On the economics of making your own wire: It pays to look hard for a sorce of pure lead, such as lead pipe, cable sheathing, skirting and so forth. Wheelweights and anything that looks like it was remelted just leave. I get my scrap from a scrap metal yard at 25 cents/lb. The lady always references a listing of "market" prices, so I suspect this is what scrap lead goes for in most places. About 5% is lost during melting and casting into those 3/4"dx4" LED-1-H billets. You avoid postage fees, but spend gas money and electric in converting scrap into the wire. Your wire die set and your casting furnace costs a bit, too. Bottom line: your break even point is about 350# of wire, which is about 7 sessions of 40 minutes each at the press.
I only use the hydrolic press for making wire. Still use the old mity-mites, Series II, and manual mega-mite to make bullets and tube jackets (thou I haven't made any jackets since Butch came on the scene). I'm not in the mass production business, and like contindernut, am in the hobby for other reasons (I use this board as a sort of 'Swagers Anonymous'. Repeat after me: "I will not get any more swaging equiptment--today!"). You have to realize, too, that a powered H press makes a lot of noise and once in place, it stays there. It's foundation has to be very solid due to the weight and vibration. IE, do you have a garage? Is it comforable enough to work in during the hot summer and cold winter days and evenings? About repeatability: Yes, it does pay to have several Punch holders around (for the H presses they are a bit costly thou), but it is very difficult to remove a 'locked down' holder, and replace it in exactly the same position. But several spare holders saves a lot of time and makes final adjustment a lot more easier. You can quickly get so close to the original position that only scientific measurement can tell the difference. Still, I date, or lot mark each run of bullets. Donna, about using rings that have a set screw bearing on the die body: there should be a lead piece between the iron screw and the die. Often these fall out. If it's present, no harm to the die body will occur. One thing for sure, there's plenty of lead scraps laying around a swager's bench to make a piece for your lock ring if you need one..
