My home swaged 195gr 44mag humdingers (revisited)

I've been playing with my newly aquired CH4D 44 mag swage dies. Until I get a mold for heavier cores all I have to work with is some cast 125gr 9mm's....but it does turn out a nice 195gr bullet for some high velocity non-magnum loads.


Steps:
#1- once fired 40cal case
#2- trimmed down case
#3- case with core seated
#4- Partial swage, starting to form ogive
#5- extra brass on nose rolled over
#6- fully swaged bullet


Left - Standard 40 caliber case, Right - shape of base after the core is pressed in.

Yep, that little dimple in the primer pocket is swaged in by the hollow point forming punch. Using the swage die instead of the core seating die also leaves the edges of the case rim beveled. If there is a short cut that works well, I will usually find it.

I made these bullets only using the swage die and made no adjustments in between steps. Except I used the dished bottom core punch in a separate press to round the brass over on the nose.

The finished product.




I will be using 200gr load data to work up my loads...I'm guessing I'll be in the 12gr of unique ballpark.

Hawcer,
That is a fine looker you made there. Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
U.P.

Thanks man

It has to make you think ....does one really need a full die set or can one get off cheap by just ordering the swage die and the necessary punches?

Great Job Hawcer... For anything 44 mag and under, one die will do the job. 45 on up, unless you can find a case close to the finished diameter, but using the 40 cases, you will need both dies. That 40 case has to stretch like you would not believe to get to the diameter of the 45...

Can't wait to see more of your creations..

saweet great job, now if we could just get someone to makes some videos of how tos and explaining the process and materials needed

Might fine hawcer! I'm anxious to see how them babies fly .

brow_tines wrote:saweet great job, now if we could just get someone to makes some videos of how tos and explaining the process and materials needed

Dw has a bunch of good swaging vids....I was thinking of doing a short vid on these bullets.

i'll need a few of those to test in my tc lol they look great man...u use soft lead or ww ?? keep up the great work....bill

Nice hawcer Man I got to learn to do that

billarrington wrote:i'll need a few of those to test in my tc lol they look great man...u use soft lead or ww ?? keep up the great work....bill

As easy as they swaged, I'd say soft lead. I didn't cast them, So I don't know for sure.

way kewl job Hawcer .....

Lookin good.

They look awesome man!

Hughie wrote:Nice hawcer Man I got to learn to do that

Patience Padowan...In time...learn this you will

yea them are awsome i cant wait to get my swaging setup!

hawcer

Looks great. How are you bending the tips of the bullets? Are you using the core seating punch?

Uncleskippy

uncleskippy wrote:hawcer

Looks great. How are you bending the tips of the bullets? Are you using the core seating punch?

Uncleskippy

Yes, the punch that has the dished face(rounded inward). I put in the ram of a different press that has my 44mag expander die in it(Lyman). run the bullet up so the base will rest on the expander(mine has a steel expander with a flat bottom). Make sure the nose of the bullet is centered on the punch and apply light pressure....You'll feel a bump and that's as far as you need to go....it doesn't take much force. too much pressure will buckle the jacket.


Then back into the swaging die it goes for a full swage stroke. The hp top punch will force the lead up into the rounded over nose as well as finish forming the nose.

I must add, Daywalker gave me the idea of using the tooling this way to give lead tip hp's a more uniform rounded off look....

Thanks

I am revisiting this post with an update!

I cast up some 175gr 40cal lead cores to try to achieve a heavier grain bullet.
I made no adjustments to the hollow point top punch depth or the die lock ring/nut....but I did cheat a little and added a 1/8" shim under the lock ring. I don't know what it was originally for...but it came in a used 10mm RCBS die set that I use for reloading 40cal.

In theory I thought that as long as the top punch adjustment remained the same the nose of the bullet wouldn't be affected( hp depth or ogive radius), but the bullet should end up longer and of course heavier.

Instead of trimmed cases, I did some experimenting with full length 40cal cases.

Guess what? I ended up with bullets that look exactly like the 195gr bullets I made except they are 1/8" longer and weigh 252gr-255gr.

I can get the variances in bullet weight to a minimal later by making sure all the cores weigh the same and also separate the cases by weight. A little trick Dw told me about dropping in airgun pellets or lead shot to equal out the weight would also work.

I thought about making another Vid...but I feel it would be a repeat of the vid I already did....it's pretty much all the same steps....but with the added shim under the die lock ring.

More range testing to do in the near future

tell ya what i do when im making half and 3/4 jacketed bullets. I set my jacket in my scale and add the core in it. Lets say i want to make a 240 grain bullet and i have with my jacket and core 220 grains i just add bird shot to the bottom of the jacket cup and put my lead slug on top of it and add shot until i hit 240. then when i seat the core in my lead bullet die it squeezes it all together and i have a controlled weight bullet. I have also used lead that i have bleed off from swaging cores to make up the weight i'm looking for.

Nice job hawcer them look great I can't wait to get my stage dies I'm exited iv got a ton of good ideas Il share them on another tread don't want to high jack this one

Lets at least check out some pics of these new ones. You know we all here are just a bunch of johns wanting pics from the pimps!!!!


hehehehe......

Ok...I'll take a couple pics tonight.

Just a note:
Since this was just an experimental stage, I didn't bother cleaning out the brass and didn't anneal them either. I just grabbed whatever case I got my fingers on first out of the bucket of 40cal brass I have.

Winchester brass seems to form the best and Federal brass must be the most brittle because I had a few that would developed a small split in the case mouth while pre-forming the ogive. I had some Remington brass split too.

You know Hawcer, you saying that just reminded me. For the 44's, I did not anneal the cases. So the cases I sent you were not done in the Ultra Sonic cleaner. 40 case's to make 44mags do not need annealing at all therefor eliminating quite a few steps......

I agree with Winchester. I sorted all of mine. Winchester trimmed alot easier and was easier to work with...

I tested these( 255gr) out yesterday... They worked pretty well. From the bullets I recovered , it looks as though they will not have any problem in the penetration department ,but they only expanded out to the bottom of HP pocket. (the ones that expanded). I'll let you all be the judge when you see the vid.

I went to my little brothers to do the testing ... so I packed along a little extra fire power to have fun with.

we did take some video footage...which is kinda comical in a way. These tests were in no way scientific or "controlled". More or less, just a couple guys having fun. Once I get the footage edited and a vid made, I'll post for all to see. Hopefully I'll have it up tonight.