Help a newbie understand swaging options?

[MrP]

Ok. So I have been trying to learn about swaging. Basically you apply pressure to a mold to deform a bit of lead into a bullet shape. 


I read that you can do this with just a vice and a hammer. No need for an expensive press. Apparently some guns used to come with swaging dies so you could beat a piece of lead into shape with a hammer and the die. 

So, where would one find such a die in .25 caliber? I guess you’d also need a mold to cast little cylinders of lead to put into the die? Or can you pour molten lead in and then hammer?



thanks for any guidance you are able to offer. 

 

[mtnGhost]

Read everything on this website: http://www.corbins.com/

 

[MrP]

Seems they are focused on presses. But I have read about dies that you can use a hammer with. So an ordinary guy can crank out one or two slugs when they need to. Not looking to mass produce anything.

Anyone know of any resources related to dies with which you can use a hammer or mallet to generate the pressure? Someone in England was selling one but they are not producing right now.

 

[kezselby]

This is the swage I will be using in the future. It comes with a 2 different noses (Hollow-Point / Round-Nose) and 2 different punches (Dish / Dimple)

The slugs will not be as high quality as a Corbin press that’s for sure. Especially if you use this setup with a hammer rather than an arbor press for example. It should do the job if your not wanting to produce a load of slugs.

I will be upgrading to a Corbin setup at some stage but for now it should do the job. The slugs produced are SWC style which have a slightly lower BC and the guns they’re shot out of need to be fairly powerful, as in my past experience with these style slugs, the longer the better.

Drop me a PM and I can give you the contact details for the guy who makes them

Couple of videos from the guy who makes them:

https://youtu.be/Cv9F-RqlR9Q

https://youtu.be/6LVE_thtJ1k

 

[Yo]

The ones I tried a while ago IIRC were either from Terry Robb or JoeYoung and didn't get any sort of decent accuracy results which started like how you want with the pounding with the hammer then integrated it to my RCBS 50 BMG press still no luck and called it quits and donated it since I couldn't in good conscious sell it. Good Luck. Yo!

 

[MrP]

Thanks that’s good to know. I plan to try some casting this weekend in the meanwhile. Been shooting more than I used to and for some reason it kind of stresses me out wasting all this lead. So I’m determined to make some new slugs from the pellets I have recovered. Should be interesting as this is not something I’ve tried before. 

 

[Yo]

PLEASE Wear proper breathing protection. Yo!

 

[MrP]

I need to do some research. Plan to melt and clean the lead outside if it isn’t raining. Thanks for the heads up on breathing protection, yo. I have no idea what I’m doing - mold arriving tomorrow. I need to put a plan of action together here, starting with some YouTube videos on casting if I can find some good ones. 


I don’t want to be stupid but don’t feel like buying a specialized lead melting pot. Been spending way too much on pellets and other stuff... I saw one “how to” using a blowtorch and small cast iron skillet. Good idea or recipe for disaster?

 

[Yo]

Are you ok with dying earlier than your normal time? Single no kids? Yo!

 

[MrP]

Casting leads to an early grave?

 

[Yo]

Check out them fishing forums lookup casting lead sinkers. I figure lead is lead and carbon monoxide is an odorless tasteless gas that no mask can protect. Do it outdoors well ventilated follow all proper safe handling lead melting procedures but still I wouldn't wanna find out. You're quite welcomed to though. I have a classmate worked with paint as a professional who always used full on proper protection all the time and less than 10 years later he's totally screwed kidney failure suffering daily doctors diagnosed from exposure to the toxicity of the paint he mixed daily. Lead is not paint so it's all up to you. Single? No wife no kids? Yo!

 

[MrP]

Not single. Have kid.


Your precautions are appreciated, yo. Didn’t know about fishing weight casting - thanks for that tip for finding safety precautions. 


I have lab experience - have handled much nastier stuff than lead as part of my work. Casting seems like a dangerous thing to do regularly. I will have to think about this carefully. 

 

[TrinityMaker]

So let me give you some clarity about lead casting..... It's safe if you follow proper safety precautions. If you're casting slugs in a mold, you're going to want a Lee lead pot with the bottom pour spout. Lead is very dense, so all the impurities will rise to the top. You can easily scrape them off with a steel spoon. But position a small fan to blow the fumes away from you. And do it in a well ventilated area. I cast in my garage at home. I open the big roll up garage door, then open the side door in the garage. This creates the conditions for wind flow. And I use a small fan on top of that to ensure all fumes are blown away from me. You can wear a mask for extra precaution, but I don't. I'm confident that there are zero fumes hitting my face.

I recommend using pure lead. I bought mine from rotometals on Amazon. Pure lead is temperamental. Way more so than alloy blends. If you're using a Lee lead pot, you only need to go to 3 or 3.5 on the heat setting. If you go too hot with pure lead it starts to crystallize and crust on the top. But pure lead is very malleable and soft. It will conform beautifully to the lands and grooves of your barrel. 

But don't be scared to cast your own slugs. The piece of advice I would give you is buy the proper tools to do it correctly. Unless you're casting big bore slugs that weigh over a hundred grains, you'll find the task of trying to use a ladle to pour the slugs frustrating and inefficient. You definitely want to use the Lee pot with the down spout. I have LOTS of experience with this. So does jwrabbit123. As a matter of fact, he probably owns more molds than anyone on here. He would be a great person to seek advice or chime in on this thread. 

Not to discredit Yo. I like Yo. And his concerns are legitimate. You just need to exercise precaution when working with lead. Before I got into air rifles, I was into fishing (and I still am). To this day I cast my own fishing weights. I have many different molds. I'm still here, and I've been doing it for 15 years now. But I've ALWAYS heeded the warnings, and gone out of my way to avoid inhalation of lead fumes. 

 

[MrP]

well, this just arrived. I am told these slugs work very well in .25 LW barrel 


as soon as i figure out how to pour some lead without messing myself up, I may just try pouring a few. I imagine if I carefully melted some recovered h and n slugs or jsb pellets, they would be close to pure lead I think? Those pellets are super soft.


When we next have a clear day, I may just bust out some lab supplies and try pouring a little lead. this is something I would not do indoors.


I don’t plant to cast bullets as a way of life - I just like the idea of not having to rely on mail ordered pellets if I ever need something to shoot and don’t have a tin on hand.

 

[TrinityMaker]

I have that mold. I've poured over 1000 slugs from it. I have some advice on getting the most consistent pours and the best way to maintain the longevity of the mold. But before I waste a bunch of time typing it in, I need to know you're interested. 

 

[MrP]

Absolutely. All ears. Or eyes. Hit me with some knowledge!!


any tips about lubrication? Came with a bottle of lubricant.


also - how much force does it take to shear the sprue plate off after pouring?