Hi Guys,
I gave kind of a short, directive answer and in reading it over, it seems a bit arrogant.
Here’s the deal. I just divorced a woman who sucked the financial life out of me for 17 years. There is so much I have wanted to do over the years that I was prevented from doing due to a lack of funds. Bullet swaging has been an interest of mine since the middle 1980’s. By that stage of my life, I was (financially) on my back with her knee on my neck. I finally scraped together enough for a Series II press, a RBTO4-6S s-die set, some floating punch holders, a magnum core cutter, 40 pounds of lead wire, 2000 J4 jackets and some chemicals.
I treasure this stuff. Had the money I spent on it not gone to Corbin, it would have gone to the Home Shopping Channel, Lane Bryant clothing to hang on unused exercise equipment, various restaurants and God knows what other crap. But it would have been gone. If they’re interested, my grandkids will be using this equipment some day. This stuff represents me getting a small bit of personal benefit and thanks for working my a** off for the better part of my adult life. For all the money that chick spent she has essentially nothing to show for it now.
This brings me back to my answer. From my perspective, I can’t imagine abusing a swage die. Maybe you guys have plenty of cash to experiment and re-invent the wheel (…hey, Corbin WAS right after all…) and if you do that’s cool. Knock yourself out. But I remember reading how the “barrel effect” in a swage die ruins bullets.
It works like this: Once the core seat die walls yield to pressure and become larger in diameter than the mouth, a “resizing” occurs upon ejection. The fatter middle section of the jacket with seated core must be squeezed down during ejection from the die. The lead core is essentially “dead soft” and the jacket is somewhat “live”. When the jacket “springs back” it separates slightly from the core.
Now, this happens to a very slight degree with all unbonded core/jacket combinations but in the case of the barrel-shaped core seat, the degree of separation is an un-engineered feature and can be so great that the core is allowed to slip around inside the finished bullet. This will allow for a variable center of gravity within the bullet and is probably not a desirable design feature. The only fix is a new die.
To conclude, when people start talking about bumping up slugs of unknown hardness (WW varies widely in BHN value) in something as marginally strong as an S die I feel like I should speak up. It’s just out of concern for preserving your equipment, not because I think I know everything. Lots of people who are trying things out don’t understand the risks involved. I’m often one of them. If I can keep someone from having to replace an expensive die by advising they start with the appropriate equipment, I’ll do it. In this case, use an h die.
Sincerely,
Paul
