First shot at swaging turned out pretty good

[nhecht25]

I used a .452 Swage-It die to form projectiles for my 20" Encore 460 S&W Mag barrel from 40 S&W brass.  I cut the 40 brass down to .632" and cast a 229 grain .372" core.  I finished with a 290 grain +/- 1 grain projectile that look pretty nice.  I haven't fired any yet but can't see why they won't shoot well.  Any thoughts/comments?


Nathan


P.S.  Andy at Hawk Bullets (who sells the Swage-It dies) has excellent customer service and responds to emails and calls very quick.  One of the big reasons why I chose to go this route for my first attempt at swaging. 

[MIBullets]

Hi Nathan,
They do look nice! A couple things you may want to check. Are the finished bullets full diameter at the base where the old case rim is? It looks like they did expand when swaged but without a measurement you don't know. Did you anneal the jacket before you swaged the core into it? That will help it expand up to diameter easier as well.
The swage-It dies are nice for making the semi-wadcutter design like yours, if you are looking to make a bullet where the jacket goes onto the ogive part of the bullet, CH-4D makes some reasonably priced dies for that, I think it is their 101 series of dies. They also make a 105 series that makes a bullet just like yours.
Good Luck, hope they shoot well for you!

[nhecht25]

MIBullets,


Thanks for the feedback.  I annealed the cases in the oven on the cleaning cycle as well a separate batch with a torch.  I didn't notice a difference in the effort required to swage either one of these cases.  They all expand out to .452 almost all the way to the base of the rim.  I originally looked into the CH-4D dies but was told they didn't have any 45 cal and wouldn't be making another run until spring.  This is what lead me to look into the swage-it dies and I think they will take a deer which is why I wanted to do this in the first place.  I'm thinking about the CH-4D 101 set for 30 cal which I've gathered some 5.7x28 for.  Any insight into this?


Thanks,


Nathan

[Flash]

Im curious about the dies and I can't find them on the Hawk web site. Care to share how you purchased them?

[nhecht25]

Flash,

Check out http://www.hawkbullets.com/swage-it.htm for info on his dies.  The pricing isn't accurate but I believe the rest of the information is.  Andy is a great guy and spent over an hour on the phone with me answering my questions.  It's definitely worth your time to call or email him.


(856) 299-2800
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. est.


info@hawkbullets.com

[MIBullets]

Nathan,
Sounds like you got it down. I have no doubt you could take a deer with those. As far as the 30 cals go, I have not personally used that case for a jacket, but I have read about others doing it successfully. They were making bullets in the 160 - 170 gr range. One thing about the CH 30 cal dies. I think the ogive is a little shorter, more like what you would see on a 30 Carbine bullet. Nothing wrong with that, but just wanted to make sure you knew that. You may be able to make a heavier bullet with that nose profile as well. What do you plan on shooting them in?
Sent you a PM also.