but bullet swaging is a little more complicated.

I swage bullets in .357", .400", .410", .429" and .452" diameters for handgun loading. Bullet swaging takes different dies, which can be expensive, and strong presses, again which can be expensive.

I'll see if I can find the thread we did a couple months ago on this subject for you.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
swaging is proving that given sufficient pressure, you can indeed put a square peg into a round hole.... the peg will, however, be round when it comes out the other end. :^)
 
Here is a bit more information about bullet swaging: The attached photo shows a set of custom made bullet swaging dies with some bullet jackets before forming, and finished bullets after core seating and swaging. The five shot group, fired at 100 yards with a varmint class rifle measures .056" and was shot at the International Benchrest Championships using hand swaged bullets. Commercially made popular brand jacketed bullets are mass produced by swaging but It takes extremely fine bullets to shoot groups like this and I do not know of any serious short range (100-200-300 yds) bench competitor that does not use bullets either hand swaged by himself or by someone who hand swages bullets to sell. Swaging dies like these shown here are quite expensive and require considerable knowhow and experience to use successfully.
 

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Companies like Hornady make swaged lead bullets. They use dead soft lead (or nearly that) and put it through a machine that mass produces the bullets without having to melt the lead, cool it down or deal with molds. Individuals can also use tools to swage lead into spent .22lr cases to make .223 bullets.
 
Swageing is a lot of work with expensive gear...
I've been bullet swageing since the 70's....
DM

So why do you do it DM?
Is it because it's paid for itself in 40 years?
Is it because you do it for odd calibers?
Or do you simply love "lot's of work with expensive gear" (probably the best answer)

Thanks.
 
Why do people collect stamps, or butterflies, or old cars?

I swage because I can, and because I like producing something special. When everyone is complaining about not being able to buy jacketed bullets for their handguns, I can make mine. When they complain because they can't find cast bullets at reasonable prices, I can cast mine. We do it because we can.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
So why do you do it DM?
Is it because it's paid for itself in 40 years?
Is it because you do it for odd calibers?
Or do you simply love "lot's of work with expensive gear" (probably the best answer)

Thanks.

First of all, the gear wasn't so expensive when i got into it, and Ted Smith (swage equipment mfg., the man who put the Corbon bros. in business) was a personal friend of mine, and that made it even easier to get the equipment i wanted.

Secondly, i designed some bullets and sold many thousands of them, recouping much of my investment.

Thirdly, i swage spl. bullets i designed for some of my custom guns, that you just can't buy any place.... Like this .257" "Keith" style bullet for my S&W "K" frame recolver, chambered in 25/20 WCF,

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I can take a spent shotgun primer apart, and use it for the jacket to make light 25cal. bullets...

AND there's many more things i do with my swage dies too.

DM
 
swaging is proving that given sufficient pressure, you can indeed put a square peg into a round hole.... the peg will, however, be round when it comes out the other end. :^)
My Gramps told me that to get a square peg into a round hole, ya gotta use a sharp blade. And maybe a big hammer.
 
Another BIG reason to use hand swaged bullets is that you can't win in short range benchrest competition without them. As stated in earlier post on this thread, I do not know of any serious short range bench competitor who does not use hand swaged bullets. There are some popular brand varmint and even target type bullets that are plenty accurate for the purpose they were intended but still don't compare with the best hand swaged bullets benchrest grade bullets. The one promising exception are Burger's 6mm BR Column bullets introduced last year. Weighing 64.2 grains, they were designed and made specially for short range benchrest and so far reports have been good. I have a few hundred sent for testing but haven't yet seriously worked with them so have no opinion. As with all bullets, the rubber will hit the road when and if they are used in big time bench tournaments like the SuperShoot. And win.
 
Another BIG reason to use hand swaged bullets is that you can't win in short range benchrest competition without them. As stated in earlier post on this thread, I do not know of any serious short range bench competitor who does not use hand swaged bullets. There are some popular brand varmint and even target type bullets that are plenty accurate for the purpose they were intended but still don't compare with the best hand swaged bullets benchrest grade bullets. The one promising exception are Burger's 6mm BR Column bullets introduced last year. Weighing 64.2 grains, they were designed and made specially for short range benchrest and so far reports have been good. I have a few hundred sent for testing but haven't yet seriously worked with them so have no opinion. As with all bullets, the rubber will hit the road when and if they are used in big time bench tournaments like the SuperShoot. And win.

I just want to add to your post, that BR quality bullets aren't coming from swage dies like Corbins... The BR quality dies are made to a much higher standard to give top BR quality bullets and cost even MORE because of it.

DM
 
Mr, DM, in his above post, is certainly correct about who can, and cannot, make swaging dies sufficiently precise to form benchrest quality bullets. In fact, swaging dies capable of making benchrest quality bullets have been made by such a scant few uber-craftsmen that you can count them on one hand. The dies shown in my original post were made by Simonson, with the other great names in die making being Detsch, Niemi and Rorschach. Of this small group I understand that Niemi is the only one currently active, so even used dies by the others are much sought after by serious bench shooters and accuracy specialists. Legendary die makers of the 1950's were Biehler & Astles. Now considered valuable collectors' items, B&A dies demonstrated the superiority of hand swaged bullets. A new set of top end swaging dies now costs upwards of three grand (The last time I bought a set) but even so there is always a waiting list. Which is why a good used set of dies by any of the above named makers will sell for very nearly as much as a new set. And even more if the dies have a reputation for producing winning bullets. I know an owner of one such set of exceptional dies who has repeatedly refused offers of $10,000, but he isn't about to part with them for any amount of money. Such attitudes are not the least bit unusual in the rarified atmosphere of tournament level benchrest competition, which is definitely not a poor man's game.
 
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