core seating

[drags]

I bought a set of bullet swaging dies with sierra jackets included, the core seating  die worked fine with the jackets that came with the dies. I purchased new sierra jackets (different lot) and when seating the cores they are coming out of the die on the punch, I was told they should stay in the die. My question is which way do I adjust the die so the bullets stay in the die, do I adjust the die down or do I screw it out? I think the jackets are lubed correctly.
Drags

[talon]

You may be using sloped wall jackets. If so, the punch is jaming against the interior wall after it goes in to a certain debth. The control factors here is to increase the length (weight) of the core, or to have another punch made to fit the level of the wall slope so you can make the bullet with the weight you are attempting now. Changing just the heigth of the die  or the debth of the punch won't result in a good fix. You will either have a bullet that does not meet diameter requirements ( usually .0005 less than full diameter) because not enough force is applied to expand the core, or a broken die when you force the punch beyound pressure limits. Sloped wall jackets have benefits when the bullet starts to expand in Mr Deer, but do limit your weight range options when you ' roll your own'. Experienced swagers usually have several different diameter seating punches for the same caliber for this reason. In some cases these punches even have a very slight rounded over edge rather than  a sharp edge. Strait wall jackets are much easier for the Swager to work with, in this regard, but are not as good performers when they expand UNLESS they are core bonded. This is a good subject to discust. Always check with the jacket seller to see if the things have sloped walls, as well as their length, nominal wall thickness at the lip, weight, and material used ( steel, copper, cartridge brass, bronze, etc).

[drags]

Hi Talon, both jackets used were sierra just different lots, also if the punch is jamming against the sides would I be able to see scrape marks on the inside of the jackets?
Drags

[talon]

Different lots could mean different design. Did you confirm thatyor new lot are  strait wall jackets?  Usually when the core is compressed by the punch the jacket expands and remains in the die when the external punch is withdrawn, and then is pushed out by the internal punch. If the external punch enters the jacket, and it's a strait wall (on the inside) jacket, there won't be any scrape marks, and little cause for getting itself stuck.  If the jacket walls slope on the inside, there will be a definate ridge of copper shaved off and resting on the top edge of the lead core. Usually the jacket is then stuck to the exterior punch in this case. You can unstick this jacket by using a small metal hammer and lightly tapping the jacket wall while slowly turning the punch/jacket. That will expand the brass ever so slightly allowing the jacket to drop free of the punch. The way you can check to see if the walls slope ( it's not really apparent, and few of us have adequate measurment tools for this) is to drop a " just fitting" core into the jacket... it should go all the way to the bottom. Remember, you are working with very close tolerances, and .0005" less than you need can be critical.

[Rick Teal]

When I find a seated core sticking to my punch when the die is lowered, its because I haven't set the punch deep enough.

When experimenting with the die/punch combo, I lube after each attempt that the seated core remains on the punch.  When the core is seated with enough pressure, the expanded jacket clutches the sides of the die and remains inside when the die is moved away from the punch.  Its then ejected from the die in th e normal manner.

I haven't had any experience with tapered jackets, but I'd expect that you should be able to determine whether any of your jackets are tapered quite easily.  If you can't get a caliper inside the jacket mouth, you could make a casting or something from a moderately maleable material.

[drags]

Hi Rick, if I understand you correctly you experiment with the amount of lube on the jacket first, if the jacket still comes  out of the die on the punch you then lower the die toward the punch.
Drags

[Rick Teal]

I just mentioned lubing first, because its very easy to forget this step when you're experimenting with the depth set for the punch.  What I do (lubing between each attempt) is little-by-little deepen the depth of the punch until the core is fully swaged and the punch extracts cleanly.  The first one you seat may look a little rough because of the number of times you re-insert it into the die.