Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al - HandLoader Forum swage dies and case forming

I was able to spend some time in the shop last weekend and thought some folks here might be interested in a couple of the projects repairing a .44 bullet swaging die and making some cases for the long obsolete 351 WSL.

I've been interested in swaging for many years, found a deal on a die needing repair on ebay and now I officially own my first swaging die. The previous owner tried to weld (poorly) to fix a broken top punch. Everything else was in good shape and came with two bottom punches, one for a SWC HP and one for a wadcutter with a bleed hole.



had a piece of 1/2" O-1 drill rod that was perfect for this project. Spent a long time whittling down the end that goes through the cap, did the unusual shallow threading to match the original, and then moved on to the business end, where dimensions became a little more critical.



original was.4275, I took the new one to .428 for a little tighter fit.





parted it off and then faced and polished the end



It all went back together well and now I just have to cut some 40 brass down to size and see how it works.








On to the brass.
I've done this conversion on 357 max brass, but the DW brass is much cheaper than the the former so i wanted to give it a whirl. also less case length to trim. Once I get everything setup its a pretty fast process, probably about a case every minute, maybe even a little less.

I like using a collet so i dont mark up the cases and it makes changeoput faster too. I use a 1/2' tool blank to set the rim the same location for each piece.



I ground a form tool that will trim the rim diameter, thickness and cut the relief for the extractor. I set the depth with the tool to the right of the workpiece and as i run the carriage in it trims the rim to the correct diameter. I run the carriage to a "stop" point that will both trim the rim thickness and remove the burr i just rolled up from cutting the diameter and i run the crossslide in until the form tool cuts the proper relief.



I give them a quick deburr/ chamfer with a file and move on to the next. i only did twelve so i ahve enough to run a load test, but will get back in and run 50-100 while i have everything setup.

Bet you feel like Phil Sharpe Everytime you make a case I bet. Nice work.

That’s awesome.

Great work!