Bullet stuck in point forming die

[LUP]

I'm sitting at the work bench the other night making .510 caliber bullets in an RCECO Multiswage Press with Walnut Hill Dies, when a bullet sticks in the point forming die. I work the press back and forth trying to get the bullet to unstick but to no avail.

It appears from the outside that I used an ejection punch that's the wrong length for the bullet jacket and the tip has formed around the eject punch. Now the die has the punch stuck in it. I can move the entire punch and formed bullet up and down in the die using the press but I'm unable to remove the punch or the bullet from the die.

Any thoughts on how to fix this? The jacket material on top has already failed and I can clearly see lead on the top section of the die.

Thanks,

[talon]

  As problems go in Swaging, this is the one most written about. If you have these books take a look at page 203 of Dave Corbin's "Rediscover Swaging" and page 56 0f "Volume 1" of the Corbin technical bulletins. After that, you can always call the maker and ask for his help. You are working with expensive dies and I wouldn't take " how to" advise from anyone who doesn't have a stake in your tools .

[LUP]

Thanks. I can always go to the maker if that doesn't work. My concern is that the instructions in those bulletins seem to be for a punch that's less stuck than the problem I'm having. I've tried working it back and forth like they say but it hasn't worked thusfar. A call to RCE may be in order to see if there's an obviously fix other than a return or a new setup.

[GREYGHOSTt]

have you removed the die from the press?
if so loosen the set screw and seperate the ejection pin from the pin holder.
now you have a die with a bullet in one end and the pin sticking out the other.
by removing the pin holder this will allow you to push the bullet out pin and all..
if this fails and the pin comes out through the base of the bullet pull it on thru.
now you have a predrilled hole in the problem
i use a 3 inch deck screw screwed in to the base of the bullet and just pull it out with a pair of vice grips.

[LUP]

That's pretty much what eventually happened.

First I created a short core which a ton of lube on it and used the press to force lube around the bullet. I then popped the short core out by shaking the die.

Next I used a piece of steel similar to the punch and forced the punch all the way through the bullet leaving a hole.

Once I had a hole formed, I reassembled the ejection punch and holder and the die. I then used the point form die to close of the lower end of bullet forming a new point and now that the bullet was lubed, it ejected normally instead of the punch getting stuck.

Don't panic! Just go slow and don't use anything that might hit the side of the polished die. That's a good way to ruin it fast.