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  • 8 Post By SixtyTen

Thread: Making a Swaging Press

  1. #1
    Member SixtyTen's Avatar
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    Making a Swaging Press

    Hi Everyone,

    I have started work on building a swaging press over the last few days.

    Based on this idea here Lets make a Swage press

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    I have always wanted to play around with swaged bullets and I have a couple of projects on the go that I want to make some heavy for caliber lead projectiles for.

    I may also have a go at making .223 projectiles from 22lr brass but I already have a few thousand 62gr projectiles so probably wont for a while.

    My main plan is to use it to make unusual projectiles I cant otherwise buy. For example a 9mm 250gr flat nose bore rider so it can be chambered in a standard .357 Sig chamber and not have to be seated deep into the case.

    I have experimented with making the dies and have been somewhat successful, so now that I know I will be able to make dies for it, Im making a press.

    This thing is all heavy steel and is about at the limit of what my machines can handle easily, I started cutting everything to rough size a while ago and have since moved house and setup a new workshop.

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    Im using Chinesium hardened ground shafting for the guide rods and a length of 4140 steel purchased from Homebrew.357 for the central ram.
    It turns out the shafting is not hardened at all, which actually makes my job easier.


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    Only just fits in the bandsaw. I had to flip it over to get the whole way through and use a small fan to cool the motor.


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    I made the top and bottom plates and drilled and tapped each end of the guide rods and did a quick assembly

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    I was planning to use proper bronze bushes but it was going to add up to about $120 for what I needed. Then corona happened and im working on this in lockdown, so I decided to just make the bushes from brass i can always replace them if they wear out in the future.



    Ill keep you all updated.

  2. #2
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    Looking good so far. I built one some years ago, made a few dies, swaged some 357 projectiles out of 9mm brass, made a de-rimming die for 22lr brass and that's about where it stopped due to to many other projects, one day I hope to get bake to it.

    Sent from my INE-LX2 using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    another awesome job here!

  4. #4
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    Looking good. I build the same press a while ago. Its HUGE!

  5. #5
    Member sometimes1's Avatar
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    Some awesome gear it that workshop cool work on the project to

  6. #6
    Fulla
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    mean! what blade you use on bandsaw? I did something silly and broke my 10- 14 the other day, waiting for lockdown to finish so I can get another.

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    So you can't stage on a normal press? Are they too weak?

  8. #8
    Member SixtyTen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Friwi View Post
    So you can't stage on a normal press? Are they too weak?
    You can do some swaging on good quality reloading presses but only small caliber easy stuff. Forget trying it with something like a lee press. For working on larger stuff, you need a stronger press. Plus all the dies are designed for this type of press and wont work on a normal reloading press.

    This design has a reloading mode (longer stroke than the swaging mode and add a case holder adaptor to the ram) So I will be able to use it for that if whatever im loading wont fit in my lee.
    This design is overkill, it could be about 20% smaller and still have enough travel and power for swaging but the other guys that have built this design seem happy with it, so I just copied the plans and converted them to metric. Plus I had a lot of the steel on hand already.

  9. #9
    Member SixtyTen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bully View Post
    mean! what blade you use on bandsaw? I did something silly and broke my 10- 14 the other day, waiting for lockdown to finish so I can get another.
    Im not sure the tooth count. Quite possibly a 10-14, its certainly not a fine blade. I always buy good quality Starrett blades and always have at least one brand new one on hand for when they break, though I havnt managed to break one since starting to buy Starretts. I run the saw on the slowest setting, and use plenty of cutting oil. A blade can last a very long time like this. Once I start having to add weights to the head of the saw to get it to cut, I change the blade.
    Do you have a tig welder? if so, you can rig up a jig to tack the blade back together and then grind it smooth. I have done that at work a couple of times if we get caught short. Its not great but it will keep you cutting for a while longer.

  10. #10
    Fulla
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    Quote Originally Posted by SixtyTen View Post
    Im not sure the tooth count. Quite possibly a 10-14, its certainly not a fine blade. I always buy good quality Starrett blades and always have at least one brand new one on hand for when they break, though I havnt managed to break one since starting to buy Starretts. I run the saw on the slowest setting, and use plenty of cutting oil. A blade can last a very long time like this. Once I start having to add weights to the head of the saw to get it to cut, I change the blade.
    Do you have a tig welder? if so, you can rig up a jig to tack the blade back together and then grind it smooth. I have done that at work a couple of times if we get caught short. Its not great but it will keep you cutting for a while longer.
    I do have a tig, and was thinking of having a go. I do have a spear 18tpi blade, so havnt tried the tig. did you chamfer then tig with filler ? what does the jig do? just hold it together and flat?

 

 

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