How to Use a Corbin S Press - A Thread Geared Toward Beginners

[ndwind]

So you should have thousands of rounds lined up come spring

over the last couple dyas a few hours at a time I did over 1300 BT hollow ogive cores! now I just have to decide how many I want as Xpunch and how many std hollow ogive HP.

 

[woogie_man]

I have all mine set aside right now... though I am playing with my printer and have a die holder modeled up in front of me. When my printer is done I am planning on getting the holder printed out to see if I did this right. There just isn't a decent way to keep them from rolling around and potentially damaging the pins.

I know NdWind uses tubing to protect his set, but of course I need to go with something different. And I don't like the idea of having them roll around on my desk or in a drawer. A solid block to hold the precious little guys

 

[ndwind]

I thought I would post some pics of the hollow ogive Xpunch slugs im doing on Corbin equipment. You will see the hollow ogive BT cores then Xpunched. When putting them trough the Xpunch die the BT gets shortened a bit. but when you run through the point form die it swages back to proper dimentions. Ill probably go shoot some this afternoon or tommorw. Likely tommorow I have to take the grandkids to Taekwondo this afternoon.
Pardon the photos nay not be in exact focus. Ive had plenty of coffee this morning already and trying to photo with a tablet! Oh and when making these be sure to label because when finished you can not tell the differnce from regular hollow ogive HP and Xpunch hollow ogive. outward appearence they look exactly the same.
I hope this is in keeping with the spirit of this thread.

 

[TRIPP]

@woogie_man As I stated before, I think it's best to use solid lead cores to swage. All that I have read in the Corbin literature suggests this. However, they do offer core molds where you can melt the lead flakes and sprue and cast them into cores. I've seen videos of guys swaging with cast cores in the S Press as well. Here's a link to the core mold. You just have to determine which size mold you need. I've also seen videos where folks have made their own core molds. Just as long as it produces solid lead cores that can be cut is what I think is important. https://www.corbins.com/shop/corbin-core-mold-516?page=4#attr=448

I have 2 different sizes of the corbin core molds. Its easy to adjust the weight to what ever weight slug you plan on swaging. I usually go 3 to 4 grains over witth the cores than the bullet or slug weight desired.. it makes for less lead going through the hole in the die, and less effort on the handle., but you need to see some lead coming out of the bleed hole in the die, so that enough pressure is created to consistently create slugs that weight within a tenth of a grain or 2 of weight chosen. The core mold allows you to not need lead rope, no cutting of lead wire, and your cores are new with no oxidation so are bright and shiny,, and also clean. You do need a source of pure lead, currently i pay about 80 cents a pound for pure lead, which is a pretty cheap price compared to a pound of lead wire. You still need a nice bottom pour lead pot, I use the RCBS digital temp bottom pour and modified it so that core mold would align underneath it. one quick tap of the lever controlling the bottom pour and enough lead hits the sprue plate channel/holes for the 4 cores in about a second. then i use a mallet to crack open sprue plate move it by hand so that all four core holes are showing than by hand raise a block on the bottom of the core mold to raise the cores out of the mold and I have the core mold positioned so that it is at a slight angle so that as I raise the cores up the fall into a box below the core mold. I then remove the now cooled amount of lead in the sprue plate and it goes into a steel tray underneath core mold. Corbin uses a ladle in the original instructions which I am sure that is all lead pots were at one time but my RCBS lead pot goes up to 850 degrees and shows the temp in a digital format. Using a ladle was super slow and your balancing a cup of hot molten lead in your hand and then pouring it into the sprue plate channel which guides the lead into the 4 holes. My current bottom pour set up is like 5 times faster and I can make about 16 cores a minute as I am making 4 cores per lead pour. Except now I have core mold set up so that my bottom pour sits above core mold and filling the core mold becomes easy and quick, then a quick tap with wood mallet on the sprue plate opens it up and then I push it way up by hand, raise block to eject cores, they fall into box below as they clear the top of the mold, then close sprue plate, and fill with bottom pour lever, which is almost instant. I can make about 900 cores an hour if I just fall into the rhythm of it all. I just had to be creative to be able to use my bottom pour in the channel on the sprue plate so I had to mount my lead pot on a shelf above the mold and then the shelf is on rollers so I can roll it back a couple of inches to make clearance to move the sprue plate open enough to allow all 4 cores to be rapidly pushed out and fall into a box below the core mold, then the sprue plate I close and then move lead pot into position with a smooth pull on the shelf, kindal like opening a drawer, but its just a couple of inches so the molten lead doesnt splash out of the pot, now the channel in the sprue plate is perfectly lined up where the lead will pour out once I move a lever on the lead pot to open the spout on the bottom pour. The lead on the bottom is very pure as contaminants usually are on top and using a ladle your going right through any junk on top. I periodically throw some sawdust or crayons on the top and then using a stainless spoon skim the top to remove contaminants until top looks like a mirror, molten lead looks like a mirror when its clean. I like the core molds as you can adjust the length of the core to whatever reasonable weight slug you wanted to swage, You siimply weigh the cores and adjust the mold until you arrive at the given weight you desire, about three grains heavier than the desired slug weight. Then you can really snug down the adjustment bolts so they dont move and change the weight of the cores as you make about 900 cores an hour. What I can tell you is that in no way is it as fun as actually shooting the slugs at a bird 120 yards away and hearing that THWACK, when the slug hits the bird an II see feathers ruffle and float in the air, and a bird body falling from the branch it was on! I am very much a fan of swaging and the Corbin quality and while I originally was lucky enough to work with Dave and to personally interview him, the new owners seem great and I can highly recommend Corbin swaging products if you want to get into swaging.

 

[BLADE]

One simple tip. Mount the handle on the left side of the press if your right handed.
Right hand does the fiddly stuff left hand stays on the handle. No need to let it go.
Speeds things up quite a bit.

Good-aye, I live in Queensland and would like to have a yarn with you about the c Corbin s-press I would like to purchase one and if it's possible get the lead wire here. Hope to hear from you kind regards Mike.