swaging round balls

does anyone know where I can get a tool for swaging round balls?
I have the one for swaging .44 halfjacketed and I have a spool of lead,about 25 lbs.
I would like .440 and/or .497 .

don't waste your time or money fox, the only one who sells the dies are corbin, and those dies are about 900$ without the press.

Dillon or Corbin?

Yep. Corbin.

http://www.corbins.com/bsk-1.htm

The hard part is the press.

Woof,, didnt think they were that much,, thanks for the warning lol.. Guess I'll be happy meltin and castin and swagin .44 Thanks again.
:thumbsup:

thanks stumpkiller mebby I should pass lol unless someone has gotten tired of theirs and wants to sell.

WOW! Who would guess those prices! Later! Geo. T.

Downright dePRESSING isn't it?

:grin:

I looked into Corbin once for swedging paper patch bullets.The only way I could see that anyone of average means could afford their stuff was if you were in the business of selling custom bullets and could write the equipment off.

I made a set years ago to try and "swag" off the sprues of cast balls. I don't think it is worth the cost . You would need to get precise die's which would cost A LOT! :idunno: :idunno:

Zonie said:

Downright dePRESSING isn't it?

:grin:

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He said "dePRESSING"... :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Okay, I tried to do a "Search" on the forum for what "Swaging" means before I posted this... wasn't able to identify a clear definition. For folks (Newbees) like myself, can someone explain what "swaging" means and the implications to either casting or purchasing RBs.

In this application “swaging” is a method by which projectiles are cold formed by the use of a press and dies. Simply put you take a piece of round lead stock (or wire) put it in a forming die and then press it to form a round ball. Swaging is also used to form bullets both jacketed or bare.

I think "swaging"means,,,,,, done by pressure or striking the object.
OBTW,, I have forgotten the swaging of round balls and will stick to casting lolol..
Thanks for all the replies.. Be well.. Fox.45.

Swaging is the act of forming a solid material into another shape using great pressure.

A blacksmith for instance uses a hammer. A steel mill uses huge rollers which the steel is squeezed between.

In the case of the swaging used to create a bullet or roundball (or a lot of other things) the solid lead wire is cut into precision lengths and the piece ends up in a two (or more) piece die.
This die is then squeezed closed by a press which deforms the lead (or whatever) into the shape of the die cavity.
The die then opens and the formed object is expelled.

With bullets/balls and similar items the machinery used by the major makers do all of this runs at such a high rate of speed that the swaged parts look almost like a stream coming out of the machine.

Most of the common lead bullets used by the big companies are produced this way and they are made by the thousands.

When the volume of the material is exactly right, the material will totally fill the cavity creating a solid product with no voids or spongy areas which can often be found in cast items.

Other things that swage a material include precison dies that the material is squeezed thru to reduce their size.
Bullet swaging dies that change the diameter for instance are commonly used by people who cast their bullets and the casting is too large or not precision enough will force the castings thru the die. This will squeeze the bullet down to an exact size and this process is also referred to as 'swaging' or for the less technical people, "sizing".

Awesome explanation... Thank you. I was trying to ascertain if this was something I need to be concerned about when purchasing RBs from different sources like TOTW or Hornaday etc..

Both Hornady and Speer provide swaged lead roundballs.

Both of them share something in common which I have never been able to figure out.

By rights, swaged balls or bullets should be exactly the same.

I have measured the weights of a large number of swaged bullets from both of these companies and those made by one of these companies weigh within less than 1/2 grain of the other bullets in the box.

That is what I would expect but when it comes to both companies swaged roundballs there is often more than 5 grains weight difference from the other balls in the same box.

Anyone who is good at casting their own lead balls can do better than that.

I haven't noticed a great difference in accuracy with these swaged balls but then, I'm not trying to shoot the little X out of the center of each target either.

Those people who are interested in one hole accuracy should weigh their Hornady or Speer swaged roundballs before using them.

Scots Jim said:

I looked into Corbin once for swedging paper patch bullets.The only way I could see that anyone of average means could afford their stuff was if you were in the business of selling custom bullets and could write the equipment off.

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not true at all, there are two corbin brothers. david who own and runs corbin swaging is the much, much more expensive of the two. his brother richard on the otherhand has his own shop and is a master die maker in his own right. he runs rceswaging. his die and press prices are considerably more reasonable. for instance i swage my long range pp bullets on richards walnut hill press, the press was about 500$ and a two piece die set was around 400$.

there is a consideration though, richard isn't interested in doing odd ball or experimental designs, while david corbin will litterally make anything you want... for a price. as an example the polisar brothers used to make and sell excellent hex withworth bullets from a corbin die set. the die was actually built around a hex mold made by peter dyson in england. once it was all said and done they had about 4K just in the die.

Yup, all true. Joe and Steve were very good to me when I contacted them a few years back about Whitworth bullets - they even sent me - FREE- a pack of 50 of their beautiful swaged bullets. I still have around twenty left. They stopped making them because they were not exactly a popular item, in spite of the fact that they shot like bench-rest bullets in my P-H Whitworth. I actually put five consecutive shots in under an inch, in pubic, one fine day. They could either be patched or nekkid, depending on the bore of your gun - mine liked 'em unpatched, but a genuine Whitworth may have like them patched. Again, the Polisars were generous with their help, bearing in mind that the shipping from Albuquerque to yUK would have tried the finances of a small nation.

Later on, Dave Corbin asked me if I was interested in buying the spare set-up off him at a good price. Sadly, the 'good price' was still the price of a good used family car, and I declined his kind offer.

BTW, for those interested, swaged ball here in UK costs about the same as individually-cast ball made from the gold of angel teeth - around $18-20/C. Like most, I cast my own, at around $10/M.

tac

Zonie said:

I haven't noticed a great difference in accuracy with these swaged balls but then, I'm not trying to shoot the little X out of the center of each target either.

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not sure why but ive found at least hornady balls seem to be more reliable then my own hand cast balls. even when weighed down to +/- 1 grain my balls still do not perform aswell. with hornady .490 balls my rifle will shoot average of 2-3" groups at 50 yards (depending on me). with hand cast .490 balls from my Lee mold that are weighed from 176-177 grains with all others culled, i will do 4-5" groups at 50 yards (again if i do my part).

i still havent figured out why my groups are changing. the balls are the same diameter (i measured with a micrometer). they are also the same average weight (hornady's are around 176.5-177.2 with 5 random samples). if any thing is different id say my cast balls tend to be a little lighter on average (176.1-176.5 is most common).

-matt