[mgrace]

I have read where some people have Swagged (Bumped Up in Size) bullets they had that were smaller. Example was: .429 bullets to .45 of some odd sort, how well does this work?

I have a bunch of 7MM bullets in 2 or 3 weights and thought about bumping them up to .308, how hard would this be?

Would I need a heavier press or would the one that came in the Lee Anniversary kit work OK?

Also wondering could you swag WW lead bullets to different shapes/sizes using ones you have cast?


Thanks for any help you all can give.

Michael Grace

 

[Marshal Kane]

My understanding of the swagging process is that you need specialized tools to accomplish this. Swagging is used to produce almost pure lead handgun bullets from pellets of lead wire meant to be fired at moderate velocities.

Am not aware that swagging works well with cast W-W or jacketed bullets so if others will respond, it will be a learning experience for both of us.

 

[unclenick]

If the alloy isn't too hard, you can bump cast bullets up a couple of thousandths, but this is done in a lubrisizer inside a sizing die, and not on a loading press. As you say, it would take specialized dies for that, where a lubrisizer needs only the larger sizing die and the nose-form fitting top punch. I forget how the ram is set up to make the squeeze? I'd have to fiddle with my own to work it out. However, as I say, I don't recall it being done for more than a few thousandths.

I expect, with pistol bullets, if they aren't too hard, you could squeeze them out with a top punch and an arbor press, then run them through a Lee sizer on a loading press. Any bullet is going to lose some symmetry doing this, though. That may not much affect the accuracy for plinking or steel plates, but for precision target shooting it might be pretty bad to do more than a thousandth or two. For rifle bullets to jump from .285 to .309, I would expect distortion to make accuracy deteriorate badly.

What you can do is try paper patching those bullets. 0.024" is a lot of gap for a paper patch, but not out of the question. It might take five layers instead of the usual two to get enough paper wrapped around them, but if you do that, then dip them in Liquid Alox and run them through a .309" sizer, you've basically got a paper sabot. Whether it will drop off the bullet properly or not is not clear to me, but you could give it a try?

 

[wildhobbybobby]

If you have a bunch of those 7mm bullets, post them for sale and buy what you need with the proceeds. Less muss, less fuss.

 

[mgrace]

I found a bunch of info on swagging on these sites, thought I would post it here so other who might be interested could read it.

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_4-3_SwagBullets.htm

http://www.corbins.com/howto.htm

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=33476


Michael Grace