Do shooters need lead wire for their swage kits?

[nielsenammo]

We have purchased our own lead wire extruder for our slug machines. We have more capacity than we need for our machines and wondering if people making their own slugs/pellets need lead wire.

We can extrude pure lead wire in these sizes: .166, 200, .222, .264, .327, .430, .470. I can have other dies/sizes made if there were enough people looking for a different size but this is the size I make our slugs with.

Looking to see if people are in need and also if they would need it spooled or wound like it comes off our machine. We of course would hand wind into a smaller box. Our machine is made with a special unwind that lays the wire in a pattern that will not allow it to tangle. You can see how it comes off our extruder machine in the picture below.

It would be a little cheaper if we not have to spool the wire and just lay into a box and protect it with foam or whatever we come up with while being shipped. We only spool for our automatic machines (we spool off the pallet from the wire like in picture) which pull wire off spools but for manual swaging I don't see a need but let me know.

 

[coffeepan]

Darn...I wish I lived near there. That lead wire makes slugs swaging more consistent than swaging from core mold. I bet that ain't cheap pallet

 

[nielsenammo]

We can sell the wire in small quantity for the hobbyist. We can also supply companies who need lead wire and we can alloy the lead too. Lead wire is hard to get these days.

Our wire is super clean, better than the wire we have been getting from our suppliers. We purchased an extruder that will have no air bubbles and makes very clean and shiny wire. That pallet is probably 600 pounds of wire. We have a new machine coming that will use the wire right off the pallet instead of spools so we purchased this type of unwinder to a pallet and then for our slug machines we will pull from the pallet onto spools.

 

[coffeepan]

That's exactly the problem that lead wire is really hard to get or it costs absolutely insane prices.


If you use a core mold for swaging, it's almost the same as in cast bullets, there can be air bubbles. Well, I've done well with casting. In the EU, it is almost impossible to get lead wire without a company, and the batches that are sold are large. We bought lead ingot from a metal company and the minimum batch was a ton.

Here is a very good opportunity for fellows in USA who are swaging their own slugs to get lead wire

 

[Peashooter]

Pretty sweet, but a kit for swaying your own are just a astronomical price here, so for me it would never be relevant.

A pressslug tool + matrice for .177 are 1900 USD, add to that a cutter that is 431 USD

Thats 2300 USD,,,,,, i can buy a lot of slugs for that price, or a damn nice airgun.

 

[trlrman]

what size box's 50-100 lb ?

 

[nielsenammo]

what size box's 50-100 lb ?

I have not figured that out, I am just seeing if shooters need it or not. If people do we can get a feel for what people need and make decision based on what works. I would think we would come up with one weight that fits inside a medium flat rate or large flat rate box so we can pre-package the wire. Also would allow us to calculate how many feet of wire to pull for that weight.

Max weight for flat rate is 70 pounds but that is very heavy. I would think 40-50 pound max.

 

[steve123]

Great to know you're doing this!

Darn I'd like to try your wire but because I bought 50 pounds of wire 2 months ago so I won't need anymore for quite some time. The wire I got from RM is not clean looking. I wipe it off with solvent but I always felt it could be cleaner and shinier looking.

 

[nielsenammo]

Great to know you're doing this!

Darn I'd like to try your wire but because I bought 50 pounds of wire 2 months ago so I won't need anymore for quite some time. The wire I got from RM is not clean looking. I wipe it off with solvent but I always felt it could be cleaner and shinier looking.

I just looked up RM pricing for wire. Is $7/ pound the price for their wire or did I do the math wrong? Our wire will be significantly less expensive than that.

 

[Ricochet]

Nick, it's easier to let you turn it into slugs. You can spend your time shooting, or you can spend your time doing something that someone else does better(making slugs). If time is $$ you do it cheaper.

 

[nielsenammo]

Nick, it's easier to let you turn it into slugs. You can spend your time shooting, or you can spend your time doing something that someone else does better(making slugs). If time is $$ you do it cheaper.

It does not take my time away, we are here working either way. I know people have Corbin set ups and other swage kits and they probably paying a lot for the lead wire. We are seeing if people need/want wire. We can probably offer it quite a bit cheaper since buying directly from the extruder and it becomes a small profit center to help pay for our extruder which I see as a win win. I have to look at actual costs but if the price I think RM is for wire we will be around half that price if I don't have to spool it. Even if we do spool it will only add a small amount.

 

[trlrman]

put me on the yes list

 

[nielsenammo]

put me on the yes list

What diameter wire would you need?
In your opinion what is the weight you would want to purchase at a time? 20, 25, 40? I would make it and have it pre-packed ready to ship in standard weights for example 25 pounds.
Would you want it on a spool or wound in a box? Spool would add the cost of the spool and little bit for the time to spool them all up. I just need to see how people are either buying it now or how they would want to buy it.

 

[Franklink]

Cool option for the swagers.

The mold company, NOE, is going to start making swage dies. If their swaging dies are as reasonably priced as their molds for casting, there'll be alot more folks in the market for lead wire.

 

[trlrman]

What diameter wire would you need?
In your opinion what is the weight you would want to purchase at a time? 20, 25, 40? I would make it and have it pre-packed ready to ship in standard weights for example 25 pounds.
Would you want it on a spool or wound in a box? Spool would add the cost of the spool and little bit for the time to spool them all up. I just need to see how people are either buying it now or how they would want to buy it.

.200 ,.222, .264, .430
25lb would work on the small stuff but 40-50lb on the .430 . Box would be fine .

 

[thomasair]

I swage about 50lb per month. I would like to buy some. The problem I see for me is that .166 is too small and .200 is probably too large. I use .188 now. My slug is a boattail and I think .200 will not likely fit inside the tail punch which will make it difficult. For me .188 works perfectly.

Mike

 

[scoutscope]

I can speak for two families that would like to set up their Corbin press to switch 25 caliber slugs. We would like soft lead wire and have no need for it to be spooled

 

[Deleted 45061]

That is awesome. Thanks for making us consumers aware. I'll have to look into that.

 

[nielsenammo]

I swage about 50lb per month. I would like to buy some. The problem I see for me is that .166 is too small and .200 is probably too large. I use .188 now. My slug is a boattail and I think .200 will not likely fit inside the tail punch which will make it difficult. For me .188 works perfectly.

Mike

I used to make 22 cal slugs with .168 grain but switched to .200 wire for them. I switched to 200 because when you run at high speeds (8500/hr) you break more nose punches if the wire is too small. In a Corbin die .168 have worked just fine for us in 22 cal.

We may need to offer some inexpensive sample amount like one pound or something so people can try in their dies.

 

[CBuasri]

That's great that you live about 2.5 hours from KC,MO.
I would buy few hundred pounds and just drive down to pick it up instead of shipping .