HOW DO YOU SWAGE BULLETS?
.he CHAPTER 1 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
HOW DO YOU SWAGE BULLETS?
There are five different ways to swage bullets
today. You can
use:
(1) A POUND DIE
(2) A RELOADING PRESS
(3) The CORBIN
MITY MITE PRESS
(4) The CORBIN MEGA MITE PRESS
(5) The CORBIN HYDRO-PRESS
Each of the five methods has certain advantages. The pound die
requires no press, but
instead, uses a mallet. It is somewhat lower in
cost because you do not need to purchase a
press, but it is much slower
to use and doesn’t produce jacketed bullets. It is ideal for
swaging
large caliber lead bullets, and is often selected by replica black-
powder
rifle shooters who wish to use an authentic reproduction of the
earliest form of swaging die
(from the 1890’s).
The reloading press system is economical since most handloaders
already own a suitable reloading press. It is limited to smaller rifle
calibers (from .257 to
.224) and medium handgun calibers (from .357 to
.25 ACP) because of the inherent weakness of
the slotted ram. There
are certain design restrictions imposed on this system by the press,
so
it is not ideal for special work or custom calibers. Corbin makes
standard calibers
and shapes only, in this system. The cost is thus
kept low for the quality. Speed is greater
than the pound die but less
than the other, special swaging systems.
The Corbin Mity
Mite system uses a special horizontal ram press
with more power than any reloading press
built. It is much faster than
a reloading press since it ejects the bullet automatically on
the back
stroke. The dies for this system, and the matching punches, do not
interchange with the reloading press system. They are made to fit into
the RAM of the press,
instead of the press head. Calibers from .14 to
.458, tubing jackets with walls of up to
.030-inch thickness, and
weights up to 450 grains, can all be swaged with the Mity Mite.
Custom
work is done in this system.
The Corbin Mega Mite system is based on a massive
machined steel
press that can handle both reloading and bullet swaging. It can accept
ANY of the Corbin dies, including those for the Hydro-press. This
ability to interchange
various kinds of dies can be important to some
owners. However, there are limits to any
hand-powered press. The
amount of force the Mega Mite produces is awesome, but still less
than
required for certain large caliber, heavy-jacketed production work.
The Corbin
Hydro-press system is the ultimate in bullet
manufacturing today. It features automatic
stroke and pressure
control, electronic sensors and timing, programmable stroke control,
for custom bullet
firms around the world. Any caliber from 20mm cannon
to a 10 gauge shotgun slug can be
swaged, in virtually unlimited weight
or style. Solid brass or copper rod can be formed
instantly into
bullets of higher precision than lathe turning. Lead wire can be
extruded like toothpaste. And the press adapts easily to standard
reloading dies for the
convenience of automatic sizing and seating.
Any of the various swaging systems use the
principle that cold
metal will flow under sufficient pressure and take on the shape of the
vessel holding that pressure. The swage die is a very strong, highly
finished vessel
for containing the pressure. You swage the bullet in
all these systems by driving a punch
against the material while it is
held within the confines of the die cavity. Upward expansion
from the
internal pressure created is the key factor in forming the bullets.
Reduction
in diameter is called "drawing". Remember, swaging always
expands the bullet or
material upward in diameter.
Drawing dies are used to reduce the diameter of an object, such
as
a bullet or a piece of copper tubing or a jacket. They differ from
swaging dies, in
that the drawing die has an open top and only one
punch is used. The component is pressed
through the die and out the
top. In passing through a hardened constriction, it becomes
smaller.
Drawing has serious restrictions when applied to finished bullets, and
can
only be used for very limited amounts of reduction. But for
reforming jackets and making
copper tubing into jackets, it is a
valuable tool.
If you try to put a piece of lead or
a jacket into a die that has
a smaller diameter of cavity, the material will be forced down
in size
and will exert a strong pressure against the sides of the die. When
the
pressure is relieved, by ejecting the component, the material may
exert a certain amount of
springiness, and become slightly larger than
the die cavity. In making swage dies, the
die-makers have to contend
with the various amounts of spring-back in different hardnesses of
jackets, different thicknesses of jacket wall, and other factors. The
die itself is
normally a different diameter from the actual finished
bullet that comes out of it.
What this means to you as a potential bullet-maker, is that you
should NEVER try to force
anything into a swage die. If it won’t fit
easily, don’t push it in. At best, it will make
the wrong diameter of
bullet. But generally, it will stick fast in the die and require
special techniques to remove. And at worst, it can generate enough
pressure to break the
die!
In the following chapters, we’ll discuss the various methods of
making bullets in
more detail, one system at a time. Bear in mind that
there are hundreds of possible
variations on the techniques, depending
on what you want to make. It would be impossible to
send this manual
to you by mail if every style of bullet were to be described detail,
with each step required to make it. We have to give you the basics of
making two or three
styles, and refer you to the more detailed
technical books for advanced techniques.
It
is far more important for you to understand the principle
differences between lead bullet
swaging, semi-wadcutter (and jacketed
wadcutter) styles of swaging, and the styles that bring
the jacket into
the nose curve or ogive portion of the bullet. These three basic kinds
of bullets form the basis for everything else. If you understand how
to make them, then
variations such as rebated boattails, liquid-filled
internal cavities, partitions, and other
advanced designs are fairly
simple to pick up. They aren’t different: they just expand a bit
.he CHAPTER 2 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
MAKING
THE LEAD CORES
The two main components that go into most bullets are the lead
f
illing, or core, and the outer skin, or jacket. We’ll talk about
jackets in the next chapter
. Right now, let’s make some cores.
There are two main sources for lead cores. You can purcha
se a
spool of lead wire in the proper diameter, along with a core cutter,
and chop of
f accurately-measured lengths. Corbin has lead wire in pure
175,000 grain spools (LW-25), an
d the PCS-1 Precision Core Cutter to
cut them. The core cutter has an adjustable stop screw
that adjusts
the amount of lead cut on each stroke of the tool.
The second source is
your own supply of scrap lead, the same as
you might use for bullet casting. Corbin makes a
4-cavity, adjustable
weight core mould that mounts to the reloading bench. You don’t have
precision fitted to fou
r cylinders, slide up and down to eject the
cores. The bottom position is set by a rest plat
e. This steel plate
rests on a pair of nuts, fastened to two threaded rods at either end of
the mould.
Adjusting the nuts upward decreases the volume in the cylinders,
an
d gives you a lighter core. Pouring molten lead into the top of the
mould fills all four cav
ities. Moving a long sprue cutter chops off
the lead at the top of the cavities, leaving eve
n lengths of lead to be
ejected straight up from the cylinders. The process is very fast,
Lead wire can also be manufa
ctured at home. Corbin makes a lead
wire extruder kit for the Hydro-press, capable of making
lengths of
lead wire from lead billets. Lead wire can be extruded in special
shapes,
as well, for use in stained glass work or as hollow tubing used
for fishing sinker wire. Th
e LED-1 Lead Extruder Die set comes with a
selection of popular diameters of interchangeable
dies, all of which
fit into a master body. Included with the kit are billet mould tubes
special forms can be
the basis of additional income for the Hydro-press
owner. Hand presses do not have sufficien
t stroke or power for
commercial lead wire extrusion.
Small diameter lead wire for th
e sub-calibers (.14, .17, and .20)
can be produced in the Corbin hand presses with the LED-2
extruder kit.
Only relatively short lengths are made at one time, but they are very
economical sources of cores for the tiny sub-caliber bullets.
For those who wish to make com
mercial quantities of lead wire,
Corbin manufactures the EX-10 lead wire extruder, a dedicat
ed, single-
purpose machine to produce any size or shape of lead wire in 10 pound
spoo
ls. The EX-10 uses lead billets of 2-inch diameter, which can be
cast using Corbin’s tube mo
ulds. Write for specific information on
this product.
Lead wire for bullet cores can b
e used in two ways, and the
diameter depends on what way you plan to use it. You can simply
swage
the lead into a finished bullet, with no jacket. In that case, the
lead only ha
s to slip easily into the smallest die bore in the set you
are using. Dies made only for lea
d bullets are at final diameter of
the bullet, and consequently your lead core should be jus
t a little
under bullet diameter.
If the lead is too small in diameter, it will stick
out the die
mouth before you have enough of it to make the weight you desire. That
is
a situation to avoid — never apply any pressure to a component that
isn’t completely conta
ined within the die. The punch will probably
slip off to one side and be damaged by striking
the mouth of the die.
The exact diameter isn’t important as long as the core fits into the
die easily and doesn’t stick out the die mouth.
But if you want to make a jacketed bul
let, then the core has to
fit inside the jacket (obviously!). You cannot start with a .357 <
br /> caliber lead bullet and somehow "put a jacket on it" to wind up with a
.357
caliber jacketed bullet. Instead, you use lead wire or a cast
core that fits inside the .38
jacket, and expand it upward in the die.
The lead pressure expands the jacket right along wi
th it, resulting in
a tight, uniform assembly.
The walls of a .357 or .38 caliber jac
ket are usually about .017
inches thick. There is a wall on both sides of the core, and the
jacket normally is made small enough so that it will work for .355
(9mm) as well as .
38 caliber. Bullet jackets are almost always
considerably smaller than the final bullet diam
eter so that they can be
expanded upward from core seating pressure.
This means that y
ou have a jacket with an outside diameter of
about 0.354 inches, minus two walls of 0.017 in
ches, for a remaining
inside diameter of about 0.320 inches. Better quality jackets have
inch core will fit
inside most .38/.357 caliber jackets properly.
But for higher precision, a die set for the C
orbin presses usually
includes a separate core swage die, which accepts the raw lead core an
d
reshapes it to a more perfect cylinder, flattens the ends nicely, and
expands the c
ore diameter very slightly in the process. The die also
extrudes a small amount of lead from
the core to adjust the weight.
Because of this extra die, it is necessary to use a bit small
er
diameter of core. A 0.312 inch lead core fits nicely into the standard
0.315 to 0.
318 inch core swage die, allowing for any bending or denting
that the core might receive in
handling. And that is how we arrive at
the proper diameter of lead wire to use for any set o
f dies, in any
caliber. For jacketed bullets, the core must fit into the jacket and
i
t must also fit easily into any core swage die that is part of the
set. For lead bullets, th
e core must at least fit into the final die
and not be so long that it sticks out the die mo
uth.
In the CM-4 Core Mould, six diameters cover most of the bullets
you might wish to
make. The .224 mould makes a core of about 0.185
inch diameter, which works well in the 6mm
and .25 as well as the 6.5mm
caliber. The .257 caliber mould crosses over slightly into the
.25 and
6.5mm caliber range, but since different jackets have different wall
thickne
ss, it is useful for thinner wall .25 jackets and thicker wall
.270 and 7mm jackets.
The standard 7mm jacket takes a 0.218 inch core, so a 7mm core
mould is made in that size. T
he .30 calibers all take a 0.250 inch
core, as do most of the .32 and .338 jackets. Heavy wa
lled tubing
jackets in large bores can use the same core size as a standard jacket
mi
ght in a smaller caliber. A pair of standard sizes cover the .38 and
the .44-45 calibers. Th
ese are 0.312 inch and 0.365 inch,
respectively. A slightly smaller size is made for the .41
caliber and
the .40 Bren 10 caliber.
Using the next smaller size normally serves quit
e well, without
the expense of having a custom mould built. However, custom moulds CAN
> be made to order if desired. For large diameters of lead, Corbin
builds special moulds to
order at a correspondingly higher cost than
the CM-4. Moulds for billets of half inch diamet
er can be used for
shotgun slugs. Tube moulds, which have a steel base with a plug that
large diameter billet
s.
Lead cores are discussed in great detail in the book, "REDISCOVER
SWAGING&quo
t;. The advantage of using a lead core mould is the lower cost
of using scrap lead. The adva
ntage of using lead wire is the neatness,
safety, speed, and ease of use. There is not much
difference in
potential accuracy. Lead wire has a slight edge over cast cores
because
of the great uniformity of the extruded product.
You probably wonder about the hardness of
the lead: can you use
wheelweights, or casting alloys to swaging bullets? The answer depends
on the caliber, and the system of swaging you plan to use. In most
reloading press d
ies, you can’t quite generate enough pressure to swage
any lead harder than about Brinnell H
ardness 8 (or about 3 percent
antimony/lead alloy) before breaking either the die or the pun
ch. But
in certain circumstances, you can even swage linotype alloys of
Brinnell Hard
ness 22. The Corbin Hydro-press can swage any alloy of
lead ever made, or even solid copper
if you wish.
The reason that you can swage hard alloys in some calibers and not
in ot
hers, in some shapes and not others, and in the Hydro-press but
not in a reloading press has
less to do with the power of the press
than it does the strength of the dies and punches. I
f you are curious
about the mathematics involved in engineering dies to withstand certain
formulae, and
charts that will make it all clear.
As a rule of thumb, it’s safer to use soft, pure lead fo
r swaging
in all circumstances because pure lead flows more easily at lower
pressures
, and thus puts less strain on the dies. But, if you have a
need to swage hard lead for some
reason, don’t give up just because of
a rule of thumb! We have a way to do it in every case
, if you are
willing to purchase the correct kind of tooling. Your stock of casting
a
lloys can be used if the caliber, die, and press system is selected
with proper specificatio
ns for hard lead. Tooling made for hard lead
may, in some circumstances, not be as useful fo
r soft lead because of
the different size bleed holes. That is one reason why you need to
alloy in hand!
in calibers up to .500 d
iameter, unless very deep and thin base skirts
or other special designs are planned. The die
s are so strong that they
can handle any lead alloy. In the Mity Mite system, hard alloys ca
n be
handled if the die-maker knows in advance you plan to use them. In
calibers abov
e .358 diameter, they are a bit risky because of the die
wall in the smaller Mity Mite serie
s — an imprudent stroke of the
handle could crack a .45 caliber die used with too hard an a
lloy. In
the reloading press, calibers of .243 and .224 work reasonably well
with har
d lead, but anything larger should be used with alloys of
Brinnell Hardness 6 and under. Cor
bin supplies pure lead in billets
and in lead wire form, but does not furnish alloy lead exc
ept on
special order.
A potential objection to lead wire is the cost of shipping. At <
br /> the time of this writing, it costs about $10 to ship a spool of lead
wire completely a
cross the country. A spool of .22 caliber wire makes
over 4,000 .224 bullets. The cost of sh
ipping, then, breaks down to a
mere 0.0025 cents per bullet (that is a quarter of a penny pe
r bullet).
This amount is not prohibitive, and consequently most people choose to
use
lead wire for the smaller calibers. In the larger calibers, the
cost per bullet increases s
ince there is more lead consumed in each
bullet, but the trade-off of convenience and safety
still results in a
majority of bullet-makers using lead wire.
Corbin has lead billets
in 0.795-inch diameter for use in the LED-
1 extruder die (in case you don’t care to cast bi
llets), and can
furnish lead in just about any size of billet. Alloys can be furnished
> only in minimum lots that generally are 100 to 250 pound, because of
the minimum billet re
quired for a commercial extruder operation. Many
of our customers can provide you with the s
maller quantities of alloy
leads: check the "WORLD DIRECTORY of CUSTOM BULLET MAKERS&qu
ot; for
addresses and phone numbers.
.he CHAPTER
3 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
ABOUT BULLET JACKETS
Bullet
jackets are the skin of the bullet. They are what makes it
possible to achieve velocities ov
er 4,000 fps and still have no fouling
from melted lead in your barrel. But besides eliminat
ion of lead
fouling, the jacket has another important job. It helps control the
termi
nal performance of the bullet.
Bullet jackets are available from Corbin in packages of 250 or
500
jackets, depending on the caliber and length. Popular calibers are
stocked in ce
rtain lengths that are most useful. Not all calibers or
lengths are available directly. Some
you have to make yourself, by re-
drawing a more common size. This is done with a Corbin JRD
-1 draw die.
Other calibers can be made from copper, brass, or even steel
tubing. A re
loading press can only use the commercially available
drawn gilding metal jackets, which ran
ge from 0.017 to 0.032 inches in
thickness depending on the length and caliber. The Mity Mit
e press can
form jackets from 0.030 inch thick copper tubing (hard drawn, straight
tu
bing, not the soft coiled type). The Mega Mite can handle tubing in
0.030 and sometimes in 0
.049, depending on caliber. The Hydro-press
can handle anything, from the thinnest copper to
the thickest steel
walls (typically 0.050 steel or 0.065 brass is the heaviest practical
From .30 caliber rifl
e down, it is both easier and cheaper to use
commercially made jackets and either use them a
s is, or redraw them for
smaller or longer jackets. Jackets can expand considerably during t
he
core seating operation, to become larger in diameter. Jackets for
bullet swaging i
n Corbin equipment are all made several thousandths of
an inch smaller than the final bullet
diameter, so you can expand them
upward for a perfect, tight fit on the core.
This is
one reason that it isn’t feasible to pour hot lead into a
jacket and make a jacketed bullet
. The pressure of swaging is needed
to expand the assembly to the right diameter inside a di
e. Another
reason is that the hot lead would shrink away from the jacket during
cooli
ng, leaving a loose core that would not stabilize in the rifling.
In the calibers from .309 t
o .338, it is possible to use regular
.30 caliber jackets. Special techniques to expand the
jacket evenly
include seating the core in two short sections, so that the base will
f
orm properly. This is done on the .338 and .333 calibers, but isn’t
necessary on the .311 an
d .314 sizes. Using this method, it is even
possible to expand a drawn .22 Magnum fired case
into a nice 7mm (.284)
bullet! It works best with a rebated boattail die set and with three
or four short cores seated on top of each other, one at a time.
The best known jacket
among bullet-makers is the .22 Long Rifle
case used for a .224 or a .243 caliber jacket. Co
rbin makes a die set
called the RFJM-22 that turns these rimfire cases into straight-sided <
br /> jackets of the proper diameter. Vernon Speer, Harvey Donaldson, and
Fred Huntington we
re a few of the well-known experimenters who used
this method in the late 1940’s. Speer and
Huntington both launched
major businesses from this beginning.
The process had flaws
in those days, because rimfire cases used
mercuric priming compound. This left the jackets w
eak and brittle, so
they fouled the bores and often came apart on firing. Today, non-
mercuric priming is used in rimfire cases. The jackets you can make
for yourself not only ar
e as good as any you can buy for most practical
purposes, but they are free!
The disad
vantage of making rimfire jackets is that the bullets
have very thin skins — typically unde
r 0.015 inches — without the
thick taper toward the base which commercial jackets have. Thi
s means
that they are excellent for varmint shooting, because if they hit the
ground
they normally blow up and do not cause a ricochet. But they are
not suitable for high veloci
ty (beyond about 3500 fps they blow up in
the air), nor are they suitable for serious game h
unting.
You may be surprised to learn that the commercial standard 52
grain bullet has
a jacket that matches the length of the drawn .22 Long
Rifle case. This is because the firs
t .224 commercial bullets were
made from such cases! When bullet makers switched to drawn st
rip
metal, they kept the traditional length. Thus, you do not need to trim
your home-
made jackets or make excessive weights of bullets to use
them.
The jacket material is
normally either commercial bronze or
gilding metal. These alloys are 10% zinc and 5% zinc,
respectively,
with the balance of copper. The zinc is for strength and anti-fouling
c
haracteristics. A rimfire case is about 30% zinc. It is more
brittle, but also less likely t
o foul the bore at normal speeds. By
annealing the case, you can make it just as ductile as
the regular
jacket.
A 6mm (.243-.244) bullet jacket can be made from the fired .22
drawn off, leaving a d
iameter of about 0.219 inches at the end. The
body of the fired case is about 0.225 inches i
n diameter. A special
punch with a flare or bottleneck, like a bottleneck cartridge, is used
inside the case. The jacket becomes slightly longer as it is drawn,
and this lengthe
ning forces the mouth partly over the tapered part of
the punch. It is this tapered mouth th
at lets you seat a lead core
into the undersized jacket and expand it to full .243 size duri
ng the
core seating operation. The flared mouth seals the die against lead
leakage an
d makes the jacket expand perfectly.
The .22 WMR case takes a different die (a special type
of JRD-1
die is used) to make a long 6mm jacket. By careful manipulation of
core weig
hts and seating technique, you can coax this jacket to become
a .257, a 6.5mm, or even a 7mm
bullet! This isn’t something for the
beginner to try, but once you have mastered the basics
, it is fairly
easy to learn.
Bullet jackets have different wall thicknesses, not only
between
different calibers and makes, but also within the same jacket.
Commercial ja
ckets have a taper, to control expansion. This means that
when you seat the lead core into t
he jacket, the core has to be small
enough to fit easily into whatever jacket you are using.
If you buy a
set of dies that is made with punches for a certain jacket, and then
ch
ange to another jacket (such as going from a commercial drawn jacket
to a copper tubing jack
et), you will probably need to obtain a
different core seating punch.
The core seatin
g punch fits inside the jacket, rather than the die
itself, whenever you want bullets with t
he lead seated down past the
jacket mouth. (Bullets with large lead tips, such as semi-wadcu
tters
and lead round nose bullets, are made using a core seating punch that
fits and
seals pressure against the die wall instead of inside the
jacket.) If you change from a 0.02
0 inch wall jacket to one with walls
of 0.050 inch thickness, then you need a punch that is
considerably
smaller in diameter to fit the new jacket. When you order dies, either
l
et Corbin supply the right jacket to fit them, or send a sample of the
jacket you want to us
e. If you want more than one jacket, remember
that you may need more than one core seating p
unch.
The other part that you may need for different jackets is the core
swage die. Co
re swage dies make the core the right size and weight,
starting with an undersized piece of
lead. Reloading press dies don’t
use a core swage for technical reasons. Special swage press
es almost
always use die sets that can have a core swage as the first die of the
set.
When you order a set of dies for jacketed bullets, the diameter
of the core swage die is im
portant to the diemakers. The core that is
produced must be small enough to fit inside whate
ver jacket you are
going to use. If you later add copper tubing, or change to a thicker
jacket for a heavier b
ullet), it may require another core swage die of
smaller diameter.
The right size of l
ead wire or core mould for a certain caliber
depends on the jacket you plan to use. Most sta
ndard jackets that are
available from Corbin take standard, off-the-shelf diameters of lead
wire and core moulds. If you furnish your own jackets, you may need to
send samples t
o get a special size made to order. Core size for the
jacket is not terribly critical: as lo
ng as the core fits and the
weight is about right without being so long that the core sticks
out
the die mouth, you can use any size.
One exception is that your core shouldn’t no
rmally be a press fit
into the jacket, so that it traps air in the bottom. The short, thick
half jackets for .38 caliber sometimes fit a bit snugly on the standard
core, but the
y don’t cause any problem. It is the long, tapered
jackets of larger caliber handguns and of
rifle bullets that create a
potential problem with too snug a core.
The problem aris
es when the core fits so tightly that air is
pushed into a highly compressed disk at the bot
tom of the jacket. If
the bullet is finished with the jacket brought around the nose or
because the air is
normally quite highly compressed and centered rather
well. But if you make a semi-wadcutter
style bullet (and by that, we
in the bullet-swaging field refer to ANY style of nose, be it
round or
flat, hollow or pointed, so long as the nose is entirely made of lead
projec
ting from the jacket, and the jacket is NOT curved at all to lock
the core in place), then t
he trapped air can expand when the bullets
are brought into the hot sun. Sometimes, the core
s will pop out with a
loud bang and jump harmlessly across the room!
The answer is to
use a core that slips to the bottom of the jacket
without force. Or, if you want to use a c
ore swage die that is nearly
but not exactly right, you might want to have the die-maker mac
hine a
special internal punch with a cavity in the shape of a boattail or
Keith nose
in its end. The cavity would form a mirror image of itself
in the lead core, so that a secti
on of the core would then fit nicely
into the bottom of your tapered wall jacket without tra
pping any air.
This technique lets you use the same core swage die with several
calib
ers and with several different styles of jacket in the same
caliber.
The right core mo
uld for heavy wall tubing jackets is much smaller
in diameter than the right core mould for
a standard drawn commercial
jacket. In fact, the next smaller caliber of mould is normally u
sed.
For instance, a .30 caliber core mould might be used with a tubing
jacket bullet
in .358 caliber, whereas a .38 caliber mould would be
used if you were to make commercial j
acket bullets with those same
dies. When you order, we supply the size of equipment needed f
or
standard popular jackets that we stock unless you specify otherwise, or
unless we
know that tubing jackets are going to be used.
Bullet jackets can make a wide range of weight
s even with the same
length. The exact weight range for any given caliber and length of
of hollow point o
r hollow base and the lead density used, and the
thickness of the jacket. There is no single
"right" weight for a given
jacket because of all these variables. But that means
you, as the
bullet-maker, can manipulate the variables and produce all kinds of
diffe
rent weights using a limited stock of jackets.
For instance, in the .44 caliber, a 0.54-inch
long drawn jacket is
very popular with shooters who have 3-die sets, such as the FJFB-3
adjusting the amount of
lead used in the jacket, you can make any
weight from 180 to 250 grains with this jacket. T
he lighter weights
have open points, and the heavier weights have more and more lead
exposed at the tip.
The bullet-maker who uses a semi-wadcutter die limits himself
some
what on the range of weights possible with a given jacket, since he
cannot take up any jacke
t length by curving jacket material around the
nose. He can, however, change the amount of n
ose by selecting
different punches, or change the amount of lead used by selecting
ho
llow point or cup base punches and adjusting how far he presses these
into the die. Then, he
can follow with the regular Keith or other
semi-wadcutter type of punch to shape the lead t
hat is moved forward by
the hollow point punch.
This technique lets the bullet-maker
adjust weight even on semi-
wadcutter style bullets with the same jacket length and still hav
e the
same amount of lead showing! A technique not widely known is the use
of ordinar
y cornstarch as a filler in the base of the jacket. By
placing cornstarch in the bottom of t
he jacket and seating a lead core
over it, you can produce very high velocity, light
weight bullets in
jackets that everyone else thinks only make heavy weight slugs.
In t
he .25 ACP caliber, you can make jackets from fired shotgun
primers using the SPJM-25 die se
t. This kit lets you push out the
anvil and cap, and draw the top hat battery cup into a smo
oth-sided
jacket for a 45-50 grain .25 caliber bullet. Jackets for sub-calibers,
such
as the .14, .17, and .20 caliber, can be made from ordinary .224
commercial jackets using t
hree drawing dies. The jackets need to be
annealed by heating to a dull red briefly, so that
the bottoms won’t
crack out when you draw them to .14 caliber.
Dies that use larger c
aliber jackets, such as the sub-caliber draw
dies, can be made with a pinch trim punch so th
at surplus material is
pinched off as the jacket is drawn. In order to pinch trim a jacket,
there must be a reasonable amount of reduction taking place. It is
difficult to pinch
trim a .38 jacket being drawn to .350, for instance,
because most .38 jackets begin at .354
5 diameter. That doesn’t leave
enough difference for a pinch trim punch to work. But drawing
from a
.308 to a 7mm, or from a 7mm to a 6.5mm, leaves plenty of metal for
pinch tri
mming to any desired length.
You don’t have to use a jacket. Many handloaders don’t yet
> realize that bullet swage dies can be used with or without jackets, and
that a swaged lead
bullet can be made faster, more precisely, and with
far greater control of weight and style
than a cast bullet. The same
dies can be used for jacketed bullets or lead bullets. (This d
oesn’t
necessarily work in reverse: if you buy a LSWC-1 lead semi-wadcutter
die, desi
gned just to make lead bullets, it won’t make fully jacketed
bullets because the bleed holes
in the side of this die would then be
covered by the jacket.)
Lubrication on a swage
d, smooth-sided bullet is accomplished by
changing from Corbin Swage Lube to Corbin Dip Lube
. Dip Lube is a
liquid wax that is applied to the core before swaging a lead bullet.
The pressure of swaging forms a hard, tough film of wax all over the
bullet. The wax doesn’t
melt or affect the powder like bullet greases
do. Since it covers the whole bullet, no lead
is exposed to the air or
to the bore without having some lube between the bore and the lead
.
Naturally, this "liquid jacket", as some people call it, doesn’t
stand up
to the torque and heat of high velocity firing like a regular
jacket would. It does serve w
ell for most shooters using loads up to
1,200 fps, and cuts the cost of shooting by eliminat
ing the jacket as
well as speeding up the whole bullet-making process. Corbin Dip Lube
> is available in pint cans or gallons. A sample 2-oz. bottle is
available as well.
Re
-forming jacketed, factory or military surplus bullets in a
standard swage die (the point fo
rming die, usually) is also possible.
There are some cautions and limitations. The bullet mu
st be smaller
than the final diameter desired, because you cannot expect a .308
bulle
t to fit easily into a .308 diameter hole and eject easily after
reforming. It should be a 0
.3085 to 0.3090 inch die in order to use a
.3080 inch diameter bullet for reforming. Also, t
here are some minor
problems with lead coming forward out the nose of a finished bullet
But, on the other ha
nd, we have made hundreds of single-die swages
that turned rather inaccurate military surplu
s bullets into soft points
of very good accuracy simply by swaging them backward, so the bas
e
became the nose and the pointed nose became a solid base! And in other
cases, we ha
ve made 5.56 and 7.62 mm bullets shoot twice as well by
simply bumping them up half a thousa
ndth of an inch while making their
open bases more perfect and even. These transformations a
re quick and
easy when they can be made to work with a standard die. I would not
reco
mmend putting a lot of money into tooling specially built for it
unless you have a tremendou
s number of surplus bullets to reform.
Bullet jackets can be made that have partitions, vari
ations in
thickness (selective heavier base sections), completely closed bases,
solid
copper bases, and multiple jackets stacked inside each other.
Most of the heavy duty jacket
making, using copper or brass tubing and
such styles as the partition or H-mantle, are done
on the Corbin Hydro-
press. Hand presses and dies made for them do not have the ability to <
br /> produce or withstand the extreme pressures used. Within a more limited
range, however,
you can still make exotic jacket designs by using the
telescoping jacket idea: putting smal
ler calibers inside of larger
ones is a very effective way to control performance.
A
thorough discussion of bullet jackets can be found in the book
"REDISCOVER SWAGING"
;, and the various technical bulletins published by
Corbin Manufacturing have further detail
s on making tubing bullet
jackets, rimfire cases into jackets, and even the use of fired bra
ss
cases as bullet jackets.
.he CHAPTER 4 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
SWAGING IN THE RELOADING PRESS
If your reloading press accepts standard
7/8-14 TPI dies and its
ram will take regular RCBS button-type shell holders, then you can u
se
it for swaging certain calibers and kinds of bullets with Corbin
reloading press s
wage dies. A heavy-duty press makes the work easier,
but any modern press capable of resizin
g a .30-06 case is strong enough
for bullet swaging in the styles and calibers we offer.
screw-stock rams used i
n nearly all current reloading presses. The
size of the frame or leverage of the press has n
othing to do with this.
A massive press like the RCBS Big Max still has a four-inch stroke,
to
get a magnum rifle case in and out. Small arms bullets, on the other
hand, need on
ly about two inches of stroke in order to be successfully
swaged. This wastes half the lever
age in a reloading press.
Single station, ram-type presses are the only kind currently
supported by swaging equipment. Presses with turrets, rotating shell
holder plates, aluminu
m frames, mechanical type shell holders that
adjust to different size cartridge heads, progr
essive loaders, and bar-
type rams used in H-frame presses all have features that make some <
br /> swaging operations difficult or impossible. Standard swage dies for
reloading presses
do not require a massive press, but they do work best
in a simple, single-station convention
al round-ram press.
A special swaging press like the Corbin Mity Mite (CSP-1) or a
co
mbination reloading and swaging press like the Corbin Mega Mite (CSP-
2) has the capability t
o more than double the leverage in a reloading
press design. It does this by cutting the str
oke in half. The same
effort that moves a reloading press ram four inches is now put to work
moving the ram only two inches. The effort is converted into higher
pressure within
the die.
Such presses have many special features designed to allow higher
stresses, eq
ualize the torque on the ram, align the die and punch more
precisely, and provide for automa
tic ejection of the bullet on the back
stroke. The die can be designed to withstand higher p
ressure, since it
doesn’t have to fit into the constraint of a standard reloading press
In these presses, any caliber from .14 to .458 rifle bullets with
tubin
g jackets as thick as 30 thousandths of an inch are perfectly
feasible. In a conventional re
loading press, you are limited to the
.224, .243, and .257 rifle calibers, and the .25 ACP,
.30-32 Handgun
and carbine (130 grains or less, no spitzer rifle shapes), 9mm and
.35
7/.38 Handgun calibers. Within those calibers, there is
considerable latitude for weight and
style variation.
Regardless of the press or system, you can make lead bullets or
gas-
checked bullets in any die capable of jacketed bullet swaging. And,
you can use longer or sh
orter jackets in the same set of dies. There
are some dies made just for lead bullets, combi
ning the steps of core
swaging and core seating so that you can make a lead bullet in one
suited for use wi
th more than a half-jacket. These dies are not made
for the reloading press, in any case, si
nce they require bleed holes in
the die wall.
Core swage dies and other lead-forming
dies that have extrusion
holes through their walls to let you automatically adjust the lead
core
weight on each stroke (instead of just using whatever weight of core
you happen
to put into the die) need room around the side of the die
for the lead to come out. In a rel
oading press, the die is put into
the head of the press. Because of the length and top posit
ion of the
ram in a reloading press, the die has to be located so its walls are
surro
unded by the threads of the press. This doesn’t leave room for
correctly located bleed holes
.
In order to do it right, core swaging and lead semi-wadcutter dies
that adjust the
core as they form the bullet are made only for the
special swaging presses, and not for use
in reloading presses. You can
still make lead bullets of equal quality in a reloading press,
but to
get there, you must be more careful about how you cut or cast the
cores. What
you put into the die is what you get out, in regard to
weight control. This is a major adva
ntage of the special swaging press
systems, and is one of the things that makes it difficult
to "convert"
or adapt many of the advanced kinds of dies for use in ordinary
Reloading press swage dies are made with a UNIVERSAL ADAPTER BODY,
holds the actual di
e "insert" and internal punch together in the proper
relationship, and fits into t
he 7/8-14 TPI threads of your
reloading press. All adjustment for different weights and styl
es of
bullets is made by turning the whole die, universal adapter and all, up
and dow
n in the threads of the press like a big micrometer thimble.
There are two punches in every
swage die. The INTERNAL PUNCH
stays inside the die. It is held there by two restraints: the
punch
has a head on the top that won’t let it fall through the die on the
"downs
troke", or ejection cycle, and the universal adapter body only
lets the punch head slid
e up a certain distance before it strikes the
top of the hole machined in the adapter. The E
XTERNAL PUNCH fits into
the slot in the press ram, just like a shell holder. It can easily b
e
removed and changed. Most people own several external punches for each
of their die
sets.
A small hole goes all the way through the top of the adapter. It
is .257 inches
in diameter, and takes a quarter-inch diameter KNOCK-OUT
ROD (also called the ejector rod o
r simply K.O. rod). The Knock-Out
rod is long enough so that it can push the internal punch
down nearly
the same distance as the die is long. That pushes the bullet out the
die
mouth. On one end of the Knock-Out rod is a knurled head, big
enough to give you a good targ
et to tap with a plastic mallet or a
piece of wood. This drives the bullet back out of the d
ie after
swaging.
The ejector rod comes completely out of the die, so you can use it <
br /> on any of your reloadin press swage dies. Another way to eject bullets
— one with a l
ittle more sophistocation — is to slip a Corbin POWER
EJECTOR UNIT over the top of the die
and fasten the three set-screws
into the ring machined around each of the universal adapter
bodies,
right below the knurled part.
The power ejector is an optional accessory item.
It speeds up the
operation by eliminating the need to pick up a mallet and tap the
e
jector. Instead of using the regular ejector, you install a straight
piece of quarter-inch d
iameter steel rod, supplied with the PE-1
ejector. Following the instructions that come with
this tool, adjust
its ram so that all the free play is taken up when you have a bullet in <
br /> the die, ready to be ejected. From this point on, your swaging
operation is reduced to
two levers: the press handle swages the
bullet, and the power ejector handle gently but fir
mly pushes it out of
the die.
The internal punch in your reloading press swage die ca
n be
removed easily. Identify the die insert itself. This is the super-
hard high-carb
ide alloy steel cylinder at the very bottom of the whole
die assembly, just protruding from
the adapter about a quarter inch.
Most of the die insert is up inside the adapter body, whic
h is machined
to accept the 5/8-24 TPI threads on the other end of the die. To
remove
the die, grasp the small protruding surface with pair of pliers
and unscrew it. (Don’t worr
y about marring the die — it is so much
harder and tougher than your pliers that you can’t
hurt it this way.
On the other hand, don’t grasp the oxide-blued adapter body with
pl
iers: it isn’t very hard, and you can damage the threads. Just hold
it in your hand.)
There are basically three dies available for the reloading press
that are swage dies, and se
veral kinds of draw dies. The swage dies
are:
(1) The CORE SEATER
(2) The POINT
FORMER
(3) The LEAD TIP DIE
The core seater (CS-1-R designation, in the reloadi
ng press
system) can perform two different jobs. It can be used by itself to
make any
kind of bullet that has straight, parallel sides, a small
shoulder, and a lead nose from th
e shoulder up. The whole bullet can
be lead, or any amount of it can be covered by a jacket
right up to
that shoulder. Think of a Keith handgun bullet with a jacket coming
right
up to the semi-wadcutter shoulder and then stopping. Right up to
this point, the bullet is
straight. The jacket can’t be curved past
this point in this kind of die alone.
Howev
er, the nose can be any shape you like. The nose is formed
by letting the lead core flow dow
n into a cavity machined in the end of
the external punch. You can make a round nose, a Keit
h nose, a
wadcutter (very little cavity, if any, in the external punch tip!), a
conic
al nose like a pencil point, or anything else including fancy
multi-cavity hollow points (in
stead of just a cavity, there is also a
probe or rod in the end of the punch to make these).
The point is,
while you can just change the punch to whatever the lead core flow down into
a cavity machined in the end of
the external punch. You can make a round nose, a Keith nose,
a
wadcutter (very little cavity, if any, in the external punch tip!), a
conical nose
like a pencil point, or anything else including fancy
multi-cavity hollow points (instead o
f just a cavity, there is also a
probe or rod in the end of the punch to make these). The po
int is,
while you can just change the punch to whatever thickness to its edge,
or it
would quickly crumble away. A 0.015 to 0.025 edge thickness is
standard. This small edge com
es up against the jacket in our example,
and presses hard on the thin jacket material. One o
f them has to
buckle and fold. Usually it is the jacket.
If you try to make a semi-wa
dcutter bullet, and the jacket comes
out with radial folds, much as if someone sat on your t
op hat, then see
if you have enough lead sticking out the jacket to completely fill up
> the cavity in the punch you selected. If not, that’s the problem, and
the solution is to u
se a heavier core, a shorter jacket, or a punch
with less of a cavity. Another solution is t
o use a hollow point punch
first, moving lead up and out of the jacket, and then form your n
ose
using the extra amount of lead displaced from inside the jacket.
Let’s back up a
minute in case anyone is lost at this point. We
are talking about the most basic kind of swa
ge die, the core seating
die. It is called a core seating die because it can be used to seat
or
press the core down into a jacket, expanding the core and the jacket
together unt
il they contact the walls of the die. The internal
pressure becomes uniform as soon as the j
acket is pushed out against
the die walls evenly, and the base of the jacket comes hard agai
nst the
internal punch face. This uniform internal pressure can exceed 20,000
psi (an
d usually does).
Compressed oxygen gas in a welding tank is in the 2,000 to 3,000
psi
range. Compressed air in your car tires is usually 35 to 45 psi.
When you fire a typical ri
fle, pressures momentarily peak at levels
that reach 25,000 to 55,000 psi typically. The ave
rage pressure over a
second of time is vastly lower. The swage die must be able to sustain <
br /> anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 psi constantly, year after year, without
change in its
diameter, roundness, straightness. It can’t develop a
barrel shape inside, nor can it grow w
ith the continued stress.
Tolerances in a casting mould usually are held to 0.003 to 0.001 <
br /> inches, plus or minus. Tolerances in the core seating die are usually
held to better t
han 0.00005 inches, plus or minus! Your bullet doesn’t
need to be within that tolerance of s
ome arbitrary standard diameter,
of course, but it is nice to know that whatever diameter it
comes out,
it is repeatable to such high precision. The typical absolute diameter
to
lerance on the bullet diameter is normally 0.0005 inches plus or
minus, although this has lo
ng been proven of little importance, as long
as the variance is held to high precision toler
ances.
In other words, if you have a .308 rifle, and you know for sure
that your barr
el has a .3000 bore, with all grooves at exactly 0.0040
inch depth, it still doesn’t matter
nearly as much whether you shoot a
.3079 bullet or a .3090 bullet down that barrel, compared
to whether
your bullets vary from one to the next as you try to put them into one
ho
le. Many competitive shooters find a bullet with nearly 0.001 inch
larger than nominal diame
ter shoots better at long range than a
conventional "correct" diameter bullet.
take it out of the adap
ter body and pull out the internal punch, you
will be able to see straight through it. The h
ole is round, straight,
and highly finished. The internal punch is a very close sliding fit.
The external punch can fit the die bore, for making those semi-
wadcutter and wadcutt
er type bullets, or it can fit inside the jacket
for making rifle-style bullets.
Let m
e make a definition of these two general kinds of bullets.
It’s important to understand what
I’m talking about so you can make
proper and cost-effective decisions later on. There are s
emi-wadcutter
styles, and rifle styles of bullets, relative to the kind of equipment
needed. When a swage die-maker talks about a semi-wadcutter (or
wadcutter) style, it isn’t j
ust a specific nose shape. In regard to
the kind of equipment required, it means any bullet
that is made with a
lead nose, ending at a small shoulder, and having the jacket at full
This kind of bullet can
be made in a single core seating die in
one stroke of the press. One pass — all done. No lu
bricating, no
sizing. Just load it and enjoy shooting it. Lead bullets are swaged
wit
h a film of flexible, hard wax bonded to them under swaging
pressure. This is accomplished b
y dipping the core in a liquid "Dip
Lube", which some people call "liquid jac
ket", just prior to swaging.
The film evenly covers the bullet, making it usable to spe
eds of 1,200
fps with no grooves, no separate lubricating steps.
Cup bases? Hollow bas
es? No problem — just remove that flat
ended internal punch, and install an optional intern
al punch with a
probe shaped like the cavity you want to form. Both the nose and base
are formed at the same time, by pressing against the two punches.
Unlke a mould, there is n
o conflict between hollow bases and hollow
points. They are independent of each other and ca
n be mixed or matched
any way you like. In fact, you can turn the swaged bullet over and
the die to get sl
ightly less penetration of the punch. This gives you
shapes that neither of the punches has
by itself, and demonstrates one
of the more powerful experimental features of swaging equipm
ent.
We mentioned seating the core inside the jacket. If you wanted
to, you could sele
ct an external punch (the one that slips into the
slotted ram like a shell holder) with a sm
all enough diameter to fit
right inside the jacket. Jackets usually have some taper in the w
all
thickness to control expansion. The punch will contact the jacket wall
at some po
int if it is a close fit. Obviously there are some limits as
to the depth of insertion of an
y given diameter punch, and to the range
of weights of cores that you could seat with each p
unch.
If the punch is too small, lead will spurt out around it and you
may not be able
to build enough pressure inside the jacket to expand it
properly. This produces undersized
and tapered bullets. If the punch
is too large, it may not go into the jacket at all, or it
may plow up
jacket material as it presses down. This isn’t always bad — it can be
us
ed to thin the front of the jacket, or to help lock the core into
place. Usually, though, th
e jacket and punch need to be made for each
other to avoid this. Fortunately, Corbin is the
world’s largest
supplier of bullet jackets of all types, and can provide the right
pu
nches for any jacket or core weight, as well as the jackets to match.
The reason for seating
a core inside the jacket is to make that
second kind of bullet, the rifle-style bullet havin
g the jacket curved
around the ogive, with an open tip. Let’s define open tip and hollow
the end of the ja
cket. The jacket extends forward, past the core.
This leaves an opening or an area devoid of
lead just below the tip. A
hollow point, on the other hand, is made by pressing a punch wit
h a
projection or probe machined on the end into the core. The hole or
cavity thus fo
rmed in the core is further shaped when the ogive is
made. The result is a bullet with a hol
low area in the point, formed
in the lead itself.
A hollow point bullet can have a le
ad tip, or it can have the core
seated down inside the jacket. Usually, it has a lead tip ex
posed
beyond the end of the jacket. But an open tip bullet can’t, by
definition, have
a lead tip. The reason to be clear about these terms
is so that when you order tools and pu
nches, everyone will be talking
about the same thing. It makes a big difference whether you
can make
what you want once you get the tools. A hollow point is made with an
optiona
l punch, during the core seating stage. An open tip is made by
using a punch that pushes the
core down inside the jacket. It is the
standard, "default" design for any regular
set of dies that includes
more than a core swage and core seating die. And a lead tip bulle
t
takes a lead tip forming die in rifle styles, but seldom requires
anything special
in the blunt, wide-tip handgun styles.
To make that second kind of bullet, the rifle-style bu
llet, you
still need the straight-walled core seater. The uniform pressure that
this
die produces is necessary to expand the jacket to correct
diameter, mate the core and jacket
perfectly, and produce the straight
and round tolerances in the jacket. But with the core s
eated down
inside the jacket, all you have now is a very accurately formed
cylinder!<
br /> To put the ogive (that’s OH-JIVE, by the way, like "Oh, don’t
gimme no jive, man!
") on the bullet, we’ll use the second kind of swage
die, the point forming die (design
ated PF-1-R for reloading press
dies). Now, the term "point" is often confused wit
h the term "tip".
Again, it’s nice to talk the same language when ordering parts o
ver the
phone. A point on a bullet refers to anything past the shank or
straight part
. A point is the same thing as a nose. The tip, on the
other hand, is just the very end of t
he point. It is the part that
ends, technically, after the meplat, and begins at some arbitr
ary place
on the ogive curve that is close enough to the meplat so that it can
have a
different curve and not affect the over-all bullet outline
significantly.
Simply put
, the tip is the very end of the bullet’s nose. The
point is everything from the tip to the
start of the straight part
(shank) and the point is the same thing as the nose. To add confu
sion,
some people even call the point the ogive, so really the terms point,
ogive, an
d nose all refer to the same thing in general sales talk. But
tip is different.
The og
ive is formed by pushing the straight cylinder you made in
the core seating die into the poi
nt forming die. It goes in nose
first. If you want the nose to be made on the open end of th
e jacket,
then the open end goes in first. You can make a solid nose, or full
metal j
acket (FMJ, as it is called, though strictly speaking, the open
tip also is a full metal jac
ket bullet) design by pushing the seated
core and jacket into the point forming die base fir
st. Special notes
on this technique can be found in Corbin technical papers and books.
The point forming die has the actual shape of your bullet frozen
in tough die steel, diamon
d lapped to extremely fine finish and
tolerance by skilled die-makers. It is a hand-made die
, produced by
craftsmen with years of experience. It isn’t much like a punch press
di
e or a plastic moulding die, and people who have skills in those
fields usually can’t produc
e good point forming dies without a great
deal more training.
To make this die, both
reamers and laps have to be cut to
precisely the right shape and diameter for your desired b
ullet. In
reloading press equipment, the great attraction is the lower cost since
you
can use an existing press. If your main goal is economy, then it
doesn’t help that goal to
increase the cost of the dies by adding extra
labor, so we manufacture only standard shapes
and offer no custom work
in the reloading press line. By doing this, we have been able to
are made to specia
l order. Corbin makes the only serious attempt at
mass production of hand-crafted swage dies
: by eliminating all the
stages of custom fitting and tooling, we’ve been able to bring swag
ing
equipment of high quality to every corner of the earth, and introduce
thousands o
f people to swaging who could not otherwise afford to try
it.
If you want custom shape
s and diameter, on the other hand, then we
do have another system set up to handle it at rea
sonable cost. In
fact, this system is designed on two levels: semi-custom and fully
c
ustom work using the same basic equipment. The advantage is that we
can use all standard bla
nks, that fit into standard presses and use the
same general parts. Your cost is lower, your
replacements or repairs
are much simpler, and the whole system is so well proven it has bec
ome
the world’s defacto standard for swaging. It’s called the Mity Mite
system, and w
e’ll discuss it shortly. Semi-custom outfits can be
obtained by selecting from the wide vari
ety of off-the-shelf components
kept in moderate supply for immediate delivery. Fully custom
outfits
can be produced, subject to the usual waiting list.
In the reloading press,
the point forming die is built very much
like the core seating die. It fits the same univers
al adapter body, so
both dies look almost identical from the outside. The difference is
internal spring. The e
jector rod will slide the internal punch down
and you’ll see it at the mouth of the die. The
point forming die has a
small (0.080") spring-steel wire pin passing through the tip o
f the
cavity. This pin is a press fit into a steel button "head". The head
is machined to go into one end of a coil spring.
The spring presses between the top of the d
ie and the head of the
ejection pin. We call the internal punch an ejection pin. The heavy <
br /> rod that pushes on it is called the ejection rod, you’ll recall. If
you order a new ej
ection rod, you’ll get this quarter-inch diameter rod
with the knurled head. If you order a
new ejection pin, we’ll want to
know the diameter of wire, or at least what caliber of die i
t fits.
The reason for having a spring in this die is to hold the pin out
of the main
part of the die cavity during bullet swaging. The only
purpose of the ejection pin is to pus
h the bullet out of the die by its
nose. If the pin were down in the cavity, the bullet woul
d form up
around the pin, and then it would be stuck in the bullet. This is
exactly w
hat happens if you forget to use lubricant. Now it’s time to
mention a very important part o
f swaging: the correct lube.
For lead bullets, you have seen that a wax solution called Dip
Lube can be applied before swaging the core. For jacketed bullets, a
different kind o
f lube, serving a totally different purpose, is
required. Swage lube is made to stand up to
extreme pressures without
losing its protective film — a barrier between the smoothly finis
hed
die wall and the moving jacket material. Ordinary case lubes are
useless. Don’t t
ry them. Swage lube is a little more expensive, but
it goes a long way and it works. Your di
es will last virtually forever
if you use the right lube and clean materials.
Every c
omponent needs a thin film of lube applied before it goes
into the die. Lead or jacket, ther
e must be a film of lube between it
protective film — a barrier between the smoothly finish
ed
die wall and the moving jacket material. Ordinary case lubes are
useless. Don’t tr
y them. Swage lube is a little more expensive, but
it goes a long way and it works. Your die
s will last virtually forever
if you use the right lube and clean materials.
Every co
mponent needs a thin film of lube applied before it goes
into the die. Lead or jacket, there
must be a film of lube between it
You simply press
the seated core in (using proper
lube), and eject the final bullet out.
The bullet goes in nose first, pressed in with an ext
ernal punch that
is as big as the bullet base. It comes out base first, pressed out by
> a tiny ejection pin that bears on the tip of the bullet. The reason
you cannot form the co
mplete bullet in one stroke in this die is that
the pressure required to expand the jacket u
niformly is not present in
this kind of die. There are two exceptions. You can make a full m
etal
jacket bullet in this die alone. And you can make a lead bullet.
The techniques
for FMJ styles are discussed in other books. Lead
bullets are simply a matter of shoving the
lead into the die. It has
to be smaller than the die cavity, naturally. Everything about sw
aging
assumes you know better than to push a larger component into a smaller
die cavi
ty. The match between core seating die and point forming die
is very good. For many years, b
ullet makers thought that it was
necessary and desirable to have a slight pressure ring at t
he bottom of
the bullet. This "pressure ring", as it was called, was promoted as <
br /> increasing accuracy by many die-makers of the 1950’s. It may not hurt
accuracy at all,
and it could help in some cases.
In reality, though, the story is a little different. Most d
ie-
makers of the past worked at home or in very small shops, and didn’t
have the mone
y for really expensive, high-precision instruments to
measure the bore sizes of the dies as
they were being produced. As a
result, a match of 0.002 to 0.0008 inches between core seat a
nd point
form die cavities was about all the die-makers could manage. Even
today, tha
t is typical of the best amateur work and is seen in some of
the higher priced benchrest die
s as well.
Because of this difference, the seated core and jacket always went
into th
e point forming die considerably under final diameter. The
pressure of swaging the point exp
anded the jacket slightly, but most of
the expansion took place at the base. These bullets w
on a lot of
matches, but they still had a bit of taper and a bulge at the base.
The d
ie-makers, not knowing how to get rid of it, and noticing that
even with this defect, the bu
llets still outshot most factory slugs,
started hinting that maybe this was really a design
feature put in by
plan, instead of something they hadn’t yet acquired the tools to
el
iminate.
Today, we still run into a number of precision shooters who read
the old lite
rature and come to believe that a "pressure ring" is
necessary for good shooting.
I don’t think that having a 0.001-inch
larger base is harmful to accuracy, but I don’t think
it necessarily
does anything valuable. On the other hand, a bullet that is up to
0.0
01-inch larger than standard size, and straight, is probably going
to be a good shooter and
it won’t expand the case neck as it is seated,
then leave the case somewhat loose on the for
ward part of the bullet.
With much taper on the bullet, the act of feeding the round can pus
h
the bullet back into the powder, and I know that won’t help accuracy.
We can make bu
llets tapered, straight, or with a pressure ring.
In the reloading press, we don’t offer a c
hoice. In general, it is one
of those features that is best left to the die-maker, since
for spe
cial charges on the die-maker’s labor, and doesn’t give you any
more accurate bullet one way
or the other. But, if you need something
very special in this regard, it is one more thing
that has been pinned
down and can be offered to anyone who feels it is worth the extra
> expense.
The core seating die has made us some semi-wadcutters and seated
some cores
for rifle-style bullets (I say rifle style because they
could just as well be .32 handgun b
ullets or .243 rifle bullets — it
is exactly the same process, same kind of die, and the on
ly difference
is the size of the hole and the size of the components going into it).
We have used the point forming die to shape the rifle-style bullet by
forming the ogive, and
in two steps we have made nice open tip bullets.
What about lead tips and hollow points? The
hollow point is made
by seating the core with a hollow point punch, then forming the ogive.
If the hollow point is also a lead tip, then the lead is longer than
the jacket. Try
ing to eject this bullet may cause some deformation of
the tip, since the ejection pin has t
o push on the tip with some force.
The third die we mentioned (lead tip die) is made to fini
sh off the tip
so it looks as good as or better than factory bullets.
The lead tip die
(designated LT-1-R for the reloading press) is
much like the core seating die, except that
it has a slightly larger
bore size, and the internal punch has a cavity that matches the ogi
ve
in the point form die. The deformed lead tip fits up inside this
cavity. Applying
gentle pressure reshapes the lead tip, shears off any
surplus lead, and leaves a fine lookin
g lead tip that can be flat,
sharp, or radiused. The lead tip die is a nice addition to any
set,
giving you the ability to reform the tips and even to close the open
tip more ti
ghtly than you can do it in the point forming die alone.
The smallest tip opening is the same
diameter as the ejection pin
in the point form die. This ejection pin has to be strong enou
gh to
push the bullet out of your die, or you will be constantly replacing
the ejecti
on pins and having stuck bullets. So, a diameter of about
0.080-inch is used in reloading pr
ess sets. This is a good compromise
between design strenght and appearance. You can close th
e tip even
further by using the lead tip die carefully. This takes a little
practice
to avoid pressing a little shoulder in the ogive, but once you
figure it out, it is easily r
epeated.
How do you know how hard to push on the handle? Just push a
little bit, very
lightly. See if the jacket and core remain in the
core seating die, or if they come back wit
h the punch. Normally, the
correct pressure just expands the jacket enough so that it stays
up in
the die. In point forming, use just enough pressure to form the bullet
until yo
u start to get a parallel pipe of jacket or lead on the tip
(pushing the bullet material up
into the ejection pin hole). That is as
far as you can expect to go. Back off slightly on th
e die adjustment
by raising it higher a half turn or so in the press, and you can then
> use the full ram stroke to set your insertion depth each time.
One key to uniform swaging i
n the reloading press is to use the
top of the stroke, so that each time you move the press
handle, you are
using the physical limit of the press to control how far the punch
in
serts into the die. This controls amount of hollow cavity, the degree
to which you reshape a
bullet, the amount of tip closure on your ogive,
and whether or not you are going to get a
good lead tip. Everything
depends on uniform stroke, uniform insertion of the punch. And tha
t is
most easily set by raising the die, so that the ram goes as far up as
it can. Th
en lower the die, to obtain the desired shape or insertion.
The right pressure should be abou
t like sizing a case. The larger
the caliber, the more pressure you will feel on the handle.
In no case
is it necessary to throw your weight on the handle, or break your
loading
bench, or use a cheater bar. Doing these things will quickly
make the die-makers more wealt
hy, because you will soon break your die
and mash your punches into pancakes, requiring that
you replace them.
If you feel generous toward die-makers this week, by all means jump up
force is quite eno
ugh.
Another point in regard to destruction of parts: always try a
punch by hand first
. If it won’t fit, wipe it off several times with a
clean cloth, oil it lightly, and try aga
in. If it still won’t fit,
make sure that you have the right punch! Punches must fit closely
but
with relative ease into the dies. Keith nose punches, and others with
deep cavit
ies, expand slightly and may not fit easily by hand after
they have been used. But they do f
it, given a little oil and a little
gentle pressure. I have seen .242-inch diameter rifle pu
nches (for the
6mm point forming die) pushed into a .2238-inch diameter hole in the
.
22 core seating die. "I thought it went in a little hard," the
bullet-maker said.
Yes, I guess it might. Comes out a little hard,
too. Try it by hand first.
The slot i
n the reloading press ram collects primer residue and
metal shavings. Take a cotton swab or
a wood pick and scrape it out
before installing your bullet swage punch. The material stuck
in the
slot can tip the punch, causing it to ram into the die at an angle and
tear a
nasty gouge all down the side of the punch. Again, be gentle
when you first start out. Don’t
use speed or force on the first
stroke, but instead, gently guide things together and notic
e how they
fit. Then go after it, once you know everything is lined up.
Making .22 cal
iber bullets out of rimfire cases is one of the most
popular swaging activities today for a
reloading press bullet-maker.
It has been so for twenty years. The process takes three steps
. Draw
the jackets, seat the cores, and form the points. Lead tip bullets add
a furth
er step of forming the tips. Detailed instructions come with
the die sets, and further infor
mation is found in the various technical
bulletins and text books we publish.
The pho
tos in this book will give you a good idea of how the
process works. The most questions are
about annealing and cleaning .22
cases. First, annealing is usually done after boiling in ho
t soapy
water and vinegar (to clean and shine the brass). Annealing is only so
that t
he ogive will form without any folding. If you make a big lead
tip, you probably can avoid a
nnealing. There are several ways to go
about it. Putting a group of clean cases in a tuna ca
n, inside a lead
pot, and letting them turn dark brown (15 minutes, usually) will do it.
cleaning oven for the
duration of the self-clean cycle is also good.
Using a propane torch or electric heat gun (C
orbin FHG-1) is also good,
primarily for smaller lots.
The older books suggested 600
to 650 degrees F. I have found that
modern cases take 800 to 900 degrees F., and that a stan
dard electric
oven doesn’t usually get hot enough. We do make excellent quality heat
treatment furnaces, but for the hobbyist they are too expensive. The
time and quench after h
eating are not critical. Quenching has no
effect on the hardness. It merely helps to knock o
f any scale
that might have formed. If you use the right temperature, you won’t
get a
ny scale, and you can forget about any quench. Just let the cases
air cool. Use swage lube o
n the punch when you draw the jackets. Just
slip them over the long, 0.2-inch diameter punch
and push them into the
die, following instructions provided with the tool.
Rimfire c
ases are good to about 3,000 or 3,200 fps before they
start to come apart. Actual speed depe
nds on rifling depth and
sharpness. They force you to load a .22-250 down to .222 Mag veloci
ty,
but on the other hand, they also make you save powder, barrel, and cost
nothing f
or material. When they hit, you’d swear they were going over
4,000 fps compared to a factory
bullet performance. And there is no
problem with barrel fouling or wear: if anything, the t
hinner jackets
are easier on your gun than a standard bullet. Try it! You will be
sur
prised at the accuracy.
.he CHAPTER 5 CORBIN HANDBO
OK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #.op
SWAGING WITH THE MITY MITE SYSTEM
Swaging
with the Mity Mite press and dies is a huge step up from
using a reloading press. It’s fast
er, easier to use, more than doubles
the power you have, so that the effort is cut by more t
han half, and
extends the caliber and design range to dizzying heights.
You can obtain
dies to make any caliber from .14 to .458, any
weight up to about 450 grains, with a maximu
m bullet length of about
1.3 inches. You’re read about the CORE SEATING DIE, POINT FORMER, a
nd
LEAD TIP DIE in the previous chapter (or, if you skipped it, you should
read it no
w). Let’s explore other kinds of dies that can actually
adjust the weight of the bullet as y
ou swage, or form boattails on the
normal flat-base jacket.
There are FIVE kind
s of swage dies for the Mity Mite system:
(1) The CORE SWAGE die
(2) The CORE SE
ATER die
(3) The POINT FORMING die
(4) The LEAD TIP die
(5) The REBATED BOATTAIL
die set
In addition to swage dies, there are draw dies, and special jacket
form
ing dies. Copper tubing can be formed into bullet jackets for
those calibers where regular d
rawn jackets are not available, too thin
for big game hunting, or too expensive and difficul
t to obtain. Tubing
jackets can be made in the Mity Mite in 0.030-inch wall thickness, in
outstanding, even if the
y are produced from ordinary copper water tube.
The literature that comes with the kit of di
es explains the process in
detail. The one die that is used in this set and not discussed he
re is
the END ROUNDING DIE, which rolls over the tubing in preparation for
closing on
e end. In reality, it is simply a special size of point
forming die, with a round nose cavit
y and special punches for tubing.
The core swage die is made like a core seating die, except
that
both the internal and external punches are very close, sliding fits to
the bore,
and the bore is just large enough to accept a cast or cut
lead core. Also, there are three
orifices in the walls of the die, at
120-degree positions around the circumference.
Y
ou can easily tell this die from the others by looking for these
three bleed holes. It is ea
sy to determine which punches go with the
die: the punches are far too small to fit closely
in any other die of
the same caliber set. Just try them by hand. If they fit smoothly
into the die cavity, they are right.
There are really two forms of core swage die. One is th
e ordinary
core swage, used to adjust the lead core weight shape before making a
bull
et from it. The other is a variation called the LEAD SEMI-
WADCUTTER DIE, or LSWC-1. In the M
ity Mite system, we place a -M after
the model number of the die set, and for the same kind
of set in the
Hydro-press system, we place a -H after the model. There is no LSWC-1
o
r, for that matter, any kind of core swage or bleed-off die for the
reloading press.
T
he LSWC-1-M can be used to make a complete bullet in one stroke.
It has a bore size that is
finished bullet diameter, and the punches
have ends that are shaped just like a reverse of t
he bullet nose and
base you want to form. Because the punch forms the nose by flowing
lead into its cavity, there has to be a small shoulder between the nose
and shank, where th
e edge of the punch presses into the core. The
LSWC-1-M cannot make a smoothly curved ogive
without a step.
Let’s make a bullet in this die. First, cut or cast a small
quantity o
f lead core as described in the earlier chapters. But leave
from two to five grains more lea
d than you actually want in the final
bullet weight. Locate your LSWC-1-M die set. You can s
ee that the die
has no adapter body like the reloading press die.
The Mity Mite dies
don’t use an adapter body, because they are
made to screw directly into the RAM of the Mity
Mite press! The die is
a very tough knurled cylinder of costly, special steel, heat treated
in
electronic furnaces with a special kind of atmosphere. The Corbin
process of die-m
aking has been developed over the past twenty years to
a level far beyond that used by most
of the mass-production arms and
ammo companies. The dies you receive are superior in constru
ction and
in design to the usual production die, and the bullets you can make in
them
should be superior to those you can purchase, if you do your part!
The die has an internal p
unch, which normally is left in the die
(no need to remove it). It goes into the die from th
e threaded end of
the die. The threaded end of the die screws directly into the press
ram. This is just the opposite of reloading press dies, which screw
into the press head. In
the Mity Mite, the press head holds a FLOATING
PUNCH HOLDER. This black oxide finished, 7/8
-14 TPI threaded cylinder
looks like a reloading press die. But it holds the external punch.
The ram of the Mity Mite press is machined so it performs all the
functions of the un
iversal adapter body. There is a shoulder that
stops the internal punch from coming out of t
he top of the die when you
move the ram forward to swage. There is also a hardened tool stee
l pin
with a knurled head, passing through a slot in the side of the ram.
This is the
STOP PIN. It’s job is to stop the backward movement of the
internal punch when you pull the
ram back, so that the internal punch
is forced to slide forward and eject the bullet. You d
on’t need a
mallet, ejector rod, or the power ejector unit with the Mity Mite.
When yo
u consider the wide range of calibers, styles, and jobs
that Mity Mite dies must do, then th
ink of the years of development
that went into the complete system of interchangable, simple
dies and
punches to fit the Mity Mity press, you may realize why it is better to
pur
chase the ready-made system rather than trying to modify reloading
presses, come up with cus
tom parts or tools, or try to modify dies to
work in arbor presses, hydraulic jacks, or vise
s. The universal
interchange of calibers, jobs, and styles in the Mity Mite system is a
can be done in thi
s system makes it far more cost-effective than trying
to come up with one-of-a-kind tools fo
r specific jobs.
The FLOATING PUNCH HOLDER, (Model FPH-1), is included with each
Mity
Mite press. Instead of moving the die to adjust for depth of
punch insertion, you screw the
die all the way into the ram until it
comes to rest on a shoulder. This shoulder, not the th
reads, takes all
the force. Adjustment is all done with the micrometer-like movement of
bullets, or to push a
punch further into the core. Screw it away from
the ram to fit a heavier core, or to push a
punch a little less far
into the die.
To install the LSWC-1-M die and punches in the
Mity Mite, first
make sure that the internal punch is correctly placed in the die. The
> internal punch has a 1/2-inch diameter head at one end, and a short
"tail" protr
uding from the other side of this head. The tail is about
5/16-inch diameter, and its length
varies from a quarter inch to five
eighths of an inch, depending on the nominal weight (len
gth) for which
the punch was designed. This tail, working with the over-all punch
len
gth and the dimensions of the ram itself, determines the lightest
and heaviest weight of bul
let that you can get into the die. Lighter
bullets require less of a tail, and heavier ones
take a longer tail.
You don’t need to know the technical details — just let us know
w
hat general weight range you want, and we’ll see that the punch
provided will do it. If one
punch won’t handle the whole range, we may
suggest a second punch. Usually, the range is so
great that you can
reasonably expect to make handgun weights with one punch and rifle
weights with another. The punch tail determines how much volume is
left in the die cavity,
which
You don’t need to know the technical details — just let us know
what general w
eight range you want, and we’ll see that the punch
provided will do it. If one punch won’t h
andle the whole range, we may
suggest a second punch. Usually, the range is so great that yo
u can
reasonably expect to make handgun weights with one punch and rifle
weights with
another. The punch tail determines how much volume is
left in the die cavity, which nger pr
essure. It isn’t necessary
to use a pair of pliers. Now identify the external punch.
The external punch fits the die cavity, but it has no "tail"
section on its half-i
nch diameter head. Whereas the internal punch has
to be as long as the entire die, so it can
push the bullet out the
mouth, the external punch needs only to fit half-way or less into t
he
die bore. It is shorter. The part that is matched to the die cavity
diameter is le
ss than half the entire punch length. There is a section
of the punch just after the head th
at is turned to about three eighths
of an inch in diameter.
This section slips into a
hardened bushing that you will find
inside the floating punch holder. There are three parts
in the punch
holder besides the body itself. First, there is a hexagon-shaped
bushin
g or retainer that threads into the mouth of the punch holder.
Remove this bushing. It shoul
d unscrew easily by hand. Inside the
punch holder are two hardened tool steel parts. One is
a half-inch
diameter bushing or ring. One side is flat, the other curved.
This part i
s called the ROCKER BUSHING. It slips over the
external punch, so that the flat side rests a
gainst the head of the
punch, and the curved side faces toward the small end of the punch
diameter, the hex
bushing and the rocker bushing are permanently
assembled to the punch. These punches must h
ave the end opposite the
head larger than the standard hole size in the two bushings. We mak
e
them fit the standard system by building them with a removable, cap-
screw secured h
ead. We assemble them here, so you don’t have to take
them apart and reassemble them every t
ime you want to install a
bushing.
If your caliber takes a punch smaller than 0.375-i
nch tip
diameter, the rocker bushing and hex bushing supplied with the press,
in the
punch holder, will easily slip over the punch. Assemble them
now. Put the hex bushing over t
he punch so it will hold the punch into
the punch holder. Look inside the punch holder. If y
ou use your
little finger, or a toothpick, you can probably pick out the last part,
c
alled the ROCKER BUTTON. This part looks just like the rocker
bushing, but is solid.
T
he rocker button fits into a V-shaped surface in the bottom of
the punch holder cavity. It a
llows the head of the punch to transfer
all the tons of swaging force to the punch holder in
a safe manner, yet
still allows the punch to rotate slightly so it can line up with the
align or float to ke
ep the punch perfectly aligned under stress. This
is another advantage of the Mity Mite syst
em over other swaging
methods.
Notice that the rocker button has a curve on one side,
and is flat
on the other. Make sure that you put this button into the punch holder
so
that the curved side goes in first. You want the punch head to rest
against the flat side o
f the button. And the flat side of the rocker
bushing presses against the other side of the
punch head. The curved
side of the rocker bushing matches a curve machined in the inside edg
e
of the hex bushing. When you screw it all into the punch holder, the
punch is held
so that the exact center of its head is in the center of
a 1-1/4 inch ball, most of which is
not physically present, but the
working parts of which are formed by the curves and their m
ating
surfaces.
You don’t need to take any special precautions with this assembly.
correctly. Look at
the pictures in this manual before you try it. If
any of the three parts are missing, your
punch will not be properly
supported and could be damaged under swaging pressure. Many peopl
e
purchase spare punch holders so that they can assemble the punch and
leave it, lock
ing the lock ring on the punch holder to repeat their
favorite adjustment quickly. This is n
early as fast as having several
presses, since it is the only adjustment that ever needs to
be made.
With the die assembled into the ram, and the external punch in the
punch hold
er, back off the punch holder several turns away from the
ram. Pick up a core, moisten it wi
th a little Corbin Swage Lube (or
Corbin Dip Lube, if you want to make a lead bullet with a
wax film for
up to 1200 fps velocity), and place it into the die mouth.
The core must
fit into the die easily. If it won’t fit, it is too
large and you should not attempt to swa
ge it. Never swage anything too
large to fit into the die by hand. If it is far too small, y
ou will
tend to get folds and wrinkles in the shank, and it will be hard to get
enoug
h weight without having the core stick out the die mouth. The
maximum length of core still m
ust fit into the die before any pressure
is noticed on the handle. Never try to swage someth
ing that is just
barely inside the die, or sticks out of the die mouth.
Carefully mov
e the ram forward so that you can align the external
punch and die. Don’t pinch your fingers
! Just help the punch go into
the die this first time, and then, when you have it inside, ge
ntly snug
up the hex bushing so that the punch doesn’t move freely (it will still
mov
e under swaging forces).
The Mity Mite press is so powerful it can pinch your finger off
Always keep your
hand firmly on the handle when you are adjusting a
punch, and don’t trust gravity or fricti
on to keep the handle from
falling! I never place my finger between the die and punch. Any t
ime
I make a manual adjustment or help the punch line up the first time, I
always kee
p my fingers on the sides of the punch, away from the tip.
If I should drop the handle on th
e press, the die would move my hand
out of the way. I might pinch myself against the end of
the punch
holder, but that wouldn’t be too bad.
If the punch won’t reach into the die
at this point, move the
punch holder forward. The ram should be moved to its foremost
> position, so it reaches as close to the press head as it can go. This
happens at the point
of maximum leverage, with the pivots in the handle
lined up in a straight line with the ram
centerline. This press is
unique in having all its linkage and ram concentric and in a stra
ight
line with maximum forward travel. Most presses have a side-torque
caused by offs
etting the handle, and several can’t reach full leverage
because they physically run out of
travel before then.
If the die can’t be moved forward because the lead core comes up
a
gainst the external punch, back off the external punch by turning the
punch holder. When you
have the ram all the way forward, hold it there
and screw the punch holder toward the die u
ntil you can’t turn it any
more. The punch will have come up against the lead core.
B
ack off the ram slightly, and move the floating punch holder half
a turn forward. Stroke the
press forward again. Then pull the handle
back and almost, but not quite, eject the bullet.
You can see the
bullet at the die mouth, ready to be ejected. Notice whether or not
the nose is completely filled out. If not, adjust the punch holder
forward another half turn
and swage the bullet again. Within a few
strokes you will have the press set up so that the
nose is forming
completely.
A small quantity of lead should begin to move out the ble
ed holes.
I like to make my cores so that about one eighth of an inch of lead
extrusi
on comes out the bleed holes on every stroke. Also, I like to
swage the cores so that they a
re double-swaged: every stroke goes over
and past the "top dead center" position,
and then passes "over the top"
again on the back stroke. You will notice that the
Mity Mite retracts
the ram slightly as you continue through the end of the stroke. This
you use it.
If you eject the bullet and weigh it, you can see whether or not
to adjust the punch holder
and in what direction. If the bullet is too
light, then you may need to adjust the punch hol
der away from the ram
(to make more room in the die at the end of the stroke, and extrude
holder toward the ram
(to reduce the volume in the die at the end of
the stroke, and force more lead out the blee
d holes).
Obviously, if your lead cores start out too light, there is no way
to make t
hem all weigh the same by swaging and still come up with a
heavier bullet. The only way to g
et consistent core weight by this
method is to start out with plenty of lead, and remove all
the surplus
along with the variation. The hardness of the lead has a good deal to
do
with consistency of weight. Harder lead will flow more slowly. You
may get variations in we
ight with harder lead, because you don’t allow
enough time for the lead to quit flowing. I r
ecommend only pure, soft
lead for the Mity Mite. You can get by with alloys of up to 3%
If you don’t notice any lead coming out the bleed hole
s, stop
swaging and figure out whether the core is so short that it lets the
external
punch move past the bleed hole location. If this happens to
be the case, then you need an i
nternal punch with a shorter tail
section. Most people assume the external punch is too shor
t. But
making it any other size tends to cause other problems. The right way
to adjus
t for extreme weight ranges is with the design of the internal
punch tail.
After you
have swaged some bullets, the internal punch may be more
difficult to move. This is because
the three extrusion holes in the
die become filled with the last lead wire extrusion made. T
he ends of
the lead wire press against the punch sides. This is normal. You
should st
ill be able to remove and re-insert the external punch, though
there is no reason to do so u
nless you want to change to another style
(such as going from flat base to cup base).
Read this part over again and make sure you understand the
principle involved. This is the s
ame operation you use with all the
various core swages and lead semi-wadcutter dies. It work
s the same
way whether you use the automatic proximity detectors and pressure
transdu
cers of the Hydro-press or whether you do it by hand on the Mega
Mite or Mity Mite press. It
doesn’t matter whether you are making
benchrest .224 rifle cores, handgun .44 Magnum cores,
or .40 Sharps
rifle bullets for paper-patching. Airgun pellets or precision lead
wei
ghts for phonograph cartridges all are made exactly this way.
Two notes about high precision:
(1) Make sure the ram does indeed
go past the "top of stroke" position each time,
and (2) try to use the
same timing for each stroke. Timing is important because lead flows
on
an exponential curve with time. Lead has a creep rate that can
continue for years
under a constant low stress. If you maintain a
steady rate, your cores will come out much cl
oser than if you whip the
handle back and forth one time, and lean on it to drink a cup of c
offee
the next.
You should be able to get less than 1% variation in total core
weight on your first attempt. If you are really good, you can get less
than 0.5% variation.
Some people actually achieve such high precision
that there is no discernable weight variati
on on a normal reloading
scale. It is all the same equipment. Your skill in operating it mak
es
the difference.
But think about what this means: If you start with a 100 grain
a 50 grain core, on
e percent is half a grain. With a 500 grain core,
one percent is five grains. In other words
, don’t just expect half a
grain or less on everything, because it is very sloppy for light
bullets and beyond any reasonable expectation for heavier ones.
Besides which, weight
variation alone has very little to do with
accuracy.
Weight variation that is caused
by differences in jacket thickness
or alloy composition is a bad thing for accuracy. It mea
ns the trouble
is elsewhere, and it means differences in bore friction, bullet upset,
and other factors. Weight variation that is merely the result of
having another grain or tw
o of lead is quite insignificant. I have won
matches with bullets that varied more than five
grains in weight.
Fortunately, there was nothing else wrong with them. A great number of
came from having
more or less core material, I wouldn’t worry about it.
But usually it comes from having diff
erences in jacket material, and
that affects groups.
You’ve made some nice lead semi-w
adcutter bullets now, using the
LSWC-1-M, and they are ready to shoot if you used Dip Lube o
n them.
Using Corbin Swage Lube, you would have made lead cores that could then
be fu
rther processed into bullets. In that case, you would want to
clean off the cores to remove
any lube before putting them into
jackets. The reason is that any lube inside the jacket con
tributes to
a possible unbalance of the bullet.
Put the cores in a strainer or wire ba
sket and slosh them around
in a strong solvent. Corbin Cleaning Solvent comes in pint cans,
and
is able to remove any lubricant traces, fingerprints, and grease from
either core
s, jackets, or from your guns. It will remove some
finishes, too, so be careful around stock
s and table tops! After
cleaning the cores, spread them out to dry. Change the core swage di
e
for the core seating die.
We’ve already talked about the reloading press core seati
ng die.
It is exactly like the one for the Mity Mite and Hydro-press systems.
Only di
fferences in size and how it is held in the press apply. A core
seating die looks like a cor
e swage without any bleed holes. That is
your first clue. The second is that the bore is lar
ger, and it accepts
the right caliber of jacket for the bullet you want to make. Try a
> jacket in the die — if it fits, probably it is the same caliber as the
die. A positive te
st for caliber is to swage a lead core in the core
seating die, and then use your trusty mic
rometer to measure the
diameter of the lead after swaging.
Core seating dieore swage
without any bleed holes. That is
your first clue. The second is that the bore is larger, and
it accepts
the right caliber of jacket for the bullet you want to make. Try a
jacket
in the die — if it fits, probably it is the same caliber as the
die. A positive test for c
aliber is to swage a lead core in the core
seating die, and then use your trusty micrometer
to measure the
diameter of the lead after swaging.
Core seating dies or rifle
bullets, and there is no need to purchase another special die for lead
bullets, and (2) you
can sometimes get a more precisely formed bullet
for critical applications by doing it in mo
re steps. This is
especially true for harder lead alloys.
The internal punch of the co
re seating die fits into the die bore,
and either has a flat face, a probe (for hollow base
bullets), a dome
(for a dish or cup base bullet), or it can have a cavity (for some
k
inds special bases, not usually on jacketed bullets as the jacket edge
has a hard time jumpi
ng over the edge of the punch). The external
punch can be almost anything!
If you want
to make a handgun bullet, the external punch will have
a nose cavity shaped like a mirror i
mage of the nose. This is only for
lead nose bullets, not for those with the jacket curved a
round the
ogive. If you want to make an open tip bullet, as most rifle bullets
tend t
o be, then the external punch should fit into the jacket rather
than the sides of the die. T
his means that the external punch can be
quite a bit smaller than the die bore.
A holl
ow point bullet uses a core seating punch with a probe
machined on the tip. This probe pushe
s down into the lead core and
displaces lead around itself. The punch is made so that it cen
ters
itself either in the jacket (for an internal hollow point, having the
jacket wra
pped around it), or on the die walls (a typical lead tip
hollow point). This keeps the cavit
y concentric with the sides of the
bullet.
You can use another external punch in the s
ame die. First press a
cavity into the lead core, as deep as you wish (you don’t have to use
the full extension of the punch into the core, you know…). Then,
change punches an
d push a Keith nose or a round nose punch into the
die, setting the adjustment so that you d
on’t completely reform and
close the cavity you just made. Again, you will soon see that the
re is
a lot of control possible between not forming the bullet sufficiently,
and comp
letely forming it to the punch shape.
Your first punch should be used with reasonable force,
compressing
the lead core and filling out the jacket to meet the die walls. It
shoul
d leave the jacket and core in the die, not pull it out with the
punch. But any subsequent p
unch that you want to use does not have to
be pushed so far or hard into the core. The shank
is already formed.
Everything else is just a matter of styling the bullet. Go ahead and
use them with var
ious degrees of insertion and in different orders.
But the point forming die really brings ou
t the power to
experiment! You read about this die already under the reloading press
section. It has a cavity shaped just like the bullet, except there is a
little hole in the t
ip for a strong, spring-wire ejection pin to push
the bullet back out again. In the Mity Mit
e system, this die has a
major difference from the reloading press types. It has a captive <
br /> internal punch instead of a retraction spring.
You’ll recall that the point forming die
has a very small ejection
pin instead of a conventional internal punch, and it is held out
of the
die cavity by a spring. In the Mity Mite press, there is no spring.
That stop
pin we discussed earlier is pulled out of the top of the
press, and slipped into a slot in t
he head of the ejection pin after
you screw the die into place. Don’t forget to do this, or
you can
damage the ejection pin.
The first thing I do is pull out the stop pin. Then I
place the
ejection pin in the end of my point forming die (it goes in from the
threa
ded end, just like all internal punches in all dies), and screw it
into the ram as one assem
bly. With the ram in the right position, it
is easy to grasp the tip of the ejection pin whi
le it sticks out the
die mouth. I do this, and slide and turn the ejection pin until I can <
br /> see the slot underneath the stop pin hole. Then I push the stop pin
back into place, a
nd give the ejection pin a tug to make sure it is
actually locked in place.
Now, the e
jection pin will be retracted automatically from the die
without any spring pressure, and it
will be held in place to eject the
bullet. The Mity Mite system has less of a problem with
a stuck
bullet, since you can use the press to retract the pin again and make
another
attempt to swage it. If you feel resistance to ejection, it is
usually better to unscrew th
e die and use a short piece of the same
diameter of spring wire as the ejection pin, along w
ith a small mallet,
to tap the bullet out. This happens when you use over-sized
compo
nents, try to reswage a finished factory bullet in the same
diameter of die (many people do
this, not realizing that you usually
need a slightly larger die for it to work), or forget t
o use the right
lubricant.
The most common problem people have when first starting to
swage
is bending the ejection pin. After a while, you get a better feel for
the kind
of resistance that is normal, and bent pins become less and
less frequent. It is a good idea
to purchase spares if you would be
under any pressure because of having your set out of com
mission for a
little while due to a damaged ejection pin or a stuck bullet (usually
t
he cause). One or two spare ejection pins can save your day.
Now let’s talk about a set of di
es that we usually consider one
package: the RBT-2 set, or rebated boattail forming dies. Th
is is
actually a matched pair of dies, not just one. They replace the usual
straight-
walled core seater whenever you want to make a rebated
boattail bullet.
A rebated boa
ttail bullet has a step, or shoulder, like a Keith
nose on a pistol bullet. That step acts l
ike a spoiler to break up the
blast of hot muzzle gas just as the bullet exists your barrel.
On a
conventional smooth boattail design, the gas flows with the streamlined
shape a
nd zips past the bullet, flows along the ogive, and then breaks
up right in front of the bul
let as it tries to get away. A boattail
means that you are probably shooting through your ow
n muzzle blast
turbulence! That can add perhaps another 10% error factor to the
bulle
t dispersion.
The small rebate has a minor drag effect, but over-all, the
improvement
in total performance is greater. Not only do you gain
ballistic coefficient by reducing bas
e drag, but you also retain the
natural good disperson characteristics of the flat base bull
et during
that critical exit time from the muzzle. Add to that the fact that the
dies
and punches last longer, there is less gas cutting and a better
seal in your barrel. Those
are compelling reasons to forget about a
conventional boattail design if you have the option
of making your own
bullets.
The process is just like seating a regular core. You use
the same
external core seating punch that you would use with your flat-base core
seat
er. But instead of using the flat base core seating die, place the
core and jacket into the
BT-1 or BOATTAIL PREFORMING die. This die has
a standard boattail shape inside. You push the
flat-base jacket into
this die, seat the core, and the jacket is converted into a boattail.
Having this taper on the bottom of the jacket makes it easy to
form the rebated step
or edge. The next die, BT-2 or RBT FINISHING
DIE, has a shoulder that transposes itself into
the jacket when you
once again seat the core. If you tried to use this die alone, the
> shoulder would catch the jacket bottom and tear it. But the taper gets
the bottom of the j
acket past the shoulder before any real pressure is
applied. The jacket moves outward to tak
e on the die shape, instead of
trying to draw over this shoulder.
Included with the RB
T-2-M set (which can be purchased as an add-on
to a conventional three-die or four-die set)
is a special external
punch for the point forming die. This punch has a cavity in the tip, <
br /> to match the shape of the boattail. The punch supports the rebated
boattail shape, and
keeps it from being mashed out of form. The punch
is a little fragile, so don’t use it for
other experiments without
considering the forces you plan to apply to those edges.
In
a short, fat pistol caliber, you can use a Keith nose punch for
a rebated boattail bullet.
First form a conventional jacketed bullet
with a nice truncated conical nose. This is done i
n the point forming
die. In fact, you can make the whole bullet in the point forming die
a core seating pu
nch to seat the core. Eject this bullet, turn it
over, and now you have a tapered section fa
cing out of the die and an
open tip flat end facing in. Use the Keith punch to push the bull
et
into the die.
The tapered nose will fit into the Keith punch nicely, and will be <
br /> made into a rebated boattail base. The flat open end will be formed
into a new nose in
the point forming die. It is simple, effective, and
the bullets seem to gain between 20% an
d 40% in ballistic coefficient
at subsonic speeds. This doesn’t work if the bullet is much l
onger
than its caliber, so don’t try it with conventional rifle bullets.
Lead tip dies
for the Mity Mite system are just like those
described for reloading presses, except, of co
urse, they are made to
fit the press ram. They look very much like a core seating die. Some
people wonder why we can’t use a core seating die. The reason is that
the bullet won’
t slip back into the core seater after it is finished at
full diameter. It will go in, but o
nly under some force. And the
force is greater than that required to form the lead tip.
you will probably have s
ome experimenting to do, because you need to
have just enough lead protruding so that the ca
vity in the internal
punch of the lead tip die can reshape it fully. Too much lead showing <
br /> doesn’t hurt, but too little is a problem. It can’t fill the cavity,
and won’t shape u
p properly. With the lead tip die, it is necessary to
use very light pressure. Pressing too
hard makes a ring in the ogive
of the bullet. In some small tips, it helps to grind a sharp
wedge
shape on the ejection pin of the point forming die. Then, the ejection
pin will
split the protruding, deformed lead and come to rest against
the jacket edge.
The ja
cket edge won’t split easily, so the bullet can be ejected.
Then, when you put the bullet in
to the lead tip die to finish the end,
the neatly split blob of lead will reform nicely and
become whole
again. This technique is useful for problem cases, where one must have
a
small tip size and bring the jacket nearly closed. Generally it
isn’t required. Large handg
un-style lead tips, which are probably a
quarter of the caliber or more, don’t generally req
uire the lead tip
die in order to form properly. A conventional three-die package for
open tip bullets works well for making large lead tips of this type.
The lead tip die (LT-1-
M) can be purchased separately as an add-
on, or it can be included with your set of dies in
the LTFB-4-M, RBTL-
5-M, or the FRBL-6-M sets. These all have an "L" in their catal
og
number. The "L" stands for "Lead Tip". All it means is that a lead
the various sets of
dies are assembled from the same basic individual
dies. Everything but the LSWC-1-M set sta
rts with a core swage and a
core seating die, and adds a point forming die, and various
A "FB" in the catalog numbe
r means "Flat Base". It indicates that
you have a standard core seating die in the
package, not necessarily
that you are limited to flat base rather than cup, dish, or hollow
bases. In fact, if you order a pistol set with the cup base specified,
you could ver
y well receive a set that doesn’t have a flat base punch
at all, but it still has the basic
ability to make one if you get the
right punch. We’d still call it a "FJFB-3-M" if
it has a core swage,
core seat, and point forming die.
The "FJ" only stand
s for "Full Jacket", and is primarily to fill
in space in the catalog number, sinc
e any set with a point forming die
can be used to make a full jacket bullet. The letters &qu
ot;RB" or "RBT" in
the catalog number stand for "Rebated Boattail",
and they mean that the
two RBT dies are included, along with the proper RBT punch for the <
br /> point forming die. If the "F" for "Flat base" is also in the catalog
Both the standard core
seater and the two RBT core seaters are
included, in that case.
The number in the ca
talog number tells how many dies are in the
set. For instance, in a "FRBL-6-M" set
, you have flat base (F) core
seater, two RBT core seaters (RB), a lead tip die (L), and of
course a
core swage and point former, which are assumed present in anything
above a t
wo-die set. That makes six dies, ae both flat and RBT bullets.
Both the standard core seater
and the two RBT core seaters are
included, in that case.
The number in the catalog n
umber tells how many dies are in the
set. For instance, in a "FRBL-6-M" set, you h
ave flat base (F) core
seater, two RBT core seaters (RB), a lead tip die (L), and of course
a
core swage and point former, which are assumed present in anything
above a two-die
set. That makes six dies, a one die with matching punches, and it makes the same kind of bullet
the bleed holes.
That means half-jacket and straight lead bullets are
the proper kind for a LSWC-1-M.
T
he techniques of swaging are covered in much greater detail in
the other books. I recommend
that you invest a little time in reading
about the process, if you have not done it before.
Bullet swaging is
quite simple, but also quite powerful. Because there are so many
po
ssible variations, it is far more important to learn the principles
than it is to try and fo
llow a block of pictures and repeat each step
exactly. With six different kinds of dies, and
hundreds of different
techniques and styles in thousands of calibers, can you imagine the <
br /> number of pages you’d need to keep on hand, in order to have a "1-2-3-"
cook
book to follow for each possible bullet you wanted to make?
On the other hand, if you underst
and how a core swage works, how
to use a core seater, and what kind of bullets you could exp
ect from a
point forming die and a lead tip die, you can work out all the
variations
for yourself, and probably come up with others that none of
us have yet discovered! In the M
ity Mite system, pressures run from
20,000 to 50,000 psi or more. That is some kind of power
! And, it’s
all under your control.
.he CHAPTER 6 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO.
7, PAGE #.op
SWAGING WITH THE HYDRO-PRESS SYSTEM
The manufacture of cust
om bullets has grown tremendously in the
past decade: people with a diverse range of jobs (a
nd quite a few who
were between jobs), people who had successful professional careers,
> have found custom bullet manufacture to be pleasant, profitable, and a
wonderful way to pl
an a comfortable retirement income or to build a
business at low cost that can be turned ove
r to a son or daughter.
There is no typical custom bullet maker, as far as I can tell. I
had severe physical
handicaps, people who are the picture of a robust
outdoors athlete, people with gruff perso
nalities and a lot of
mechanical aptitude, and people who are extremely pleasant, quiet type
s
who have a hard time with a screwdriver. All of them seem to be doing
quite well in
the custom bullet field.
Today, you can purchase a complete package, ready to start
p
roduction of bullets so advanced, and so difficult for mass
production, that none of the big
names in bullet making can compete
with you. It may seem hard to believe, but none of them
have machinery
capable of forming some of the extremely tough, thick jackets, in
heav
ier weights of large calibers, that you can easily make on a small
machine that fits in your
den or garage.
The reason they don’t (and can’t) compete in so many areas is
their co
mmittment to volume. Their very size dictates that limited
production items are not profitab
le to them. The wiser executives at
these firms welcome my customers into the field: they kn
ow that the
need for quality specialty bullets can be met by custom bullet makers
and
that there is no direct competition, but in fact a benefit: they
can now forget about press
ure to make unprofitable (to them) small
runs, and just refer clients to you, the custom bul
let maker.
Besides, the kind of equipment needed to mass produce heavy walled
jackets
in larger diameters is extremely expensive. The stroke length
and tonnage of the multi-stati
on presses for high speed production is
quite beyond anything used for ordinary target and s
maller diameter
hunting bullets. It would cost a minimum of half a million dollars to
install the equipment required, and the market for specialty bullets of
this kind is
far too small to be investing even that kind of money, not
to mention the promotion, invent
ory, and special materials required.
On the other hand, what is unprofitable to a big outfit
is enough
to keep a family or two living in high style! A custom bullet
typically is
sold for prices from 50 cents to over two dollars per
bullet. They are NOT price competitive
with mass produced bullets, and
they don’t have to be. Even at twice those prices, there ar
e between
ten thousand and one hundred thousand (typically fifty thousand)
bullets so
ld in any given specialty size and caliber each year, on the
average.
Who pays that f
or bullets? People who own exotic calibers.
People who like to hunt big game and have experi
enced repeated failures
of cheaper mass produced bullets. People who want a specific weight
or
style in some caliber and don’t mind investing a little more than usual
to try it.
People who… well, basically, people interested in
something better, different, or unavail
able elsewhere at any price.
You don’t sell a lot of these bullets to local plinkers, of
or more to make a
trip to Africa for hunting, special police teams who
need bullets of unusual design for tac
tical situations, and the
everyday handloader with a spark of curiosity in his soul — these
people are the ones who produce backlogs for my customers, often
cleaning out their
entire supply at trade shows or by magazine
advertising sales.
The machine that makes
it possible is the Corbin Hydro-press.
Everything about the machine is designed so that you
can get into the
field at minimum cost, and grow without having to worry about
outgro
wing the capacity of the equipment. It is capable of forming
solid brass bullets in one stro
ke, making a 10-gauge shotgun slug from
a chunk of raw lead, forming partitioned jackets in
heavy tubing,
making brass, copper, or even steel jackets with thin or heavy walls,
a
nd extruding lead wire in any diameter.
It can turn right around and reload some ammo for you
, too, using
regular RCBS type dies and shell holders. When you suddenly realize
that
all your reloading presses are now complex progressives or
turrets and you have lost the ol
d rugged simplicity of a powerful
single-station machine, the Hydro-press greets you with a
"can-do!" and
barely begins to unleash its tremendous power on jobs that would
It’s not large — only 34 inches
tall, 23 inches wide, and 15
inches deep (about like a small refrigerator). But the design i
s the
essence of rugged simplicity. We use a Hydro-press to cold-forge steel
parts (u
sed in other Hydro-presses, by the way!). It can stamp, blank,
coin, trim, and punch steel,
in addition to its regular duties as a
profit center for your bullet making.
The major
advantage of the Hydro-press is its built-in electronic
controls and logic circuits: the &q
uot;brains" of the press and the
sensitive transducers that tell it what is going on in
the world.
Anyone can assemble a hydraulic cylinder to a ram, somehow adapt it to
a
set of dies, and let it slam blindly back and forth. That won’t make
good bullets, however.
The ability to control pressure in the die,
exact position of the punches, and precise amoun
t of time that the
pressure is being applied, is needed in order produce a consistently
The Hydro-press uses transducers that sense the position of the
ram a
nd control its movement though logic circuits. The earlier
versions used high quality limit
switches to tell top, bottom and
loading position. Current versions use electronic proximity
detectors
that have no moving parts and do not contact the ram. Solid state
timing c
ontrols the application time of the pressure. Pressure
transducers control the level of pres
sure applied. All this is
automatic, locked away in the steel innards of the cabinet.
What you see is a colorful Lexan-laminate-on-steel top panel, with
a digital counter, adjus
table inspection light, key-locked power
switch, selector switches for various modes of oper
ation, and brightly
colored oversize push-buttons to cycle the press. At the left rear
> corner of the cabinet is a massive steel press head with inch-thick
plate for a base and h
ead, and hardened, ground tool steel ram and
guide rods running on bearings.
As power
ful as it can be, the Hydro-press is also sensitive. You
can set the pressure, speed, and ti
ming in seconds. It can reload a .25
ACP case just as easily as it cold-flows a solid hunk o
f copper. Blind
force cannot begin to accomplish the tasks you can handle with the
in
telligent Hydro-press system. The dies and tooling for the Hydro-
press are capable of sustai
ning much higher pressures than smaller dies
for the reloading press or Mity Mite. They use
1.5-inch diameter
blanks, with 1-12 TPI threads. The press head accepts a floating punch
7/8-14 TPI dies as w
ell. The ram can be adapted to 7/8-14 TPI, or to a
conventional shell holder. Shell holders
for 20 mm and for 50 Browning
Machine Gun cartridges are also available.
Fifty calibe
r MG dies (for reloading) are made by C-H Dies and
they fit directly into the head of the Hy
dro-press. I recommend them.
Corbin builds a lead wire extruder kit, jacket maker kits, and
of
course the full range of bullet swaging dies for the Hydro-press.
Calibers are virt
ually limitless. No small arms bullet is too
large. Weights and styles are also quite open t
o a wide range of
designs. If you want something that cannot be made in a hand press,
this is the system that is most likely to handle it. (If the Hydro-
press won’t handle it, c
hances are it cannot be done.)
The dies and punches are massive, far too large for use in a <
br /> reloading press or the Mity Mite. And smaller dies do not fit into
this press for good
reason: it would be too easy to destroy the dies
by using pressures only a Hydro-press die
of that caliber could
sustain. All of the kinds of dies previously discussed are available <
br /> in this system. They work the same way. The only difference is that
the die goes into
the ram so it faces straight up, and the external
punch fits into the floating punch holder
so it faces straight down.
This arrangement makes it possible for you to drop a component
hand, safety contro
ls to start the stroke. In the key-locked manual
start mode, it would take a contortionist t
o put a part of their body
in the way of the moving ram. (An automatic mode, controlled by t
he
key switch, is also available — you need to know the code sequence to
start it. I
t is handy for sizing long runs of cartridge cases with the
ram set for a moderately slow tr
avel).
Rather than describe all the modes and controls of the Hydro-press
here, I will
refer you to the book "POWER SWAGING", which is all about
the use of power presse
s including the Hydro-press. Basically, the
adjustment is still done with the punch holder,
just as it is in the
Mity Mite. The main difference is that you can control exactly where
is adjustable t
o precisely what you need for any job. (Up to six
inches of stroke can be used, if need be!)
The press can stop and reverse itself, after a applying pressure
for whatever time yo
u tell it (0.1 to 10 seconds). It will continue
down, eject the bullet gently to the top of
the die, and then raise
slightly to retract the internal punch so you can put another compon
ent
into the die. The point at which it reverses can be a physical
location set by th
e position transducer, or it can be a pressure level
achieved by the compression of the mate
rial, sensed by the pressure
transducer.
Naturally, if you set the press to stop when
it reaches a certain
position, it is possible to adjust the punch holder so that the bullet
has yet to be contacted, or so that it is pushed too far for the shape
you want. I li
ke to set the stroke length first, leaving myself enough
room to easily put components into
the die but not wasting time moving
the ram any further than it needs to go. Then, after I h
ave a pleasant
working stroke length set up, I back off the punch holder, put a
compo
nent into the die (core, jacket, whatever I might be doing at
the time), and run the press r
am up to the top of its stroke.
With the position switch and pressure switch both turned off
, the
ram will simply stop when it reaches this point. It is now as far up
as it will
go during this particular job. Then, I screw the punch
holder down by hand, until the punch
contacts the material within the
die. I back the ram down slightly (press the green "E
NERGIZE" and
yellow "DOWN" buttons, then release them after the ram moves dow
n a
bit). Then I give the punch holder another quarter to half turn
downward, just to
put some compression on the component on the next up
stroke.
The ram is then moved up
(press the green "ENERGIZE" and the red
"UP" buttons). Again, with pres
sure and position switches turned off,
the ram will do one of two things: if the component i
s being
compressed and is resisting with pressure equal to that of the press
(as read
on the gauge), then the ram will simply stop and hold the
pressure. I can read it on the ga
uge, and I can hear the motor and
pump inside the cabinet as it pushes oil over the by-pass
valves. Or,
if the pressure I have set is great enough to move the component into a
m
ore compact shape, so that the position sensor is activated, then the
pressure gauge will dr
op to zero, the red LED light on the top position
sensor will come on, and the ram will stop
. The motor and pump will
make their usual idling sound.
It’s easy to tell whether or
not you have formed the component to
a limit that was set by position or by resistance to th
e pressure. In
some jobs, you want consistent pressure. This would be true of a core
seating operation. The Hydro-press can form seated cores far more
accurately than you can do
it by hand, on the larger calibers. (On
small calibers, I still think a person can do it be
tter — given enough
experience).
But on a core swage operation, or when making a lea
d bullet with a
LSWC-1-H (note that the die designations are the same as the Mity Mite,
design), us
ing constant pressure would simply move all the lead out
through the bleed holes! It would c
ome out very consistently, under
the precise control of the pressure and logic circuits, but
there would
be no indication of when to stop pressing.
In this operation, you adjust
the pressure sensor to a value lower
than that listed in "POWER SWAGING" as maximu
m safe pressure for the
caliber of die. Then, you actually stop the ram using the position <
br /> sensor (turn on the "POSITION" switch). The location of the top
position tra
nsducer will control the length and weight of the bullet in
this case. It is extremely impor
tant to use sensitive, high-quality
transducers for this kind of work, because variation in
their range of
sensing will cause variation in bullet weight. I use a highly precise
electronic proximity detector that can sense position within millionths
of an inch, far bett
er than the human eye.
In manufacturing a bullet jacket with the Hydro-press, the same
> basic steps are used as with thinner materials in the Mity Mite.
First, a piece of tubing
is cut to length. The length is determined
experimentally and is different for various weigh
ts, styles of tip,
ogive radius, and kinds of bases, as well as for partitions or
con
ventional cup jackets. (We work this out when we build the dies —
design is a large part of
the making of a tubing jacket set).
Tubing is cut to length using a turret lathe with air f
eed, or an
automatic screw machine. Corbin cuts tubing for customers, and
furnishes t
he correct temper and wall thickness, alloy and length to
make the bullet you order. Or, you
can farm this out to a local job
shop, or cut the tubing yourself with a fine-tooth saw (ba
ndsaw,
circular saw, or even a hand saw, using a V-block and a stop to get
even, squa
re cuts).
Boxes of from 100 to 5000 pieces of tubing are normally purchased
with the d
ies. One end has been deburred and chamfered. The other is
left with as much of the cut-off
burr as possible on it. It will form
the base, so any extra metal is welcome and causes no p
roblem. The
piece of tubing is placed over a punch that fits precisely inside, with
a
length that allows at least half the caliber length of tube to
protrude beyond the punch ti
p, unsupported.
The punch has a shoulder that presses on the other (chamfered) end
of
the tube. One simply installs the END ROUNDING die (or, as some call
it, the JACKET MAKING
die) in the press, making sure that the steel pin
that passes through the punch head is inde
ed installed correctly (on
top of the knock-out bar, but under the retraction spring — pict
ures
in POWER SWAGING illustrate how). Thof tube to
protrude beyond the punch tip, un
supported.
The punch has a shoulder that presses on the other (chamfered) end
of the
tube. One simply installs the END ROUNDING die (or, as some call
it, the JACKET MAKING die)
in the press, making sure that the steel pin
that passes through the punch head is indeed in
stalled correctly (on
top of the knock-out bar, but under the retraction spring — pictures
in POWER SWAGING illustrate how). Th end of the tube will now be rounded like a round
nose bullet, and will have a small projection on the end. If the tube
isn’t closed this far
, check the position sensor and make sure that the
right pressure is being used, and the pos
ition sensor isn’t coming on
before that pressure is reached. (If it is, move the floating p
unch
holder down a bit — don’t adjust the position sensor).
The next step is to draw
that piece of rounded-end tube to a
diameter that will fit into the core seat die for your c
aliber. Draw
dies are part of the jacket-maker package if they are required. Again,
i
t is the working system you are purchasing, with all the development
and testing that went i
nto making it work with as few steps as
possible, not a specific number of parts. We provide
what it takes to
make the jacket. Sometimes it takes thousands of dollars worth of die-
don’t charge you
for it. On the other hand, if we can come up with a
process that eliminates one or two steps
by putting in all this work,
then I think you can see that it’s a better deal even if you d
on’t need
some specific die or punch that might otherwise be included.
I mention this
because not every jacket design is made the same
way. Some alloys, thicknesses, calibers, or
combinations of jacket
features take differnt paths during production. Because this is almo
st
entirely unique, one-of-a-kind development work done just for you, to
make your bu
llet, it is impossible to predict whether your set will
include any given number of punches,
dies, or whether certain steps
will be necessary in advance. Instructions are written after
the set
has been developed and tested. Generally, they all follow the process
ouline
d here. Sometimes there are radical exceptions.
Rather than charging you for full shop time
every time something
requires a lot of working out, we just have one standard price for a
"CTJM-
1-H". This set is NOT a fixed physical number of parts, but
varies with whatever is nee
ded. You are purchasing the completed
concept, the process of manufacturing something that n
o one else in the
world has worked out quite this way. If it takes an extra die or two,
consider it unfortun
ate, since it makes the bullet manufacture a little
slower. On the other hand, if we were ab
le to eliminate everything but
one or two dies in the set, you might consider it an over-pri
ced set if
you just looked at the parts received and not at the time that went
into d
eveloping this faster, easier method for you. I would consider
it a blessing that someone ha
d eliminated all the extra steps in my
bullet making operation!
But, as I was saying,
the next step is usually to draw down the
end-rounded tube. For this, a die is provided. The
die fits into the
head of the Hydro-press, using an adapter that takes it from 7/8-14 TPI <
br /> to the 1.5-inch by 12 TPI press head. Adapters are available
separately, if you want t
o permanently install one on each die for
convenience, or you can use the one that comes wit
h the press, and
simply change the dies.
A very long punch is provided, with a base th
at looks like a die.
It screws directly into the press ram. This drawing operation is
exactly a mirror image of the usual swaging set-up. The die and punch
positions are reverse
d, and of course there is no internal punch since
the draw die is an open, annular or ring d
ie. The tubing is simply
dropped over the punch and pushed through the die, coming out the t
op.
After drawing, the tubing normally must be annealed to avoid
cracks in the base. W
e make a very nice electronically controlled
furnace for this, which can be optionally equip
ped with a Nitrogen
atmosphere for even greater control (no scale, no oxidation). If you
that we use to make
our dies, by the way), then a propane or gas
welding torch will do. Heat the tip red
and drop the jacket in water.
The water quench is to knock off scale. It doesn’t do anythin
g for the
anneal.
Now remove the draw die and punch, replace the floating punch
holder, and install the regular core seating die from whatever swage
set you plan to use wi
th these jackets. Some kinds of jackets,
especially partitioned ones, have a different inter
nal punch to
install. Instructions will be included with those sets to tell you
how.
Otherwise, just use the normal flat internal punch. The external
punch is a special one in a
ll cases, however.
The external punch is made for a specific wall thickness and
length
of tubing. It fits into the jacket, supporting the walls while
pressing on the open mouth.
The length of this punch is a bit shorter
than the end-rounding punch, but otherwise they ap
pear to be similar.
The END-FLATTENING punch, as it is called, fits inside the drawn jacket
snugly, but it does fit. The end-rounding punch only fits inside the
tubing, before d
rawing.
As with most swaging tools, sorting out the parts is just a matter
of knownin
g what they are supposed to accomplish, then seeing if they
fit into the parts they are supp
osed to fit. If they don’t fit by
hand, chances are they are not the right parts. If they do
, then they
probably are!
The purpose of the end-flattening punch is to flatten the ro
unded
end of the tube, and make a closed jacket. Application of the
recommended press
ure, as given in the instructions that come with the
set, will produce a flat base. The jack
et is now finished! It can be
used just like any other jacket. The operation just described
can be
applied to the Mity Mite system, using the 0.030-inch wall tubing
suitable for
this press. Tubing jacket manufacture is considerably
easier and faster on the Hydro-press,
even with thin jackets, since the
stroke length is considerably greater and the press has f
ull power
anywhere in the stroke.
The Mity Mite and the Hydro-press systems both use
different size
dies, and do not interchange. The Hydro-press can use reloading press
swage dies, though I don’t recommend the practice: it’s too easy to
over-stress a swage die
by applying more pressure than the recommended
limit (the charts in POWER SWAGING are for Hy
dro-press dies, not the
smaller diameter reloading press dies). However, the Mega Mite press
is a common ground for all Corbin dies.
.he CHAPTER 7 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #.op
SOME SPECIFIC BULLETS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM
I’ve already written sev
en books and my editors tell me I have
over 400 articles in print, describing the various th
ings you can do
with swaging. It would be ridiculous to try and explain every possible
> bullet style in this book — you’d need a flat-bed truck to haul it out
and a crane to fli
p the pages!
Rather than that, I will try to explain how each of several
examples of
bullets can be made, selecting very simple and very exotic
kinds of bullets, including featu
res that shooters find exciting, and
designs that appear difficult or impossible until you h
ave seen how
simple swaging makes it. From these few examples, you should begin to
ga
in an understanding of the process and how much more you can do with
it.
HOLLO
W BASE TARGET PISTOL WADCUTTERS
Lead wadcutters with hollow base can be made in a relo
ading press
in the calibers from .25 ACP to .357/.38, up to .458 caliber in the
Mity
Mite, and up to .75 caliber in the Hydro-press. The reloading
press makes as accurate a bull
et in regard to diameter control, but for
superior weight control, you should use the Mity M
ite or larger swaging
presses.
Select either a core seating die or a lead semi-wadcut
ter die.
The core seating die should be ordered with a wadcutter nose external
punch,
and a hollow base internal punch. So should the LSWC-1 die, if
you wish to use that one. (I
would — it isn’t available in the
reloading press system, however.)
Prepare your lea
d cores by either casting them in the Corbin 4-
cavity adjustable weight core mould, or by cu
tting uniform length
pieces from a spool of lead wire. Specific instructions are found with
the tools or in other sections of this book. More detailed information
can be found i
n the book "Rediscover Swaging".
To establish the proper weight of core, make one
and put it in a
scale pan. Then adjust the next few until you get what you want. If
y
ou plan to use a core seating die (CS-1) without a core swage (CSW-1),
then what you put in
is what you will get out in regard to weight.
This is the case with reloading press die sets
, since there is no core
swage for them. It isn’t necessarily a bad situation. I shot a lot
of
good groups when I was in the Navy using bullets that had 3-5 grains
variation in
my trusty .45 Colt Government pistol.
If you do use the Mity Mite or other special swage pre
ss, and plan
to use a core swage or the all-in-one lead semi-wadcutter die (LSWC-1),
then make the cores from 2 to 5 grains heavier than you want in the
bullet. That gives you s
ome extra lead to extrude along with any
variation in weight.
Lubricate the core by on
e of two methods. If you want a clean
lead bullet with no lubrication, use Corbin Swage Lube
on your finger
tip and thumb, and just give each core a little rotation between them
as you pick them up to put them in the die. It’s simple and natural,
no big deal. Let the b
enchrest rifle fanatics worry about measuring
out lube with a hypodermic needle on a special
stamp pad: it won’t
make any practical difference in where the bullet lands.
The othe
r method is for placing a wax jacket on the bullet itself.
Instead of lube grooves which app
ly a little band of lube and let the
rest of the bullet scrape along the bare metal contact
with your bore,
the whole surface of the bullet can be covered by a thin, hard film of
> high temperature wax.
The product that does this is Corbin Dip Lube. Some call it
&
quot;Liquid Jacket". That’s what it acts like. You dip the core in a
small container an
d put it wet into the swage die. Then apply
pressure, swage the bullet, and it comes out nea
rly dry. Let it cure
for fifteen minutes, and you are ready to load and shoot it! No
sizing, no lubricating, and more lube contacts the bore than if you had
it plastered with co
nventional drag-producing grooves.
Drawback? Alox-beeswax lube works at somewhat higher veloc
ity
levels than Corbin Dip Lube. If you are pushing the bullets toward
magnum speeds,
you may be in for some leading. On the other hand, that
is what Corbin bullet jackets are m
ade to prevent. From 1,200 fps
down, I have had excellent results with the Dip Lube. Many co
mmercial
firms purchase it in gallon lots for their bullets, so I know that it
works
as well for their customers. Any lead bullets can produce
leading in some guns and with some
loads, of course. I certainly do
not claim this product is the best lubricant made, but it
is one of the
most convenient and easily used, especially with swaged bullets.
Before
swaging the bullets, you may want to know how to put the
dies in the press. For the Hydro-pr
ess, you should have the book
"Power Swaging" at hand. You need it, period. Withou
t it you will
break dies. For the Mity Mite, a brief reading of the instruction
sheet
that comes with the press and dies should make the installation
and operation fairly clear.
For the reloading press, ditto.
But here’s a quick run-down: the Mity Mite die goes into the
ram
of the Mity Mite press. The ram is the steel cylinder that moves in
and out of t
he press frame when you pull on the handle. It has a 5/8-
24 TPI thread in the working end, a
nd the handle forks attached to the
other end.
There are two punches with the die (ea
ch and every die has two
punches that are required to operate it, except for draw dies). Lea
d
tip dies come with one punch, but use your existing point forming die
bottom punch.
We are not going to be using those dies now. The
reloading press has an internal punch capt
ive inside the black,
threaded adapter body. It’s external punch slips into the press ram, <
br /> and the die screws into the pressd head like any reloading press die.
In the reloading
press, you would be using the CS-1-R core seating
die, and you would have the hollow base in
ternal punch inside the die.
If you wanted to install this punch (because the die normally c
omes
with a flat base internal punch, and you order the other base shapes as
optional
punches), you would unscrew the die insert from the bottom of
the die and then pull the ori
ginal flat base punch straight out of the
top of the die insert. You would clean the new pun
ch, and press it
gently into the top of the die insert, then screw the die and punch
together back into the adapter body.
In the Mity Mite press, you would see that the die has t
hreads on
one end and a venturi (funnel-shaped) opening at the other end. This
ventur
i opening helps align the external punch. The threaded end
should have a steel cylinder with
two diameters protruding from it.
This is the head and tail of the internal punch. The tail
is about
0.312 inches in diameter, and the head (right next to it) is about 0.50
inc
hes in diameter. The rest of the punch is the same size, minus a
tad, as the die bore. It is
a diamond-lapped sliding fit.
If you want to change the base shape, you slide this punch ou
t of
the die, clean the new one carefully of all grit and dust, and slide it
carefull
y into the die from the threaded end. Flat base, cup base,
hollow base, and dish base shapes
can all be made this way. Bevel base
can be simulated but remember that all end shapes whic
h are formed by
pressing against a punch will have some degree of shoulder or step
wh
ere the edge of the punch contacts the bullet. A true bevel base is
not made in this simple
kind of die.
Screw the die into the press by hand. In the Mity Mite, screw it
in all t
he way. Don’t use tools. Hand-tight is tight enough. Don’t
confuse the swage die, which is a
bout 3/4-inch in diameter, with the
black threaded floating punch holder (FPH-1-M) in the pr
ess head! Many
people think the punch holder is the die, because it looks like a
relo
ading press die.
The external punch is held in the punch holder. In a previous
chapte
r this was covered with photos and detailed description. The hex
bushing unscrews from the e
nd of the FPH-1. Inside is a collar or
bushing that slips over the punch. (If the punch is s
maller than .375
diameter — if not, the punch already has the bushing and hex bushing
> assembled to it. Just remove the one in the FPH-1 and set it aside,
take out the round roc
ker bushing but leave in the solid rocker
button. Install the punch as one unit.)
Asse
mble the round rocker bushing and then the hex bushing over
the external punch. If you have
any doubt as to what part is the
external punch, look for the one part that does NOT fit int
o the die
full length so that it comes to the mouth of the die and fills it
completel
y from end to end with some left over!
The die is the round steel cylinder with the hole thr
ough it. You
can see through it if you pull out the internal punch. The internal
punc
h will NOT fit into the floating punch holder properly. It has a
tail section that keeps it
from fitting. The head of the internal punch
and the head of the external punch are the same
diameter, but the
external punch has no projection or tail section. It steps down from
diameter) to a secti
on that is just below bullet diameter, having a
portion that is closely fitted to the die bo
re.
The punch should be held finger-tight in the floating punch holder
at this point.
The adjustment of the punch holder is made by putting
one of the lubricated cores into the d
ie mouth, and carefully moving
the ram forward so that the external punch can be aligned wit
h the die
and moved into it. The object now is to adjust the punch holder so
that the
press handle can be moved to the point where the die is
forward as far as it can go. If the
punch and holder stops the ram
from going forward now, back off the punch holder. If the pu
nch
doesn’t contact anything yet, that’s fine. Just get it into the die.
Make sure tha
t the ram is capable of going as far forward as
possible, unlimited by coming against the pu
nch or holder. No pressure
should be generated, no particular force required. The weight of
the
handle should be more than sufficient to move the ram forward all the
way. Have y
ou got that adjustment made? Make sure the ram is free to
move back and forth on both sides
of its foremost extension. You can
tell if it is right, because the pivot pin that holds the
ram to the
press handle will line up on the same plane as the bolt that holds the
ha
ndle to the two links.
Now, holding the handle so that the ram is at the furthest
posi
tion forward, screw the floating punch holder toward the ram. Keep
turning it by hand until
the punch contacts your lead core and you can
no longer turn the punch holder by hand. If, a
t this point, you are
able to screw the punch completely into the die and the die face comes
up against the hex bushing on the punch holder, something is not right.
The possibil
ity is that you didn’t have enough lead core for the
set the way it is. The cure is to obtai
n a hardened steel bushing to
slip over the tail of the internal punch, extending it forward
. Do NOT
try to machine or modify the external punch or die to cure thholder by hand. If, at
this point, you are
able to screw the punch completely into the die and the die face comes
up against the hex bushing on the punch holder, something is not right.
The possibili
ty is that you didn’t have enough lead core for the
set the way it is. The cure is to obtain
a hardened steel bushing to
slip over the tail of the internal punch, extending it forward.
Do NOT
try to machine or modify the external punch or die to cure thward again.
Did
any lead come out the bleed holes in the side of the LSWC-1 die?
Or, did you feel a rather s
udden increase in the resistance in the CS-1
die? Back off the ram, eject the bullet, and se
e if it is nicely
filled out. See if it stays in the die, or if it comes back out with
> the punch.
Normally, the bullet will stay in the die even if it is somewhat
undersi
zed at this point. Jacketed bullets often come out with the
external punch until enough pres
sure has been applied to expand them to
die diameter. When you run the ram all the way back,
the internal
punch comes up against the stop pin in the back of the press and pushes
the bullet out by holding the internal punch still while the die
continues to move back wit
h the ram.
If the bullet is poorly formed, adjust the punch holder a fraction
of a tur
n forward and try another core. When you get it right, the
bullet will be properly formed an
d will measure the correct diameter
from one end to the other. The internal punch will have
formed a deep
hollow cavity and the external punch will have transferred its nose
sha
pe to the end of the bullet (in this case, a wadcutter nose).
If you have voids or unfilled
edges on the bullet, then you might
have a bit too much lube. Wipe the lube off the external
punch and try
another core without so much lube applied. If that still doesn’t come
out well, adjust the punch holder slightly forward again. But do NOT
keep adjusting the hold
er forward until you feel an extreme resistance.
One hand force is all you should ever need
to apply. If it feels like
you should be using both hands, something is wrong and you may be
on
the verge of breaking your die. Stop and find out what is wrong.
If the lead is to
o hard, this can be a serious problem. Hard lead
does not flow or swage very well. Soft lead
swages very nicely. The
pressure required to swage even a 3% antimonial alloy of lead is at
least double that of pure lead. When you first start, it may be hard
to judge how mu
ch pressure is enough. The press is so powerful that a
very light pressure on the handle pro
duces a very great force on the
ram. With calibers in the .375-inch range and up, you can br
eak the
die without seeming to apply undue effort, so be careful to stop
applying for
ce or adjusting the punch holder forward as soon as you
reach the point where the bullet beg
ins to form nicely.
With a little pressure on the ram, while swaging a bullet, cinch
t
he hex bushing on the punch holder up snugly by hand. This keeps the
punch aligned with the
die, so you don’t have to do more than check it
from time to time. Swage all your bullets wi
th the punch holder set at
this position and the locking nut secured against the face of the
press
head. If you want to repeat this setting soon, lock down the set screw
on the
punch holder. Having several punch holders gives you quick
repeatability by leaving each pun
ch in its own holder with pre-set lock
nut.
Now, back to the reloading press. The adj
ustment is exactly the
same, except that you put the external punch in the slotted ram, and
adjust the die downward toward the punch, while the punch is raised to
the topmost po
sition of the ram. It is important that you realize that
the furthest extension of the ram i
s what controls consistent results.
If you swage by feel entirely, you may get widely changi
ng weights.
Use feel to judge whether or not a core is a great deal lighter or
heavie
r as you approach the top of the stroke.
Do NOT continue to press if you meet resistance bef
ore you
normally did on similar bullets during a run. You will probably swage
a heavi
er than usual bullet, at best, and at worst you may break the
die or mash the punch flat. Se
t aside any cores that either developed
less or more resistance to swaging than your usual b
ullet during any
given run. Those are light or heavy cores. They can be used for some
other weight, or melted down for a cast core.
We have covered a lot of elementary material
here. Refer to this
basic bullet and adjustment procedure for just about any other die.
side, where you hav
e no pressure, and increase it in small bits until
you achieve the desired result without ex
ceeding moderate efforts on
the handle. It is a lot like experimenting with a new powder cha
rge:
build the load in small increments and watch for signs of pressure.
Here we are
dealing with pressures that could destroy a rifle when they
are normal. But they don’t conta
in much total energy, so no parts fly
around when a die breaks. You hear a crack, and you se
e one in the
die. That’s about it. With just reasonable care, you’ll never know
what
a broken die sounds like.
For the rest of the bullet styles, I will give only a brief
description of the process, detailing only the unusual aspects of
making the bullet. Please
remember the basic rules: swage dies
increase diameter, never reduce it. Lubricant is requir
ed for every
swaging operation (I won’t keep mentioning it). The punch must fit
easil
y into the die, or it is the wrong one to use. The force you feel
should on the handle shoul
d be mild, never requiring double-handed
effort. And while you can experiment, do get a good
understanding of
the basic operations for each die first.
HOLLOW POINT
JACKETED HANDGUN BULLETS
The hollow point is made during core seating. Instead of usin
g a
flat faced punch to push the core into the jacket (in the core seating
die), you
need to order the optional hollow point external punch. This
punch has a conical probe on th
e face, which presses down into the lead
core and forms a cavity at the same time that the l
ead is pressurized
to move the jacket walls out and meet the die.
A more uniform hollo
w point can be made if you first seat the lead
core with a flat punch, then change to a holl
ow point to form the
cavity. This step is for the perfectionist, and may be unnecessary
factors.
In
any press, this operation takes place as a result of using a
hollow point punch during the
core seating operation. The dies
themselves are the same, regardless of whether you select a
hollow
point or a soft point, an open tip or a full jacket. In a single core
seating
die, for making semi-wadcutter or wadcutter hollow points, you
can use the HP punch either
before or after using another nose punch.
The key to successful use of more than one punch o
n the same
bullet is to realize that you do not have to press the punch all the
way i
nto the die. Using a portion of the possible extension into the
die and lead gives you almos
t total control of how deep and how big the
cavity will be. Whether you swage the HP first o
r use another punch,
such as a Keith nose punch, first, determines the cavity size and the <
br /> shape of the bullet.
A Keith punch and a hollow point punch can produce a wide range o
f
shapes, including a simulated round nose! Experiment with various
insertion depths.
In other words, adjust one punch to go in further
and the other one to stop short of going
in all the way. Using both to
the full extent possible only means that the bullet will be pr
imarily
formed by the last punch you press against the lead. Whichever punch
is pushe
d in hardest and further against the lead is the one that gives
the bullet most of its final
shape.
If you use a point forming die, then of course you do not need to
experiment w
ith semi-wadcutter nose punches. The point forming die
will shape up the ogive for you. It w
ill also smoothly close the
hollow point to a more long and narrow shape, depending on how f
ar into
the point forming die you wish to push the bullet. If you adjust the
press an
d die so that you just barely push the bullet into the point
forming die, then you will have
a very large hollow point.
On the other hand, if you push the bullet into the die as far and
as hard as you reasonably can, you may well close the hollow point
completely. This
can produce an unusual result: you can fill the
hollow point cavity with a fluid or powder,
or a steel ball, and then
cause the end of the bullet to roll over this material and trap it
in
the cavity. If the hollow point is much deeper than the ogive length,
a good port
ion of the cavity will remain at its original size while the
part toward the end of the bull
et becomes more narrow.
This means you can make hollow point
completely. This can pro
duce an unusual result: you can fill the
hollow point cavity with a fluid or powder, or a st
eel ball, and then
cause the end of the bullet to roll over this material and trap it in
a good portion of
the cavity will remain at its original size while the
part toward the end of the bullet beco
mes more narrow.
This means you can make th
your more experimental designs.
BOATTAIL HANDGUN BULLETS
With a long shanked rifle-style bullet, a special
set of dies is
required to manufacture a good boattail base. At Corbin, we make the
rebated boattail base, popularized by the fine Lapua match bullets.
But in a short, stubby h
andgun bullet, it is easy to make a rebated or
a regular boattail using only a special punch
(and not really all that
special).
Usually, it’s necessary to seat a lead core in the
jacket using a
core seating die. The die is sealed on both ends by punches, so
press
ure can be built up inside the jacket to expand it like a balloon.
If you turn the jacket ov
er so the closed end is toward to top of the
cavity in a point forming die, then you can app
ly a fair amount of
pressure inside the jacket with an external punch that fits down into
lead around the
punch. But it is practical and works well.
If you put a core inside a handgun jacket, then us
e a punch
(ordered as an open tip core seating external punch) that fits into the
jac
ket to press against the core, and put the assembly into your point
forming die (base first)
, you will produce a full jacket, open base
handgun bullet.
Should you have a truncat
ed conical point forming die, rather than
a round nose shape, you will actually have what co
uld be considered
either a nose or a boattail base! To use it as a base, eject the
bu
llet and change the external punch to a regular Keith nose punch that
fits into the point fo
rming die by hand. (Remember, in your
experiments, to try each punch by hand first — you do
n’t want to fit
the punch to the die permanently!)
Now, with the Keith nose punch inst
alled in die, rather than
a round nose shape, you will actually have what could be considere
d
either a nose or a boattail base! To use it as a base, eject the
bullet and change
the external punch to a regular Keith nose punch that
fits into the point forming die by han
d. (Remember, in your
experiments, to try each punch by hand first — you don’t want to fit
the punch to the die permanently!)
Now, with the Keith nose punch installed in point <
br /> (depending on how much lead you moved forward) TC nose, a short shank,
and a rebated b
oattail base — what a combination! But give it a try.
You can load it either direction. I l
ike to make these bullets with
about one caliber length of straight shank. That usually mean
s a
bullet with one of the longer jackets and toward the heavier end of the
weight sc
ale. But as you can see from some of the tests in the
magazines (one of which is reproduced
in the Corbin Technical
Bulletins) this design can result in a 40% improvement in ballistic
coefficient and as good or better accuracy than conventional shapes!
SHO
TGUN SLUGS WITH ATTACHED BASE WADS
This is a task for the Hydro-press system. There ar
e many
possible kinds of highly accurate slugs you can produce. One is a slug
that fi
ts inside the Winchester Red Wad, and is thus made slightly
under normal diameter to use the
sabot effect of the standard plastic
wad. Another is the slug with wad attached to it. This
operation is
quite simple. A die set can even be produced to stamp out excellent
wad
s from various materials. The details of operating the press are in
the book "Power Swa
ging".
I will just outline the process here. The wad is made with a hole
through
the center. The hole is precisely centered as a result of the
die-forming process. The pre-
swaged core and wad are put into a die
with a nose cavity punch in the die, and a bas
e punch having a slight
depression in the face, like a smooth rivet head, follows the wad in
to
the swage die. A core seating or lead semi-wadcutter type die is used.
As pressure
is applied, the lead flows up into the nose punch
cavity and forms any desired shape of nose
. Usually a conical flat tip
or a domed shape is made. The lead also presses hard against th
e wad,
and finds a pressure escape through the hole in the middle of the wad.
The lea
d flows through this hole, and fills the cavity in the head of
the punch that is backing up
the wad.
The wad is compressed under tons of pressure, and so is the lead.
The lead ex
trusion through the hole in the wad forms a perfect rivet
head on the other side of the hole
. When the bullet is ejected, you
have a lead slug firmly attached to the wad, which now tri
es to spring
back to original size and keeps pressure on the base of the slug.
Another
unique twist on this is to form a hollow base cavity with
a post in the middle, and with a
hole in the middle of the post that
will take the threads of a number six or eight metal scr
ew. It might
seem very complex, but in reality all you have to do is imagine a punch
having a mirror image of this cavity and post and hole formed into the
steel face. The reame
r and polishing work required is, of course,
somewhat expensive. But it is well within reaso
n for anyone who wishes
to manufacture a unique kind of slug.
The idea is to shift the
weight forward, maintain a longer bearing
surface for alignment, without having a massive w
eight, and provide
solid support in the middle of the cavity so that the wad is not blown
It might even be p
ossible to fill the cavity with cornstarch and then
swage the wad to the slug, but this has
not yet been tried (maybe by
the time this book has been out a year, it will be common).
PRECISION AIRGUN PELLETS
Airgun pellets are really no different from
any other hollow base
semi-wadcutter bullet. The dies have smaller punches and cavities than
most calibers. Corbin makes .20, .14, .17, .224, or anything else you
like. Diameter
is critical. Rather than the waisted design, these are
like a precision handgun bullet in m
inature.
They have a deep hollow cavity and thin skirts to give a good
seal, and they
usually are made slightly smaller than a waisted pellet
so that the bore friction is reduce
d. Swaged with a Dip Lube coating,
they provide good lubrication that is consistent and dry
in all
temperatures. The nose can be conical or of the Keith style with
equally good
results. Such pellets in .2235" diameter make excellent
indoor practice bullets or mous
e shooters in a conventional centerfire
rifle used with a primer only.
There are compl
ex ways to swage the waisted pellet, but it isn’t
usually worth the effort compared to the r
esults you get with the
simple single die method in either reloading press or Mity Mite. In
the reloading press, only a .22 pellet is offered, unless a run of at
least 100 dies
is ordered (for resale). But in the Mity Mite, you can
have anything you wish.
PLASTIC TIP RIFLE BULLETS
Several of the common plastic rod materials swage nic
ely to form
lead tip replacements in any conventional rifle caliber. Nylon,
polyethyl
ene, and other "soft" plastics that can be shaped by pressure
and retain that shap
e after pressure is removed make nice tips for your
hunting bullets. The idea of the plastic
tip predates the current
Nosler design by many years, as seen in the early Norma nyl
on tips and
in home-swaged bullets using Nylon tubeless tire patches (plugs) in
stark
black or white.
The FBI once contacted Corbin about making Nylon bullets for
handgun
use in an indoor training facility. The idea came about
because a conventional Speer Nylon b
ullet had a sharp shoulder that
prevented the use of speed loaders. When these bullets were
re-swaged
in a simple Corbin point forming die, right off the shelf, they
acquired a
more bullet-like profile and worked in the conventional
speed loader.
A side benefit
turned out to be that the agency could reload these
plastic bullets seemingly without end, a
fter reswaging to remove the
rifling and other impact marks. I have one left in my collectio
n that
was shot and reloaded and reswaged over 25 times, and it could still go
on wit
hout any apparent change.
Nylon rod can be obtained from most plastic suppliers. It can be <
br /> cut to short lengths in a lathe or bandsaw. The bullet is made in the
same way as any
open tip design, by seating the lead down inside the
jacket with a punch which fits into the
jacket. But before the point
is formed, the short piece of Nylon is placed inside the jacke
t. The
diameter should be close to the jacket ID.
When the point is formed the jacket
and Nylon plug smoothly swage
into one profile. The ogive locks the plastic in place (it cr
imps into
the material since the plug is larger inside than at the external tip).
FRAGMENTING BULLETS
Bullet swagers have been making their own fragmenting d
efense
bullets for years. It is extremely simple. Just dipper a charge of
number twel
ve lead shot into a jacket, and seat the shot like it was a
solid core. Press a bit of soft
wax or a thin cardboard wad over the
shot. A wad can be made in a regular swage die of small
er caliber by
putting a bit of cardboard between the punch and die and pushing
throug
h it.
Then, form the ogive in a point forming die. To increase the
fragmenting effect
, first roll or tumble a quantity of shot with a
little dab of Corbin Swage Lube. This lube
keeps the shot from
sticking together — it may appear solid when you swage it, but on
> impact it break up nicely.
HYPERSPEED BULLETS
What would you ca
ll a bullet that goes 2000 fps from a snubby .38
Special? Impossible? No, you can develop an
ultra-light bullet in any
caliber and then find a fast-burning charge of the right powder t
o
propel it at unbelievable speed. Some of the effects are dazzling.
Here is how you r
etain enough bearing for a semblence of accuracy
and still keep the bullet weight down: use
cornstarch as a core!
The secret is out…but only bullet swagers know about it.
Corn
starch swages under high pressure to form a sort of hard plastic
material that is much light
er than any conventional jacket filling, yet
expands the jacket as well as lead under swagin
g pressures.
Because of the low density of the material, even when swaged to a
plasti
c state, you can make a regular length bullet that seats and
balances as it should, yet has
very low inertia. The sectional density
is very low, which means it doesn’t penetrate very f
ar and it also
doesn’t fly very far before losing its speed. Those can be good
featur
es in a defense bullet used in populated areas.
When you top the cornstarch with a small amo
unt of lead, you can
produce a method of delivering a devastating high velocity projectile <
br /> without nearly as much danger to people behind the intended target.
Make the filling o
ut of swaged lead shot of small diameter, rolled with
Corbin Swage Lube, and you have just p
roduced a superior fragmenting
bullet with ultra-high velocity. You need nothing special to
do all
this, except the right punch to fit into the jacket at the depth where
you wan
t to swage the material.
PARTITION STYLE HANDGUN OR RIFLE BULLETS
Putting a partition across the middle of a bullet is as easy as
telescoping two different d
iameters of jackets together. This is
covered in some detail in the book "Rediscover Sw
aging". Basically,
the inside jacket is of smaller caliber and is about half the length
of
the outside jacket. When jackets do not exist ready-made to fit this
way, a Corbi
n JRD-1 draw die can turn some available jacket into the
right size.
In the Hydro-pre
ss system, it is possible to make partitions by
folding and pressure-welding the actual jack
et wall material into a
band across the jacket at any desired point. Copper tubing is normal
ly
selected, so you have both the benefit of the soft copper tubing and
the partition
effect. If you want to go one further, add Corbin Core
Bond and a little heat, and you have
a bonded core, partitioned, copper
tube bullet — something none of the famous firms who ar
e known for
making one of these features apiece have managed to combine.
PENETRATOR CORE OR LIQUID FILLED CAVITY BULLETS
I group these two styles becau
se they are made the same way. A
set of special punches is made to seat a very light core in
the bottom
of the jacket. One punch seats the core, and the other puts a center
in t
he core. Then a long hollow point punch slips down into the
jacket, finds the center, and st
arts extruding lead up along the punch
sides. Plenty of good lube is required on the punch.
The punch is withdrawn, leaving a long, deep cavity precisely
centered in a lead shea
th inside the jacket. A carbide, uranium or
other heavy metal core can be placed in this cav
ity. It works best if
the insert material is slightly larger than the cavity for a gentle
Corbin does not provide these heavy met
al cores. Most of the
people who do this work are able to obtain their own from defense
projects within the mili
tary and are discussed here only to show the
possibilities. Liquid filling for the same cavi
ty can easiy be
substituted. A lead ball is placed in the end of the cavity to help
s
eal it, and then the bullet is put into a point forming die and the
ogive shape extrudes lea
d over the widest part of the ball and locks
the assembly together.
The quality of the bullets you can make in
a typical Corbin swage
die for the Mity Mite or Hydro-press will equal or exceed that of any
bullet made today. You do not need to pay thousands of dollars for
special "ben
chrest" quality. The best quality that money can buy comes
far less dear than some folk
s imagine possible.
On the other hand, I do not recommend the die sets that we
manufa
cture for use in a reloading press as benchrest bullet dies.
They are good dies, and have of
ten been used to make match-winning
bullets. But the system does not lend itself to what I w
ould call the
ultimate control over the bullet weight and style.
Reloading press dies
are made to work in a press that was not
designed specifically for bullet swaging. Corbin M
ity Mite and Hydro-
press dies were designed along with the press, without having to
c
onsider factors necessary for reloading. The Hydro-press and the Mega
Mite press both handle
reloading as a side benefit, not as a primary
goal that might restrict optimum design for b
ullet making.
Alignment, sensitivity of control ("feel", if you like), balance
movement under stress
, maximum leverage potential, and other factors
from how ejection is handled to where the to
p of the ram comes to rest
in relation to the press head, are all optimized for bullet makin
g the
the special swaging presses. These things simply are not there, in a
reloading
press. It doesn’t matter how big or strong or expensive the
press is: if it was made primari
ly for reloading ammo, it wasn’t
optimized for making bullets.
I have had a few perve
rse clients shoot winning matches with
bullets made in our standard reloading press dies, an
d they enjoyed
telling their fellow shooters (who had spent thousands of dollars, in
some cases, for the "right" benchrest equipment) how little their
equipment cost (
usually under $250 for everything — dies alone cost
about $160). But while it can be done,
I certainly feel that you are
better advised to use equipment made with all the benefits of
the
special swaging press in mind.
There are two secrets to making benchrest bullets.
First, the
jackets themselves must be very concentric and should be weighed so
that y
ou can cull out any over or under a nominal value. Different
weight by itself has little eff
ect on the bullet path, within a factor
of from 1 to 2 percent of the total bullet weight. (
Calculate the drop
difference and you will see that one-hole groups at 100 yards are still <
br /> possible with bullets that weigh plus or minus half a grain in a 55
grain .224 caliber
, or bullets that have 1.5 grain variation in a 150
grain .308 caliber).
The problem w
ith weight variation is that it can be caused by a
thicker base, thicker walls, or even a di
fference in wall thickness
from one side to the other. If it is merely a bit longer jacket,
it
won’t have much effect. And the heavier or lighter jackets, by
themselves, do not
cause bad groups. It is a mixture of different
jackets that can throw off the group size. A
heavier or lighter wall
is not bad, it just can’t be used with something different in a
The next secret is consistency in the method of making the
bullet
s. The little rituals and weird theories about what makes a
bullet shoot are a lot of fun fo
r the people who believe in them, and
even if they make little sense to rational people, I s
ee no harm in
following the latest fad in regard to many of the rituals. But for a
pe
rson who is mainly interested in fact, and wants to see what really
does and does not make a
difference, it doesn’t take too long to see
that a machine rest in an indoor tunnel easily
proves that consistency
makes more difference than any specific method.
In other words
, whatever you do in regard to how you apply your
lubricant, whether or not you "rest&q
uot; the cores overnight before
swaging, or whether or not you spin and weigh each bullet in
some
questionable fixture or tool made to point up some mysterious accuracy
factor,
the real effects will come from doing things the same way each
time, so all the bullets do i
ndeed come out looking and shooting the
same way.
Some of these rituals help produce a
more consistent bullet, often
for reasons not entirely related to the goal that the shooter
feels he
is trying to reach by that ritual. Benchrest shooting originally
brought a
great many serious benefits and pointed out errors in how
bullets were being made during the
1940’s and 50’s. To some extent, a
level of mystique and fraternalism has moved into the pl
ace that used
to be held by serious investigation, with the quirks of the latest
winn
er being slavishly repeated by next year’s would-be winners.
But this is true in all competit
ive sports. Winning matches does
not necessarily make the shooter an expert on every aspect
of the tools
and equipment used to win. Sometimes a good deal of winning is
attitude
and practice, especially when equipment differences become
very slight at the top levels. Al
l of this is merely to point out that
making benchrest quality bullets is not necessarily th
e exclusive realm
of a white-bearded wizzard who knows cosmic secrets which you, mere
mortal, can hardly be expected to understand.
As a matter of fact, nearly anyone with a reas
onably good set of
dies and careful attention to what he is doing can turn out bullets
> capable of one-hole groups. Then it is up to the rest of the system,
including the handloa
d and the gun, the shooter and the fates that blow
the winds, to let that one-hole group app
ear on any given day.
This information doesn’t play well with those who would like to
have you believe there are dark secrets beyond your reach, which only
certain people (who ha
ppen to have something they might — hold your
breath! — be persuaded to sell you) have in
their posession. But you
can prove it to yourself, and to anyone else who doesn’t have too b
ig a
stake in keeping it quiet! There is no fundamental difference in the
potential q
uality of a .458 bullet, a .600 Nitro bullet, or a .224
benchrest bullet made by the process
of swaging outlined here.
All swaged bullets made by hand on good equipment, using
co
nsistent components, can be made carefully and well. They can all be
benchrest bullets of th
eir caliber. A heavy recoiling .458 isn’t
likely to produce as tight a group as a convention
al .224 short case
benchrest cartridge using specially selected primers, but if you
c
ompare similar kinds of guns and loads, you will soon see that your
own home-built bullets s
tack up in the same way as benchrest .224
bullets stack up against the average factory offer
ing.
You have nothing to fear in the accuracy department, in regard to
the dies or the
bullets you can make, given the material and care
necessary. Do not, however, make the erro
r of assuming that a perfect
bullet will turn an average rifle into a benchrest gun. It will
not.
The errors caused by poor bedding, a light barrel, gas cutting in the
throat or
leade, improper powder charges, or even a less than steady
shooter, will completely overwhe
lm the slight errors produced by a
bullet of average quality. No difference between a perfec
t bullet and
an average one could be told with most of the guns that are capable of
b
eing carried afield, if the load is right and the shooter does his
part.
A good discus
sion of accuracy and bullet design can be found the
the textbook, "Rediscover Swaging&q
uot;. The techniques for obtaining
greater than usual core weight consistency and proper cor
e seating
are also discussed in this book. Multiple passes at core swaging,
holding t
he pressure for a consistent length of time, application of a
precision film of lube rather
than the usual transfer of lube with the
fingers, and other factors that increase the consis
tency of results are
discussed.
.he CHAPTER 8 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND
CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
BOOKS FOR BULLET SWAGERS
Learn about bullet swaging
, the fast accurate process that gives
you total control over bullet design and production!
The combined
knowledge of generations of master die-makers has been collected in the
Corbin Swaging Library — seven volumes of easy-to-read, fact-filled
information. More than
840 pages of authorative work, with charts,
photos, data, drawings, and technical reports, i
n a special package to
save you money!
USE YOUR VISA/MASTER-CHARGE AND ORDER BY
TELEPHONE: 503-826-5211
The Corbin Swaging Library includes these books:
The BULLET SWAGE MANUAL, T.Smith
The CORBIN TECHNICAL BULLETINS, Vol. I
The CORBIN TEC
HNICAL BULLETINS, Vol. II
The CORBIN TECHNICAL BULLETINS, Vol. III
POWER SWAGING, D. Co
rbin
RE-DISCOVER SWAGING, D. Corbin
The CORBIN HANDBOOK & CATALOG of BULLET SWAGING
Order catalog number BP-7
—————————————————–
——————
The BULLET SWAGE MANUAL, T. Smith, 1976, 45 pgs.
This
book is one of the earliest works on bullet swaging, written
by a pioneer in the field. Man
y of the illustrations are of early
Corbin swaging tools. The book is intended as a primer f
or beginners,
but belongs in any complete library of swaging as a historical work.
———————————————————————-
-
The CORBIN TECHNICAL BULLETINS, Volume I 1977, 66 pgs.
The first collec
tion of Corbin technical papers, this book
contains a detailed section of definitions, speci
fic questions and
answers about swaging technique, comparisons of cost, speed and
acc
uracy between casting and swaging, and answers to the most commonly
asked questions about bu
llet swaging. Rimfire jacket-making, hollow
and cup points, designs for deep penetration, an
d other similar
subjects are covered.
Catalog number TB-1
—————
——————————————————–
The CORBIN TECHNICAL BULLETIN
S, Volume II 1980, 102 pgs.
This book gives a detailed chapter by chapter discussion o
f
specific calibers and how to make bullets for them. Included are
obsolete, foreign,
current centerfire rifle and handgun calibers, in
fifteen chapters. In addition, there is a
n experimental .375 design
with loading data, chamber dimensions, and test results. A wealth
of
information about the history of swaging is included.
Catalog number TB-2
The CORBI
N TECHNICAL BULLETINS, Volume III 1983, 106 pgs.
Experimental work with custom bullets
, the rise of the survivalist
movements, and concerns about the future supplies of bullets i
n the US
and abroad brought a flood of technical articles addressing these
subjects.
Original papers and translations from trade journals are
included. Bonding and heat treatmen
t of jackets, manufacture of copper
tubing bullets, and hunting bullets are covered in detai
l.
Catalog number TB-3
——————————————————–
—————
POWER SWAGING, D. Corbin 1984, 195 pgs.
Also known as Cor
bin Technical Bulletins, Volume IV, this is the
bible of commercial bullet making. It is fil
led with data on pressures,
forces, and die strength, calculations, charts, computer program
s, and
photos. Hundreds of dollars worth of dies were destroyed to test the
limits of
the formulae, and photos of these are included as well.
The book serves as an operator’s gu
ide for the Hydro-press,
although it also covers several earlier models of air and hydraulic
power presses that are no longer manufactured. Two very valuable
chapters deal with
organization of a custom bullet business, and with
the numbers involved in production volume
. Marketing, promotion,
feasibility studies, and selection of a product line are written so
they can be understood by a beginner, yet interesting enough to attract
experienced e
ngineers.
Catalog number TB-4
————————————————-
———————-
RE-DISCOVER SWAGING, D. Corbin 1983, 244 pgs.
This
is the standard textbook of swaging. The washable morroco
cover is gold-embossed. It is use
d by law enforcement agencies and
schools around the world, in public and private libraries
from Brussels
to Perth, read by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and by the students
at gunsmithing schools. You’ll find detailed, accurate information
arranged in twenty-two c
hapters, covering everything from lubricant to
lead, pressure to press design, history of sw
aging (including original
letters from Biehler and Astles, Fred Huntington, and Capt. G.L. <
br /> Wotkyns at critical points during the 1940 to 1960 period) and just
about anything els
e you might care to know about swaging. If you only
want one book, make it this one.
<
br /> Catalog number RDS
——————————————————————-
—-
The WORLD DIRECTORY of CUSTOM BULLET MAKERS
Data has been co
llected from all over the world for a decade on
bullet markets, and the people who are activ
e in the custom bullet
field. If you are looking for a certain caliber — modern, obsolete,
wildcat, foreign, or experimental — this is the sourcebook for people
who can make i
t! Articles of interest to experimenters, purchasing
agents, engineers, and ballisticians as
well as those who might wish to
enter the custom bullet field as suppliers are included.
world have a copy of th
is book for reference. Buyers in government and
industry, defense agencies and law enforceme
nt operations, game control
commissions, ballistic labs, and applied science libraries can t
urn to
the sources listed to find out who makes what.
Corbin customers who are sellin
g bullets commercially are invited
to write for a free listing in the book’s next edition. A
dvertising
space is periodically available to qualified firms. Agencies dealing
with
firearms-related suppliers should check out the tremendous market
exposure this book gives.<
br />
Catalog Number WD-1
———————————————————–
————
The CORBIN HANDBOOK and CATALOG of BULLET SWAGING, No. 7
You
are reading a copy now! If you would like additional copies
for friends, order directly fro
m Corbin. This is the seventh edition:
it is not the seventh book of the collection, or the
seventh year,
since Corbin has been in business much longer than that. We publish a
n
ew edition whenever the information becomes outmoded and continued
editions of the same book
begin to lose their relevance to newer ideas.
Catalog number HB-7
————-
———————————————————-
OTHER LITERATURE…
<
br />
The BASICS of BULLET SWAGING
This is a color brochure, 6-pages, telling w
hat swaging is and
what you can do with it. Single copies are available postpaid for
$1
(to cover postage and handling). Write for quantity prices to clubs
and schools.
The Corbin HYDRO-PRESS brochure
A color folder describing th
e powerful CHP-1 Hydro-press. Single
copies are $1 (for postage and handling) — no addition
al charge if
ordered with other literature. Write for quantity prices to clubs and
sc
hools.
The Corbin IMMEDIATE DELIVERY LIST
This is a list of
dies available for immediate delivery. Since
Corbin dies are all hand-made products, indivi
dually diamond lapped and
fitted, there can be a considerable backlog on certain calibers fr
om
time to time. The Immediate Delivery List tells what is on the shelf
right now. It
changes from month to month, and is not a guarentee but
only a temporary listing. If you se
e something you want, call
immediately and use your VISA/MASTER-CHARGE card to have it shipp
ed
right away. (Sorry – no holding for future payment! Demand is just
too high to tie
up products in this manner.)
This list is free for the asking, when ordered with other
> literature or products. Included with most shipments is also our
current price list, any s
pecials we may have on supplies or products,
announcements of new books or computer software
, etc.
———————————————————————–
<
br /> CORBIN COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Now you can design bullets quickly, easily, with Corbin
’s DC-1001
Bullet Design program. All you need to know is the weight and style of
bul
let you want to make — the program asks these simple questions, and
then calculates the bal
listic coefficient, form factor, average
density, stable twist rate, core and jacket volumes
, core weight, over-
all length, length of ogive and length of shank, and a number of other <
br /> parameters of importance to makers of commercial bullets.
If you don’t know what to an
swer, the program supplies a standard
default value. You can just hit the "enter"
key, and run the
calculation automatically with all default values if you wish, to see
> how it works. You need absolutely NO math background, NO experience in
bullet design or ba
llistics. Automatic tables appear on the screen for
each question that requires some special
knowledge, and the program
checks your input to see if it is reasonable. If not, it gives y
ou
another chance to input a value, or just hit return and let the program
supply a v
alue.
There is no way you can "mess up" this program. And best of all,
when
you have designed the bullet (which takes perhaps two seconds),
those values can be printed
out, and/or automatically used in a second
program that is part of the first one: kinetic pa
rameters. You can
"fire" the bullet at any velocity within reason, see what kind o
f
energy density, muzzle energy, momentum, and other values the bullet
would have. An
d, you can change one or more parameters and try it
again to see the effect, all within seco
nds. The program keeps all the
values you put in last, and uses them until you change them.
If you
turn off the program, it resets to standard default values so you
can’t "
get lost" or forget important standard values.
The DC-1001 program is currently availabl
e on 5-1/4" floppy disk
for IBM-PC/XT or /AT computers. The program is completely self-
contained in executable machine code for the 8088 processor, and runs
at either 4.77
mhz or at accelerated clock rates. Either color or B&W
monitors will work. All display i
s in the text mode. The disk is NOT
copy protected and can be loaded onto your hard disk dri
ve.
Don’t confuse DC-1001 with ordinary external ballistics programs:
it is not merel
y an electronic table of values, but a powerful
calculus-based tool for design of bullets. I
t is not the same as a
program that gives you drop and remaining energy for an existing
input various densiti
es of core and jacket material, and find out what
effect aluminum, tungsten, brass, or plast
ic might have on the bullet
paramters. You can even select the target material density and f
ind
out what spin rate would stabilize the bullet in space, in air, under
water, or i
n any other media. DC-1001 is a one-of-a-kind program for
the bullet maker. (To run the prog
ram, simply type "Bullets").
Catalog Number DC-1001
——————
—————————————————– .he CHAPTER 9 CORBIN HANDBOO
K AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
KITS for your RELOADING PRESS
The easiest wa
y to get started is to purchase a complete kit, with
everything you need to start making you
r own private "brand" of
bullets! Here are several kits that you can put together
yourself.
Just specify the caliber, and order however many bullet jackets and
other s
upplies you may want. I’ve made suggestions for reasonable
amounts of supplies with each kit
…
———————————————————————–
ECON
OMY .224 KIT
Order these items to make up your own minimal cost kit, for making
> excellent quality .224 caliber bullets (.221, .222, 5.56mm, and .220
Swift as well as ever
y other centerfire .22 made today uses a .224"
bullet). The equipment listed can produc
e jacketed bullets using fired
.22 long rifle or short cases in the weight range of 45 to 60
grains,
with a 6-caliber spitzer ogive and a flat base. (No boattails, other
ogives,
or special work in the reloading press series — rather defeats
the whole reason for it, si
nce these extras would bring the cost more
in line with the Mity Mite system, and then you w
ould be far ahead to
get a Mity Mite!)
BSD-224R Core Seater and Point Former, 2
-die set
RFJM-22R Rimfire Jacket Maker, 224 caliber
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bo
ttle
CM-4 Corbin 4-cavity adjustable core mould (specify 224)
If you prefer the
speed of cutting lead wire to the slightly
lower cost of cast cores, you might prefer this
package instead:
BSD-224R Core Seater and Point Former, 2-die set
RFJM-22R Rimfi
re Jacket Maker, 224 caliber
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bottle
PCS-1 Corbin Preci
sion Core Cutter
LW-25 Lead Wire, 25-lb. spool (specify 224)
————————-
———————————————-
DELUXE .224 KIT
A faster,
easier system includes the power ejector unit and a hand
cannelure tool, plus a supply of c
ommercial drawn jackets for high
precision benchrest work. I personally like this because it
gives a
good chance to compare your own free jackets with the best commercial
ones m
ade today.
BSD-224R Core Seater and Point Former, 2-die set
RFJM-22R Rimfire Jac
ket Maker, 224 caliber
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bottle
CM-4 Corbin 4-cavity adj
ustable core mould (specify 22 cal)
LW-25 Lead wire, 25 lb. (specify .185" — 22 caliber
)
PCS-1 Corbin Precision Core Cutter
J-22-705 Jackets, 224 caliber, .705-length, box of
500
HCT-1 Corbin Hand Cannelure Tool
PE-1 Corbin Power Ejector Unit
————
———————————————————–
ECONOMY .243 KIT
.22 cases, then this is
the right kit for you:
BSD-243R Core Seater and Point Former, 2-die set
RFJM-6MR
Rimfire Jacket Maker, 6mm from 22LR
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bottle
CM-4 Corbi
n 4-cavity adjustable core mould (specify 6mm)
* Note: the 6mm and .224 both use the same .18
5 core –
You can use the same core mould for both.
Or, you might consider repla
cing the CM-4 mould with a lead wire
cutter and a spool of lead wire, for safer, faster bull
et-making.
If you wish to use commercial jackets, leave out the RFJM-6M and
ins
tead, order the following jackets:
J-6M-750 Jackets, 6mm, .750-inch length, box of 500
J-6M-825 Jackets, 6mm, .825-inch length, box of 500
—————————
——————————————–
DELUXE 243 KIT
You can put t
ogether a nice kit that would also be my personal
choice for making .243 bullets in the relo
ading press by ordering the
following items:
BSD-243R Core Seater and Point For
mer, 2-die set
RFJM-6MR Rimfire Jacket Maker, .22 LR to 6mm
LW-25 Lead wire, 25 lb. spo
ol. (specify 6mm)
PCS-1 Corbin Precision Core Cutter
CM-4 Corbin 4-cavity adjustable c
ore mould (specify 6mm)
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bottle
PE-1 Corbin Power Eject
or Unit
HCT-1 Corbin Hand Cannelure Tool
J-6M-750 Jackets, 6mm, .750-inch length, box o
f 500
J-6M-825 Jackets, 6mm, .825-inch length, box of 500
—————————–
——————————————
.25 RIFLE KIT
We’ve not advert
ised the .257 rifle dies for reloading press for a
number of deep, dark reasons: primarily,
we didn’t want to get too far
behind. But now, with our new die-works going full-blast, it’s
time to
let you know that we have .257 caliber dies developed for the reloading
pres
s in a flat base, 6-caliber spitzer design similar to our .224 and———————————
——————————–
.25 RIFLE KIT
We’ve not advertised the .
257 rifle dies for reloading press for a
number of deep, dark reasons: primarily, we didn’t
want to get too far
behind. But now, with our new die-works going full-blast, it’s time to <
br /> let you know that we have .257 caliber dies developed for the reloading
press in a fla
t base, 6-caliber spitzer design similar to our .224 andkets in stock.
Here is a potential gr
oup of kits you could put together to use
either 6mm jackets or drawn 7mm jackets (or, when
available, regular
.257 jackets):
BSD-257R Core Seater and Point Former, 2-die
set
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube
CM-4 Corbin 4-cavity adjustable core mould (specify 257 cal
.)
J-6M-825 Jackets, 6mm caliber, .825-inch length, box of 500
Or, you could go
the deluxe route, and add the convenience of a
power ejector and the ability to install prec
ision cannelure grooves,
the speed of cutting lead wire, and the ability to use 7mm jackets
by
adding these items to the above list:
PE-1 Corbin Power Ejector Unit
H
CT-1 Corbin Hand Cannelure Tool
LW-25 Lead Wire, 25-lb spool. (Specify .257 caliber)
PC
S-1 Corbin Precision Core Cutter
JRD-1-R Corbin Jacket Reducing Die (Specify 7mm to .257 cal.
)
———————————————————————–
HANDGU
N CALIBER KITS for RELOADING PRESS
In the handgun calibers, we offer these calibers:
.25 ACP .30 Mauser/Luger .32 ACP .32 S&W Long
.32 H&R .30 Carbine .380 AC
P .32 Colt
.38 S&W .38 Long Colt .357 Maximum 9mm Browning
.38 Special .357 Magnum
.32-20 WCF
For those of you who know the score, many of the above calibers
are
actually the same diameter, such as .380 ACP and 9mm, .38 Special
and .357 Magnum. Thus, yo
u can make several calibers with the same set
of dies, if you know what diameter each calibe
r is supposed to be.
This is covered in great detail in the Corbin Technical Bulletins,
along with the items t
hat would make kits, I’ll just list a generic
catalog number and you can pick the numbers to
fill in from this list:
Available diameters in Corbin Handgun Reloading Press Swage
Dies…
.251 .308 .312 .314 .355 .357 .358
To order a specific cal
iber of die, specify either the actual
caliber or the diameter of the bullet from the above
list. If you
specify the caliber of the cartridge, we will use standard
specification
s to determine what diameter to ship. Unless you specify
the actual diameter from the above
list, it isn’t possible to guarentee
that what you really wanted is the same as the standard
specifications
for the caliber you ordered. If your 9mm happens to have a .357 bore,
then order a .357 diameter rather than a 9mm. Die makers go by the
actual diameter, not by
the cartridge designation.
——————————————————————
—–
ECONOMY HANDGUN KIT
The basic handgun package can have just the cor
e seating die and
the Keith nose punch provided with it, to make semi-wadcutter type
bullets. To add greater versatility, purchase the point forming die to
go with the set. Here
is the basic wadcutter or semi-wadcutter package
that I would suggest. It makes lead, gas-c
hecked, half-jacketed, or
3/4-jacketed bullets (not with the jacket curved around the ogive,
however. That is the job of the point forming die).
CS-1-R Core Seating Die,
with Keith punch. (Specify caliber)
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-ounce bottle
CM-4 Corbi
n 4-cavity adjustable core mould. (Specify caliber)
Now, in the department of bullet j
ackets, there are certain
options open for .25 caliber that don’t apply elsewhere. You can <
br /> purchase a .25 ACP jacket-making kit (SPJM-25R) that turns fired
shotgun primers into
45-50 grain jacketed bullet cups. In all the .30
calibers, from .308 to .314, you can use on
e size of jacket. In the
.380, 9mm, and all .38/.357 Magnum calibers, you can also use one s
ize
of jacket (diameter). There are several lengths available in .38.
The right length
of jacket for a semi-wadcutter of standard weight
is the .437-inch length in .38, and for s
tacking multi-projectiles or
half-jacket bullets, the .250-inch jacket is ideal. The 0.5-inc
h long
jacket is a bit heavy for most single-die sets, but if you add the
second die
(point former) it is the best all-around choice for all but
the very heaviest weights. For 2
00 grain and up, the 0.7-inch jacket
is what you need.
To complete your kit, select on
e of these jackets for the single
die set, or the jacket-making kit for the .25 ACP:
<
br /> SPJM-25R Shotgun primer jacket-maker kit
J-30-375 Jacket, 30 caliber, 3/8-inch length,
box of 500
J-38-250 Jacket, 38 caliber, 1/4-inch length, box of 500
J-38-437 Jacket, 38
caliber, .437-inch length, box of 500
J-38-500 Jacket, 38 caliber, .500-inch length, box of
500
———————————————————————–
DELU
XE SEMI-WADCUTTER SWAGE KIT FOR HANDGUN CALIBERS
I don’t see how a person could consid
er his swaging outfit as
being deluxe unless he has the point forming die. With this die, yo
u
multiply all the previous styles and shapes to incredible levels. You
add the abili
ty to curve the jacket around the ogive, to make
boattailed and full-jacket bullets, and to
curve the ogive around so
that a hollow cavity becomes a pear-shaped or even a closed cavity
within the tip of the bullet.
When you order the PF-1-R point former separately, be
sure to send
a sample lead slug and a few seated cores from your existing core
seater
die (CS-1-R). The die has to be carefully matched in diameter,
and this is one way we can d
o it. Another is to get your die back, but
you may not want to part with it while we work on
the new die.
When you order these items, substitute the diameters listed for
the &quo
t;XXX" in the die set catalog number.
BSD-XXXR Core Seater and Point Former, 2-di
e set
CM-4 Corbin 4-Cavity adjustable core mould. (specify caliber)
CSL-2 Corbin Swage
Lube, 2-ounce bottle
PE-1 Corbin Power Ejector Unit
HCT-1 Corbin Hand Cannelure Tool
PCS-1 Corbin Precision Core Cutter
———————————————————————–
.he CHAPTER 10 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
INDIVIDUAL DIES FOR THE RE
LOADING PRESS
You can make up your own swaging kit for a reloading press, or you
> can add dies to existing kits and expand your bullet-swaging
capabilities caliber by calib
er.
With the suggested kits in the previous chapter, I didn’t suggest
any lead tip di
es. They are very useful in the three rifle calibers,
when you want a nice factory-finished
lead tip. But they are something
you can add at any time. It isn’t necessary to match this d
ie as
exactly as with the core seater and point former. A half-thousandth of
an inch
tolerance is plenty, and that is easy enough for the die-makers
to handle without getting yo
ur set back.
Individual dies are available in these styles and calibers:
.224 6-
S Ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.243 6-S Ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.257 6-S Ogive CS-
1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.251 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.308 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-
R
.312 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.314 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.355 RN, TC ogive CS-
1-R, PF-1-R
.357 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.358 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
punch and a Keith external
punch in the handgun calibers. In rifle
calibers, it comes with flat base internal and open
tip external
punches. If you would like to add other shapes to the handgun
calibers,
you can order these additional punches:
(1) Conical (semi-wadcutter angled to a point
, like a pencil)
(2) Round Nose (semi-wadcutter eliptical round nose)
(3) Hollow Point
(universal projection punch, used with any other)
(4) Wadcutter (slightly raised button nose
style)
(5) Cup Nose (a shallow, round cup shape)
(6) Open Tip (a punch that fits inside
the jacket, for 2-die sets)
Those are nose shapes available, in standard off the shel
f designs
only. In this system, the punches are made to standard patterns and
cannot
be made to special order without incurring regular time and
material charges over the usual
punch price. With current salaries for
die-makers where they are, you may not be thrilled to
hire one to make
a punch slightly different from standard (chances are, your target
would never know the difference anyway).
Base shapes can also be changed by ordering an extra
punch.
There are internal punches to replace the standard flat base. You can
order:<
br />
(1) Dish Base (very shallow curve to the edge of the jacket)
(2) Cup Base (sligh
tly deeper, like the cup nose, with flats to
the edge of the bullet)
(3) Hollow Base (v
ery deep, like the hollow point punch. Not well
suited to jacketed bullets but nice for lead
bullets)
The rifle calibers are always ordered with a matching point former
die
. You can’t make a complete bullet in the CS-1-R alone for a rifle
caliber, since the veloci
ty is so high that pistol designs tend to be
unstable and have poor ballistics. You are welc
ome to order these dies
for replacements, but good luck trying to make a finished bullet in
one! When you order the core seater and point former as a set, it
makes up the BSD-xx
xR catalog number. You don’t need to order each
one, if you specify the BSD-xxxR.
All
punches are ordered with the catalog number "PUNCH-R" for
reloading press use. The
n, specify internal or external punch,
caliber, and shape (if it needs to be specified, as w
ith noses for
handgun punches). To order a replacement ejection pin for the point
for
ming dies, always specify the caliber. You can call it a "PUNCH-R"
and specify eje
ction pin, plus caliber. That will get it.
Core seating punches for the rifle calibers are m
ade in different
diameters to fit inside the various jackets available. Either tell us
> the diameter you want and we will supply the closest standard diameter
that we have, or se
nd a sample jacket to match. In the .224, we have
two core seat external punches. One fits t
he rimfire jacket, and one
fits the commercial jacket that we sell. The diameters are 0.204
and
0.197 inches, respectively.
Many people have commented that they were not able to
make a light
enough bullet with a certain jacket. After I checked it out, I found
th
at the problem was the style of bullet. Most of the standard jackets
make just about any wei
ght you like, if you know how to make use of the
punches and dies. The open tip core seating
punch will push a short
lead core as far into the jacket as you like. Then the point formin
g
die will wrap the end of the jacket around the ogive, and the bullet
can be as ligh
t as you wish.
The problem is with solid lead tip Keith style bullets. They fill
the
jacket, and then some. Typical jackets available today make
maximum weights for the caliber
with this sort of style. The answer is
to use the hollow point and cup base punches on the b
ullet first, then
follow with the Keith punch. This lets you use a lot less lead, moves
punch, and thus produc
es a very light bullet in a very long jacket.
One last point about reloading press dies: they
are just as good
as any other kind, except that they are made to fill the need for
e
ntry-level, lower cost bullet-making. Rather than cut corners on
quality, we decided long ag
o that the best approach was to limit the
styles, calibers, and options available to a manag
able, popular group
and then make the equipment in longer runs, without the expense of
> individual, custom work.
When someone calls and insists on having a reloading press die,
effect crashing t
he whole idea of equal quality at lower cost. If one
can afford the expense of the custom wo
rk, they can probably save money
by getting the Mity Mite system to start with. It was desig
ned with
custom work in mind. And if someone doesn’t want to buy the press, but
just
wants the dies made special, then they should consider the cost of
the die-maker’s time. It
amounts to buying the press anyway. Why not
get it? Then, everything made in the future will
still fit and
interchange properly. Custom work usually doesn’t.
.he CHAPTER 11 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
DRAW DIES
ring dies used to redu
ce the diameter of a component. When you size a
cast bullet, you are using a much less preci
se version of a draw die.
The draw dies made by Corbin are extremely hard, tough venturi-sha
ped
tools held in a 7/8-14 TPI body. A punch pushes the component through
the die and
out the top.
There are two general types of draw dies. The JRD-1 can be made
either
for bullets, or for jackets. The bullet draw die reduces a
finished bullet by a small amount
, sometimes as little as 0.0005
inches, and sometimes as much as 0.003 inches. However, grea
ter
reductions cause distortion of the bullet and are not feasible.
Jacket draw dies
can reduce an existing jacket by a whole caliber.
This is the way that .41 caliber jackets a
re obtained today, for
instance. A .44 caliber jacket is pushed through a draw die and
> reduced to .41 caliber. This would not work with a bullet. Jacket
drawing punches fit insi
de the jacket, and actually push it through
base first, while bullet draw dies push the bull
et through nose first.
Special versions of draw dies turn fired .22 cases into .224 or
.243 caliber rifle jackets. The .22 WMR case can be drawn to a long
6mm jacket in another d
ie, and shotgun primers can be turned into free
.25 ACP jackets with another. Draw dies perf
orm a remarkable service.
Their limitations are discussed in "REDISCOVER SWAGING"
in detail.
Dies ending in "R" fit the standard reloading press and have a punch
press, and
have a punch that screws into the press ram. The die goes
into the press head, replacing th
e floating punch holder. Dies ending
in "H" are made for the Corbin Hydro-press. T
hey have a long punch
that screws into the ram, and the die fits into a 7/8-14 adapter which
in turn fits the 1.5-12 thread of the press head, also replacing the
floating punch
holder.
RFJM-22R Rimfire Jacket Maker, 22 LR to .224 caliber
RFJM-6MR Rimfire J
acket Maker, 22 LR to .243 caliber
SPJM-25R Shotgun Primer Jacket Maker, 25 ACP caliber
JRD-1-R Jacket Reducing Die, specify starting and ending
caliber.
Draw dies for
the reloading press are used by adjusting the die
position so that you can push the compone
nt through the tightest part
of the die using the end of the stroke. Careful die setting is
necessary so that the component is pushed far enough into the die, yet
the more power
ful portion of the stroke is still utilized. If you
simply put the die in the press at rando
m settings, it might not be
possible to push the component far enough so the next component
pushes
it out the top. Or, it might require so much effort that the operation
becomes
impossibly difficult.
It is important to realize that effort varies quickly with the
exact part of the stroke where the most resistance is met. This is
adjustable by your setti
ng of the die. Too high, and the press easily
pushes the component in, but not nearly far en
ough. Too low, and the
press has little leverage or power to do the job, even though there i
s
plenty of stroke to push the component through. The optimum adjustment
can be found
in a few attempts, if you bear the critical nature of this
balance in mind.
It might
seem as if a draw die is a very inexpensive way of
creating a custom bullet. In a few limite
d instances, it is. But, for
most calibers, reducing an existing factory bullet to a smaller
size is
more expensive than making it yourself, produces a far less accurate
bullet,
and limits you to the same weight and basic style as the
factory bullet itself. Giving up t
he advantage of superior accuracy,
the ability to make the bullet in any weight or style you
wish, and the
cost savings of using jackets and lead instead of buying ready-made
bu
llets, seems like quite a bit to give up just because drawing a
bullet down seems simple.
overwhelms one’s sens
e of values, though, and it isn’t uncommon for
someone to sacrifice all these advantages —
all the real power of
bullet swaging — in order to draw down some existing bullet. In the <
br /> instance of the .357 and 9mm, the two 8mm diameters, and sometimes in
the reduction of
a military bullet purchased very cheaply in quantity,
the process works well enough to just
ify the lost advantages. It isn’t
a general cure, and it certainly does not replace swaging
your own.
On the other hand, a jacket draw die makes good sense. The jacket
will be ex
panded by internal lead pressure during swaging, so any
diameter changes made to it are rath
er unimportant to the final
product. The ability to change standard diameters, to use an exi
sting
longer jacket or heavier design in the next smaller caliber, is a good
advantag
e. Sometimes, it is the only way to obtain a good, inexpensive
jacket. In .41 caliber, a dra
wn .44 is the standard jacket used by
bullet swagers. Likewise, for the .40 calibers.
One does pick up a little longer draw on one side of the jacket
when the reduction is extre
me. This is unavoidable without extremely
high cost equipment, but its effect is primarily c
osmetic: the tip of
an open tip jacket may appear uneven. Accuracy generally seems
un
affected by this, since the jacket walls themselves seldom become
eccentric in any normal dr
awing operation.
A set of dies to make .14, .17, and .20 caliber bullet jackets
from
commercial .224 0.6-inch length jackets is available from Corbin.
The process of making sub-
calibers involves drawing the standard .224
jacket through these three stages, stopping at t
he stage you desire.
The jackets must be annealed after the first draw (from .224 to .20
swaging.
Since
the jacket for a .17 or .14 usually is shorter than that for
a .224, the jacket must be tri
mmed at some point. This can be done in
the first draw, from .224 to .20, using a PINCH-TRIM
die and punch.
The punch is made with a shoulder, so that the shoulder to tip length
determines the length of the jacket. Any jacket that extends beyond
this punch step or shou
lder will be sheared off as the punch passes
through the die constriction.
The proces
s works well provided the correct jacket is used, since
the temper, grain, and diameter as w
ell as wall thickness are somewhat
critical for proper shearing action. Usually, the jacket
will be made
quite short, and will be drawn longer in the .17 and .14 stages. The
exa
ct final length is a bit experimental, since variations in jacket
lots, temper, wall thickne
ss, and material composition will produce a
somewhat different final drawn length. But it se
ems quite consistent
within one lot or kind of jacket.
Jacket and bullet draw dies th
at fit the reloading press or the
Mity Mite press require careful adjustment so that the max
imum leverage
can be properly utilized to push the component through the tightest
poi
nt in the die, yet still gain maximum stroke within the required
leverage range. In some cas
es, such as drawing copper tubing to make
long rifle jackets, there isn’t any easy way to ge
t enough stroke and
enough power at the same time. In those instances, a short "helper&
quot;
punch or rod must be used.
The jacket is drawn in two stages. First, the jacket
is started
into the die using the end of the stroke, where there is sufficient
power
. Then, the ram is drawn back, the helper rod inserted in the
jacket, and the ram is run for
ward again, gaining extra stroke to push
the component all the way through the ring die. Thi
s is, admittedly, a
slower way to do the job. But in some cases, it is the only thing that <
br /> works in a hand press.
Dies made for the Hydro-press, on the other hand, seldom have an
y
such difficulties because the programmable Hydro-press develops
whatever power is n
eeded, at any point in the stroke cycle. With a
full six inches of stroke to work with, and
full power from top to
bottom, it is a simple job to draw just about any length or thickness
of jacket in one stroke. Copper tubing jackets are a product that
point up the advan
tages of the Hydro-press design.
Remember that in most home swaging operations, you are
> accomplishing tasks in very few steps, with relatively inexpensive
equipment, that the maj
or factories spend tens or hundreds of thousands
of dollars in time and equipment to accompl
ish, often in 10, 12, or 14
stages. Sometimes, there are obvious limitations to what you can
do
without a bit of leeway in your final lengths or weights. (Sometimes,
the amazing
thing is that the process works at all!)
On the other hand, for the person who doesn’t mind
experimenting
and can put up with things coming out just a bit differently than his
original blueprints might have demanded, these processes offer a great
deal of freedom from
high costs, abritrary supply sources, and the
ability to make bullets that are extremely acc
urate and unusually high
in performance. Just don’t confuse accuracy and performance with
way it happens t
o come out is what you have to work with, in the
practical world of limited costs, simple op
erations, and available
supplies. Fortunately, the way it comes out is usually pretty darn <
br /> good!
.he CHAPTER 12 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND
CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
SWAGE DIES of the MITY MITE SYSTEM
There are so m
any different styles, calibers, and kinds of bullets
possible in the Mity Mite system, that
it isn’t practical to list
"kits" or tables of standard bullets you can make. If i
t falls in the
range of .14 to .458 caliber, with a weight not over 450 grains, and a
length not to exceed 1.3 inches base to tip, you can probably make it
in the Mity Mi
te.
In the realm of jacket making, the Mity Mite system can form
copper tubing into ex
cellent jackets with limitations to wall
thickness: the standard thickness offered is 0.030-
inch, in copper
tubing. Steel, brass, or thicker walls are not practical in this
syst
em, but require the power of the Corbin Hydro-press system.
If I were to suggest a good star
ting package for the beginning
bullet maker, it would usually consist of the following items
:
(1) One or more Mity Mite presses (CSP-1)
(2) A set of dies in the style desir
ed (normally, FJFB-3-M)
(3) A bottle of Corbin Swage Lube (CSL-2 or CSL-16)
(4) A jacke
t supply…
which could be one of these:
(a) A CTJM-1-M tubing jacket maker (.03
0-wall)
(b) A quantity of Corbin bullet jackets (usually, 1000)
(c) A rimfire jacket-ma
ker (RFJM-22M or RFJM-6MM)
(d) A sub-cal jacket drawing die set (JRD-1-M, one each
for
.20, .17, and .14 draws)
(e) No jackets — for lead bullets
(f) A JRD-1-M jacket reduce
r and supply of next-larger
jackets, where required
(5) A lead core supply…
whi
ch could be one of these:
(a) Lead wire (LW-25) and core cutter (PCS-1)
(b) Core
mould (CM-4)
(c) Sub-cal extruder (LED-2) kit
These are all you really need to
consider. There are optional
items that I might want, having been through it all before. Th
ey
simply make life a bit easier and produce better bullets. These
optional items inc
lude:
(1) Cannelure tool (HCT-1)
(2) Bullet polisher kit (BPK-1)
(3) Dip L
ube (CDL-16) to preserve finish, or for lead bullets.
(4) Instrument grade lubricating oil (F
SO-16) to preserve dies
(5) Cleaning solvent (CCS-16) for dies and bullets
(6) Core Bon
d (CCB-16) to make bonded core bullets
(7) Extra floating punch holders (FPH-1-M)
(8) E
xtra ejection pins (PUNCH-M, specify caliber, internal PF,
and/or actual diameter if known)
As to exactly WHICH size of jacket, mould, lead wire, or die set
model to get, y
ou can just indicate the weight and style of bullet you
want to make, either with a sketch,
a sample, or reference to one of
the drawings or photos in any Corbin book (give title and p
age number).
The die-maker will work out the correct combination to get where you
wan
t to go, using the closest available materials.
That still leaves you a bit in the dark as t
o which of the many
sets of dies will make the bullets you want. Here is a check-list
describing many general kinds of bullets, and the dies that will make
them:
A.
LEAD BULLETS WITH SMALL SHOULDER BEFORE START OF NOSE
(1) Use LSWC-1-M single die set
(2) Specify caliber
(3) Specify base shape:
a. Flat Base (standard)
b. Dish Base
(shallow concave from side to side)
c. Cup Base (flat margin around deeper concave portion)<
br /> d. Hollow Base (more than 1/2 caliber deep cavity)
(4) Specify nose shape:
a. Kei
th Nose (standard for handgun)
b. Round Nose
c. Wadcutter Nose
d. Conical Nose
f. 1-E (1-cal. long eliptical, stan
dard for rifle)
(5) Specify weight range desired (max. 450 gr.)
B. LEAD BULLETS
WITH NO SHOULDER BEFORE START OF NOSE
(1) Use CSW-1-M and PF-1-M (core swage and point form d
ies)
(2) Specify caliber
(3) Specify ogive radius or nose shape
a. Tangential ogi
ves from 0.5 to 10-S (6-S standard)
b. Spire point (12-degree standard)
c. Round Nose (
same as .5-S or .5-E shape)
d. Eliptical ogive from .5-E to 2-E (1-E standard)
e. TC (t
runcated conical – standard handgun)
f. Dual-diameter, other special form (send sketch)
(4) Specify base shape (same as in A.)
(5) Specify weight range desired (max. 450 gr.)
C. JACKETED SEMI-WADCUTTER OR WADCUTTER
(1) Use JSWC-1-M (core swage and core seater)
(2) Specify caliber
(3) Specify Nose shape (same as A.)
(4) Specify Base shape (
same as A.)
(5) Specify weight range (max. 450 gr.)
(6) Specify jacket (Corbin size, or
send sample)
D. FULL JACKET, OPEN TIP OR HANDGUN SOFT POINT, OR FMJ OPEN BASE
(1) Use FJFB-3-M (core swage, core seater, and point form)
(2) Specify caliber
(3) Spe
cify ogive radius or nose shape (same as B.)
(4) Specify Base shape (same as A.)
(5) Sp
ecify weight range (max. 450 gr.)
(6) Specify jacket (Corbin size, or send sample)
(1) Use LTFB-4-M (as in D. but with lead tip die add
ed)
(2) Specify all items as in D.
(3) Specify tip shape
a. flat
b. spitzer
(sharp point to match PF-1-M die shape)
c. semi-spitzer (radius at tip)
d. round
F. REBATED BOATTAIL OPEN TIP RIFLE STYLE
(1) Use RBTO-4-M (core swage, RBT-2 set, poi
nt form)
(2) Specify all items as in D.
G. REBATED BOATTAIL AND FLAT BASE, OPEN
TIP RIFLE STYLE
(1) Use FRBO-5-M (3-die set with RBT-2 set added)
(2) Specify all items
as in D.
H. REBATED BOATTAIL WITH LEAD OR OPEN TIP
(1) Use FRBL-5-M (same as F.
with LT-1-M added)
(2) Specify all items as in E.
I. REBATED BOATTAIL or FLAT B
ASE, LEAD or OPEN TIP (all style)
(1) Use FRBL-6-M (complete set of all dies)
(2) Speci
fy all items as in E.
Note that each set of dies simply adds additional kinds of dies
to
one of the more simple sets. You don’t lose any capability as you go
up in versati
lity. The only decision that might be somewhat difficult
is between a LSWC-1-M lead semi-wad
cutter die and a JSWC-2-M two-die
set for either jacketed or lead semi-wadcutters. The LSWC-
1-M is a bit
faster if you are certain that you don’t want to make jacketed bullets.
But the JSWC-2-M set handles both kinds well.
The FJFB-3-M and all higher sets still preserv
e the ability to
make lead bullets or semi-wadcutters, provided you order the desired
nose punch to fit into the core seating die. The exception is that the
RBTO-4-M and the RBT
L-4-M do not have a standard core seating die for
flat base bullets. They cannot make a conv
entional handgun style
without a rebated boattail, since there is no die included to do it.<
br /> When you order a die set for rifle calibers, and we know it is for
a rifle caliber, we
provide a punch to fit INSIDE the jacket you
specify (and if it isn’t one of ours, we need
samples or we cannot make
the dies). Rifle style implies that the jacket will curve around t
he
ogive like a rifle bullet jacket. It is very popular for open tip or
soft point ha
ndgun bullets, not just for rifle calibers.
A more limited handgun style is the semi-wadcutt
er. This is a
generic term to the die-maker, not a specific shape. It means that the
bullet has a nose made of lead, with the jacket stopping short of the
ogive, so there can be
a shoulder where the end of the nose-forming
punch presses against the lead. In a rifle-sty
le set with a point
forming die, there is NO nose-forming punch: the point forming die
> itself controls the shape of the ogive and nose.
INDIVIDUAL DI
E DESCRIPTIONS
CSW-1-M Core Swage Die, Mity Mite
This is the first die in
most sets, except for the LSWC-1-M.
In the lead semi-wadcutter set, the single die performs
the function of
the core swage and the core seater in one operation, since it operates
final diameter, and fi
tted with nose and base punches. The true core
swage die has flat-ended punches, and is used
only to adjust the
diameter and length, roundness and weight of the raw lead core. The
to adjust the weigh
t on each stroke.
Core swage dies are made to a diameter which accepts a standard
size
of lead core, and increases it to a close fit to the proper jacket
size. Since jacket wall
thickness can be selected from a wide range of
jackets, including tubing or thin rimfire cas
e jackets, the core swage
must be matched to the jacket wall as well as caliber. Some sets u
se
more than one core swage, to allow changing to different jacket
thicknesses.
>
LSWC-1-M Lead Semi-wadcutter Die, Mity Mite
A special form of core swage, in
which the bore diameter is
made final bullet size and the punches are made to form the base
and
nose shape. This die operates on lead or half jacket bullets only. It
is faster t
han using a two-die set such as the JSWC-1-M, but is less
versatile since it does not handle
a 3/4-jacket.
CS-1-M Core Seating Die, Mity Mite
The core seater can for
m a finished handgun bullet of the
semi-wadcutter style (or wadcutter style) either with or
without the
use of a core swage to adjust the core weight. Combined with a core
swage
, it makes up the JSWC-2-M jacketed semi-wadcutter set. It is
always used prior to forming t
he ogive on an open tip or soft point
bullet, in order to generate enough internal pressure
to expand the
jacket and form a straight, round shank on the bullet.
RBT
-2-M Rebated Boattail 2-Die Set, Mity Mite
The rebated boattail set consists of a pair of die
s that
replace the regular CS-1-M core seater. The jacket (ordinary flat base
type) i
s put into the first die, which is called the preform or BT die.
The core is pushed into the
jacket. A punch enters the mouth of the
jacket and presses on the core, expanding the jacke
t to fit snugly
against the die walls. The base of the die cavity has a boattail
shap
e, which transfers to the jacket base.
The second die of this set has very closely matched di
ameter and
taper to the first die. It also has a shoulder or edge machined into
the c
avity. The smoothly tapered jacket from the first die is placed
in the finishing, or RBT die
(second die). The same external punch is
used to push on the lead core, creating internal p
ressure that presses
the tapered base against the shoulder in the die. A rebate or step is <
br /> created in the jacket from this internal pressure.
The seated core and jacket are now e
jected and put into the point
forming die to be completed. The regular core seating die (CS-
1-M) is
not used when making a RBT bullet.
PF-1-M Point Forming Die, Mit
y Mite
The point forming die has the actual bullet shape machined
into its interior ca
vity. It does NOT use a nose forming punch, as in
the CS-1-M or LSWC-1-M dies, but has a sma
ll spring-steel ejection pin
in a tiny hole at the tip of the die. The seated core and jacke
t from
the core seating die (CS-1-M) or from the RBT-2 die set is put open-end
first
into the PF-1-M die (to make open tip or soft points), and a
full-caliber-size punch that fi
ts into the point forming die presses on
the bullet base to shape the ogive.
It is not
advisable to make the complete bullet in this die only,
except for full-jacket, open-base s
tyles. The reason is that this die
does not form a sealed system, as with the core seating d
ie, since one
end is virtually open during forming. The pressure within the die
taper
s from base to ogive in a complex pattern depending on ogive
shape, and is not normally capa
ble of expanding the jacket shank
properly by itself. That is why the core seating die pre-f
orms the
shank prior to using this die.
Several different bullet shapes can be made wi
th the same die set
by purchasing various point forming dies. The match of the point
forming die to the core seater is extremely critical. Samples of
seated cores are required t
o make another point forming die for a given
set. It is normally best to order additional st
yles of point forming
dies with the original set, but with sample seated cores or the return
of the set, a new point forming die can be matched to the core seater.
LT-1-M Lead Tip Forming Die, Mity Mite
The lead tip die shapes the exposed lead at the tip of
the
bullet after the bullet has been formed in the point forming die. It
is normally
used only for sharp rifle ogives, not for blunt handgun
shapes. When the tip of the bullet
must be smaller than the diameter
of the ejection pin required for a given caliber, the lead
tip die can
be used as a finisher to bring the tip slightly more closed, or to
shape
the exposed lead into a proper point after the ejection pin in
the point forming die has de
formed it during ejection.
A lead tip die can be added to any set, provided that the set has
a point forming die. Lead tip dies are not used with JSWC-1-M or LSWC-
1-M sets. A lea
d tip die cannot be used by itself to form a bullet.
It must act as a "clean-up" d
ie for the tip of bullets formed in the
point forming die. The internal punch of the lead ti
p die can be
changed to various shapes, in order to make flat tip, blunt round tips,
semi-spitzer or sharp spitzer lead tips.
A benefit of the lead tip die is that one can use a
sharp ogive
point forming die, and yet produce a good-looking flat tip. This can
be
desirable with a .308-caliber set, where bullets for .30-06 and .300
Winchester can be made
at the same time as bullets for the tubular
action .30-30, by finishing the .30-30 bullets w
ith the LT-1-M die.
MATCHED SETS OF DIES
LSWC-1-M Le
ad Semi-wadcutter 1-die Set, Mity Mite
A "set" can be any number of dies, including
one, as long as it
makes a completed bullet without the need of other dies or punches.
style bullet (or a
wadcutter, or a lead rifle bullet with a small
shoulder between the ogive and the shank). N
ormally the external punch
forms the nose and the internal punch forms the base, especially
in
handgun bullets. Some rifle bullets are made using the internal punch
to form the
nose.
Remember that the external punch fits into the floating punch
holder, a threade
d cylinder which fits into the press head and does all
the adjusting for die volume and bull
et weight (as a direct result).
The internal punch remains in the die, and is operated by th
e geometry
of the ram, sliding back to allow maximum bullet weight while sealing
off
the threaded end of the die against swaging pressure, and sliding
forward to eject the bulle
t.
The LSWC-1-M is normally stocked in .25 ACP, .308", .312", .314",
.3
55", .357", .358", .400", .410", .429", .452", and .458" di
ameters.
It can be ordered in any diameter between .14 and .458 as a special
order. N
ormal punches are either flat, cup, or hollow base, and
wadcutter, Keith semi-wadcutter, rou
nd nose, conical, or hollow point
(a universal and very deep hollow cavity punch that can be
used with
any of the other punches to produce interesting results). Rifle
calibers n
ormally are made with a one-caliber-length, eliptical round
nose, and either a flat or cup b
ase.
The LSWC-1-M is made for soft lead. It can handle hard alloys
without breaking if
you are very careful, but it is folly to use them
in calibers over about .314" diamete
r. It is not the hardness of the
alloy that breaks a swage die: it is the fact that the oper
ator pushes
too hard trying to make the hard alloy flow and fill out the die. You
are
perfectly safe in using hard lead if you don’t push any harder than
you would for soft lead
. But that amount of force may not be enough
for the hard alloy to flow. Hard lead by itself
does no harm to the
die.
If you use a .44 caliber die or larger, it is almost a cert
ainty
that sooner or later you will break the die if hard lead is used. Dies
broken b
y excess pressure are the responsibility of the operator who
applied the pressure. Old Theod
ore Smith, a pioneer of swage die
manufacture and, prior to the growth of the Corbin firm, o
ne of the
largest suppliers of swage dies in the world, used to say that he ought
to
write his instructions to read "jump on the handle with all your
might, then remove the
die you just ruined and send it and a check for
a new one to the die-maker".
An
yone who has ever broken a swage die says "…but I wasn’t
applying THAT much pressure!
It felt about like it always does, then
the die broke!" With a little more experience,
it is easy to feel the
little bit of excess force that breaks a die. A swage die for the Mi
ty
Mite press can handle 171,745 psi in .224 caliber, and 103,548 psi in
.458 caliber
. That is the ultimate strength. A tiny bit more and
CRACK! When the press is adjusted to go
"over center", using the
nearly infinite leverage of the short stroke system, it
is easily
possible to generate pressures over 200,000 psi. Use only enough so
that so
ft lead — pure, soft lead — forms correctly. If a hard alloy
can be formed with that press
ure, wonderful. But if it refuses to form
without "a little bit more", then check
your replacement die funds
before proceeding to apply it!
This friendly warning appli
es to any of the dies, but it is
especially true with the LSWC-1 since many people order the
se in large
calibers and want to make alloy bullets. If you truely need hard
alloys,
I strongly suggest that you consider the Hydro-press dies and
either the Hydro-press itself,
or the Mega Mite press. The Mega Mite
doesn’t always have enough leverage for hard alloys i
n the largest
calibers, but it makes a good .50 caliber soft lead bullet and it can
h
andle hard alloys in any caliber without breaking the die. The Hydro-
press never says never.
It just idles along while swaging linotype
alloy, and yawns with boredom when you try to ch
allenge it with jobs
that leave hand press dies in a pile of rubble.
JS
WC-2-M Jacketed Semi-wadcutter 2-die Set, Mity Mite
The job of making jacketed or lead bullet
s in two steps, instead
of one like the LSWC-1-M, means you can use jackets that cover the <
br /> sides of the bullet. These would normally block the bleed holes on the
LSWC-1-M. If yo
u plan to make both lead and jacketed semi-wadcutters,
this is the right choice. It consists
of both a core swage and a core
seating die. The core swage is made to produce a lead core
to fit into
the normal jacket used in the caliber. The core seater is made final
diam
eter for the bullet, and has nose and base punches.
Some people want a bevel base bullet, a b
oattail bullet, or a
round nose with no step between shank and ogive. These things can
> only be approximated in the straight-walled core seater die. The nose
punch does not have
an invisible, razor-sharp edge. It has about
0.020-inches of metal at the edge. This lets it
last for your lifetime
and probably that of your grandchildren, instead of wearing away in
a
few bullets. It also means there has to be a step or shoulder of about
0.020-inch d
epth between the nose (formed in the punch cavity) and the
shank (formed against the die wal
l).
I see little point in the bevel base in this kind of die, since
the shoulder made
necessary by the punch really doesn’t solve the
problem of getting the bullet easily into th
e case mouth. A very
slight bell to the case mouth solves it. If you want a true bevel, get
the next die set. It has a point forming die, which has NO internal
punch (in the nor
mal sense of forming the bullet nose), but forms the
bullet against die wall all the way to
the end. You can reverse the
bullet and tap in into the die lightly (with a precise adjustme
nt of
the punch holder, this is more repeatable than I made it sound). This
gives you
a perfectly formed bevel or taper on the base, very slight
but also very streamlined and ad
equate to align the bullet in the case.
FJFB-3-M Full Jacket, Flat Base 3-die S
et, Mity Mite
This is the workhorse of the system. More of these sets are made
and sol
d than any other. That is because they do what most people
want, making lead bullets, semi-w
adcutter bullets, or fully-jacketed
bullets of either open base or open point style.
When we say full jacketed bullet, it can mean two different
things. Most people mean a milit
ary full jacket with open base, which
is formed by putting the base of the bullet jacket int
o the point
forming die first, instead of the open end going in first. But handgun
pe
ople often use the term full jacket to mean that the jacket curves
around the ogive, coverin
g part or all of the nose section. The
alternative is the three-quarter jacket, or the half-
jacket design.
A three-quarter jacket bullet is the kind that is formed when you
use
the JSWC-2-M set and a jacket that covers the shank completely, but
leaves the lead nose to
be formed in the punch cavity. The JSWC-2-M
die set can’t bring the jacket up around the nos
e at all, not even a
tiny bit. This is because the edge of the punch which forms the nose
to completely f
ill the punch cavity.
A half-jacket bullet has half its shank covered by jacket and half
jacket bullets are not
really much better than lead ones as far as
velocity and fouling are concerned. But half-jac
kets still make great
short, light bullets in a 3/4-jacket style! Confused?
Look at i
t this way: there are names we give the jackets that are
based on the normal bullet weight m
ade in that jacket, and then there
are the names we give bullets regardless of weight. If yo
u make a
light bullet in a short jacket, it can have the whole shank covered by
jacke
t. And then, it is a 3/4-jacket bullet even if the jacket was
originally made for 1/2-jacket
designs. Conversely, if you use a so-
called "full" length jacket for a handgun, a
nd make a normal weight of
rifle bullet (such as using a 0.7-inch long .38 handgun jacket to
make
a 250 grain .358 rifle bullet), you really wind up with what amounts to
a half-
jacketed bullet.
So, if you want to play with unusual weights (and I say, go for
it!
Why not explore it all since swaging gives you the power to do
so?) you may wind up having t
o order jackets by their catalog number
and forget about what the rest of the world consider
s that jacket good
for making. The terms half, three-quarter, and full jacket are a crude
inches is much more p
recise.
The three-die set (FJFB-3-M) has a core swage and a core seater,
but the core
seater usually is made just slightly (0.0005 to 0.0001
inch) smaller than if you were to ord
er the same caliber in a JSWC-1-M.
Does this mean you can’t add a point forming die to a JSW
C-1-M and thus
produce a new set exactly like a FJFB-3?
No, but the die-maker should
either get the set back or should be
given several lead slugs swaged in the core seating die
. Then he can
use the slugs, or the die set itself, to make a point forming die that
is 0.0005 to 0.0001 inches larger than the core seater! One way or the
other, there needs to
be a microscopic difference to allow proper
ejection of the final bullet. Remember that swa
ging is a process of
upward expansion to meet the die walls. Shoving a bullet that is
already at final diameter into the same diameter of die is a formula
for stuck bullets and
difficult ejection.
While we are on the subject, let me comment that diameter
differen
ces of even 0.001 inch make very little difference in where the
bullets will group, provided
all the bullets fired are the same
diameter. In the real world, you can get away with shoot
ing a .309
bullet in a .308 barrel and probably win the Nationals either because
of o
r in spite of it, and everyone else will rush out to buy the same
kind of oversize bullet on
ce you do it. What counts is consistency,
not absolute size. On the other hand, you can get
considerably worse
groups if the bullets are 0.001 inch smaller than bore size. So, I
usually recommend the nominal size, or larger.
The FJFB-3-M set makes soft points (provided
the die is made with
a handgun kind of ogive or a flat tip, and is not brought to a spitzer
point cavity) as well as open tip, open base (full metal jacket) as
well as open poin
t, and hollow points (which are made with a hollow
point punch during the core seating opera
tion) as well as open points.
An open point has the jacket longer than the core. A hollow poi
nt
has a hole poked into the lead core. You can combine both. To do
this, the core se
ating punch has a projection on its face that makes
the cavity in the lead core, and it also
fits inside the jacket. A
normal hollow point punch fits the die bore, so that only the pro
be
fits into the jacket. Most hollow points are also lead tips.
The usual kind of pun
ches supplied with the FJFB-3-M set depend on
whether it is a rifle or handgun caliber. Most
rifle dies are
purchased to make open tip bullets, so a core seating punch with a flat
punches (internal core se
ating, and external point forming) are flat
faced. The handgun sets normally have a Keith or
a hollow point
external punch with the core seater, and flat base punches in the core
> seater and with the point former.
However, just because the simple way to name this set re
quired
using the term "Flat Base", don’t be confused with the optional bases
> you can make. Any kind of base that can be formed by pressing the
bullet base against a pu
nch is perfectly suitable for this set. A dish
base, a cup base, or a hollow base set of pun
ches (meaning, one for the
inside of the core seater, and one for the outside of the point f
ormer
to match it) will convert the set from flat base to any of these other
base sty
les.
Flat base is used here to differentiate the set from the Rebated
Boattail sets.
Those sets have a different kind of core seater die:
in fact, they have two dies to replace
the one flat base core seater.
If you want to make bullets for longest range shooting, or if
you want
to experiment with low velocity, high efficiency bullets even at close
rang
e (where the speed during flight will approach or cross the
transonic region at Mach I) then
I would suggest the rebated boattail
sets that follow. But first, a word for the lead tip b
ullet….
LTFB-4-M Lead Tip, Flat Base 4-die Set, Mity Mite
You can make
lead tips with a three-die set, provided that the
ogive is blunt enough to allow extremely e
asy ejection. The ejection
pin pushes on the lead tip, and with sharper ogives (such as the
normal
rifle styles other than round noses) the pin pushes into the lead
because it u
sually takes a bit more pressure than the lead can
withstand to eject a very pointed bullet.
The result is a deformed blob of lead at the tip of the bullet.
To reshape this into
a neat lead tip, and possibly to shear off surplus
lead, the LT-1-M die is added to the set
. If you wish, you can
purchase the LT-1-M separately and make any open tip set into a lead
tip set. Or, you can purchase the set together under the LTFB-4-M
catalog number. Thi
s set makes all the bullets that the 3-die set
makes, plus good lead tips. Good lead tip bul
lets take a little
experimenting, to get the right amount of exposed lead.
Too much ex
posed lead usually doesn’t hurt anything. Too little,
and you won’t have enough to fill the
cavity in the internal punch of
the lead tip die. The tips don’t completely form, as a resul
t. A very
light pressure is required. If you apply too much, you’ll put a
shoulder in
the jacket just below the tip from pressing the punch edge
against the jacket. The right am
ount of lead for the length of jacket
used places some limits on the weight of bullet that w
ill work properly
and form a good lead tip. Some combinations of jacket length and core
you will find out q
uickly by experimenting. But a few grains more lead
hurts nothing, and gives the results you
want.
RBTO-4-M Rebated Boattail Open Tip 4-die Set, Mity Mite
Here is th
e set for the long-range target shooter. If you shoot
high power rifle with a capital HP, me
aning serious matches with a .30
caliber, then you should consider the lower drag coefficien
t and
consequent shorter time of flight of the RBT design. The rebate gives
you an ed
ge in accuracy at the muzzle, deflecting the muzzle blast
gasses to the side so that they do
not flow along the streamline of the
bullet and break up in front of it.
If you plan
to make survival bullets, or copper tubing bullets, I
usually feel that the slight gain in b
allistic coefficient isn’t worth
the extra cost and trouble of making these bullets. There i
s one more
step involved, and with tubing it is a little more difficult to produce
as
good a bullet as with flat base styles. It can be done, and it is
practical, but most situa
tions involving bullets at more than twice the
speed of sound just don’t benefit enough from
the base design to bother
with any extra trouble.
This set doesn’t have a regular fla
t base core seating die
included. It makes rebated boattails, of the open tip style, only. I
t
doesn’t usually make FMJ styles, but you can use the point forming die
alone and ma
ke a pretty good open base full jacket "military" style
bullet with a flat base. M
aking an open base rebated boattail is not
practical with this equipment, nor does it have a
ny advantage since the
open tip is usually more accurate and easier to produce.
FRBO-5-M Flat or Rebated Boattail, Open Tip 5-die Set, Mity Mite
This set adds a regu
lar core seating die to the previous one, so
you can make either flat base or rebated boatta
ils with the same set.
It is better to purchase this set together rather than adding on, sin
ce
the die-maker can match the diameters better when he has all the dies
in one place
at the same time.
This set makes it easier to get a wide range of weights. A flat
ba
se design lets you get lower weights in the same ogive shape, and a
rebated boattail lets yo
u get lower weights for the same jacket length.
A flat base gives you the ability to make he
avier weights using the
same jacket length. If you have a "universal" caliber like
the .308,
which can produce anything from an 80 grain .32 ACP bullet to a 220
grain
.300 Magnum slug, then this is a pretty good choice in die sets.
RBTL-5-M Rebat
ed Boattail Lead Tip 5-die Set, Mity Mite
This set just substitutes a lead tip forming die fo
r the core
seating die, which means you can make either open tip target bullets or
le
ad tip hunting bullets, but only with the rebated boattail base. The
reason for a person buy
ing this set is to use the same kind of bullet
that he normally uses in his target shooting,
and with which he is
presumably quite familiar, in a soft point hunting bullet.
The o
dds are that the high power shooter who does take such a
bullet (and, of course, the familia
r cartridge and powder combination
to fit it) afield after game with a properly-sighted hunt
ing rifle,
probably has a much better chance of coming home with meat for the
freezer
than someone who uses a completely different caliber than his
usual, more familiar target e
xperience requires.
The boattail design probably doesn’t add much to the hunting
succe
ss, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s contribution is familiarity: if
you fire thousands of the same
kind of bullet, less the lead tip, at
200, 300, 600, and perhaps 1000 yard targets in all k
inds of wind
conditions, then chances are better that you can connect with a similar
bullet and load even if the range is less certain and the target is
moving. The range is pro
bably 60 yards to 200 yards, more than half
the time, and the bullet is going so fast it doe
sn’t have time to
notice its tail in that range, but the shooter has a good feel for the
FRBL-6-M All Style 6-die Set,
Mity Mite
Whatever you need, you can probably make it with this package of
dies. Many
people go for this one simply because "you never know" what
you might want to try.
That’s not a bad reason. If you have the dies,
you can try things that you might otherwise
never get around to doing.
And dies are a good investment: they don’t seem to get any less <
br /> expensive with the passing of time. If you think there is much chance
you’ll want to m
ake a variety of different purpose bullets in a given
caliber, this is the right choice.
with a 3-die set. Ther
e isn’t much point in having either the lead tip
die or the rebated boattail dies for a .357
Magnum or a .45 ACP, since
there are tricks that let you make as good a boattail as anyone
could
possibly use on these bullets, with the ordinary 3-die package. And
lead tips o
n blunt handgun bullets don’t usually require the LT-1-M die
because the short bullet length
and blunt taper make ejection easy
enough that the broad lead tip doesn’t deform.
If
you have rifle calibers in mind, and want to go first class, by
all means give the 6-die se
t some consideration. Even if you don’t use
all the dies often, they will be ready when you
do need them.
SPECIAL DIES FOR THE MITY MITE
Draw dies have
already been discussed. In the Mity Mite system,
you can get sets of dies to reduce the bul
let or the jacket diameter.
The punch fits into the press ram, and the die replaces the floa
ting
punch holder in the press head. This is just the opposite of the
normal swaging
set (where the die screws into the press ram, and the
external punch is held in the floating
punch holder, in the head of the
press). For details on these dies, turn to the chapter on
Draw Dies.
A unique die set for the Mity Mite is the LED-2 Lead Extruder Die
Set. This
set solves a problem for the maker of sub-caliber bullets:
how to produce lead cores for th
e tiny .14, .17 and .20 bullets. Lead
wire is available, but a normal 175,000 grain spool ma
kes more bullets
than a person could shoot in a reasonable time. Core casting is
poss
ible, but very tedious with such tiny core diameters.
The LED-2 outfit uses a standard .44/.4
5 caliber lead core, cast
in a .365-inch diameter core mould. You can also use a cast .38
put them into the
mouth of the extruder die. Run the press ram forward
with the extruder punch screwed into t
he press ram. Adjust the die so
that you can easily apply enough pressure to spurt lead wire
out the
end of the die, like toothpaste from a tube.
The extruder die comes with die
inserts for making .20, .17, and
.14 caliber wire. The insert can be changed easily. Lubric
ation on
the cast slug is essential for easy operation. This outfit is made to
extrud
e soft lead only. Hard alloys usually don’t extrude well in a
hand press or, for that matter
, a power press. I would not own a set
of sub-caliber dies without the LED-2 outfit to make
my own sub-cal
wire. It is more economical, easy and satisfactory that any other
meth
od except perhaps for buying a spool of wire to pass on to the
grandchildren (especially in
.14 caliber).
Dual diameter bullets can be made in a special order die that
combines t
he functions of a core seater and a draw die. I don’t even
have a catalog number for this on
e, but just call it a special. It
fits the press ram like a core seater, but has a dual insi
de diameter.
It acts like a draw die, in that you press your finished bullet into
the
die and the forward portion is reduced by the depth of the rifling
(usually about 0.008 inc
hes total reduction). A punch matching the
ogive pushes the bullet back out on the ejection
stroke of the press.
This kind of die is somewhat expensive to produce, and is never in
> stock (being made specifically for experimental applications and custom
bullets), but it d
oes allow certain advantages over a conventional
bullet design. First, the reduced nose sect
ion rides atop the rifling
and reduces friction in the barrel. This means you get higher spe
eds
and less pressure at maximum loads. Second, the amount of reduced nose
section is
adjustable so you can set your own freebore, even in a gun
without any barrel freebore. It
is like having a non-rifled, bore-
sized guide section built on the bullet instead of in the
gun barrel.
The advantage is that you can retain the accuracy you need, yet
still get
higher powder charges and more velocity, and at the same time
you can use a heavier or longe
r bullet than the gun and cartridge would
normally feed and chamber. Feeding through the mag
azine is a different
problem: this doesn’t help in that department. But feeding into the
your gun. If the bo
lt would not close before because the rifling came
up against the longer bullet too soon, yo
u can make it work now.
For want of a better name, I just call this a "dual-diameter&quo
t; draw
die. We also make point forming dies that swage the bullet with a dual
diamet
er. There are some problems, however, that keep this from
working in all cases. One is that
the seated core and jacket are one
diameter, correct for the shank of a normal bullet. Yet,
the forward
part of the point forming die is undersized by so much that it is like
us
ing the wrong caliber, and the bullet can stick or be very difficult
to eject. This happens
when the reduced portion extends back very far
from the ogive.
There are many special
instances where experimental processes work
very well in one instance and not at all or wit
h great difficulty in a
similar but slightly different case. When possible, stick to the
they are. But if you
do need something special and don’t mind the
extra cost involved in working out the details
to make it work for your
case, Corbin is one of the few places in the world where you can g
et
expert assistance at reasonable cost.
CTJM-1-M Copper Tubing Jacket-M
aker Set, Mity Mite
A special set of dies that forms 0.030-wall hard drawn, straight
c
opper tubing into bullet jackets with flat bases. The bases are not
completely closed, but a
re nearly so. Partitions cannot be formed in
the jacket material itself, but can be made by
using a smaller caliber
jacket telescoped inside the tubing. This technique works well and i
s
described in "Rediscover Swaging". Tubing jacket-makers are practical
for
calibers from 7mm to .458 in the Mity Mite system.
LED-2 Lead Extruder Die, Mi
ty Mite
A special sub-caliber extruder die set that makes wire for the
.14, .17, and .
20 calibers, using either a .38 cast bullet or a cast
core from a .44/45 core mould (or cut
wire of .365-inch diameter). All
three calibers of wire are made with the standard set, with
out ordering
any special parts.
JRD-1-M Jacket Reducing Die, Mity Mite
limitations. Popular use
is for turning a .357 into a 9mm bullet, or
for reducing a .44 jacket to .41 caliber. Speci
fy starting diameter,
send samples to help the die-maker adjust the die, and specify desired
final diameter. Without samples, it is impossible to guarentee the
final bullet diam
eter closer than about 0.002 inches. With samples,
diameter can be held to better than 0.000
5 inches.
RFJM-22M Rimfire Jacket-maker, .224, Mity Mite
This is the fun
ctional equivalent of the same die in the reloading
press (RFJM-22R). It turns fired .22 cas
es (short, long, long rifle,
or Stinger) into excellent .224 caliber jackets by drawing out
the head
and reducing the diameter. The only difference between this die set
and the
one for the reloading press is the punch. The Mity Mite
version uses a punch that screws int
o the ram, and the die screws into
the 7/8-14 TPI press head just as it would in a reloading
press.
RFJM-6MM Rimfire Jacket-maker, .243, Mity Mite
This is the funct
ional equivalent of the same die in the reloading
press (RFJM-6MR). It turns fired .22 LR or
Stinger cases into preforms
to make a 6mm jacket. The final forming takes place as the core
is
being seated, expanding the drawn case to 6mm diameter from the .225-
inch diamete
r body typical of a fired .22 case. The head is drawn
until it becomes a smooth 0.219-inch s
ection, but the rest of the case
is NOT pushed through the die. This is different from formi
ng a .224
jacket (because the .224 requires that the whole case be pushed through
the
die). A two-diameter ejector rod presses the partly-drawn jacket
back out of the die.
PUNCH-M Mity Mite Punch
To order a punch for any Mity Mite die, specify the ca
liber, the
function (CS, CSW, PF, etc.), and whether it is internal or external.
Exte
rnal punches fit the floating punch holder. Internal punches fit
inside the die and the ram
of the press. They are the longer punch
with the small tail on one end.
.he CHAPTER 13
CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
SWAGE DIES OF THE HYDRO-PRESS SYSTEM
Hydro-press dies are huge. They are larger than the ram of the
Mity Mite press and th
eir punches are like night sticks, so big they
could just about replace the Mity Mite ram. N
aturally, there is no way
they would "interchange" with dies from a hand press or
the Mity Mite.
The reason for making these large dies is to withstand super-high
pres
sures — pressures that would blow a firearm to bits. For
instance, a .224 caliber die in th
e Hydro-press design can withstand
176,667 psi repeatedly. Even the huge .512 caliber die ca
n take
pressures of 102,198 psi. These pressures would crack a smaller die
immediatel
y.
Because these dies can withstand such monumental pressures, it is
possible to do t
hings with them that were not possible before in home
swaging. In fact, things that are impr
actical for any of the major
bullet plants can also be done easily at home because of the de
sign of
both the dies and the press.
The same dies that are made in the Mity Mite are
also produced in
the Hydro-press system. Turn to the chapter on Mity Mite dies for a
list of all the styles and sets you can obtain, and what they do. Just
replace the -M at the
end of the catalog number with a -H, and you have
a catalog number for the same thing in th
e Hydro-press system.
For details on the operation of each of the various kinds of dies,
basically the same,
except that much greater pressure can be used
safely in the Hydro-press die than is possible
in the Mity Mite.
Hydro-press dies also fit into the Mega Mite press, but it isn’t always <
br /> practical or even possible to develop enough pressure to form the
bullet. The Mega Mit
e is strong enough and so are the dies, but some
calibers, materials, and designs simply req
uire a full-power hydraulic
system in order to operate properly. On the other hand, many bul
lets
can be made in the Mega Mite, including lead .50 calibers and jacketed
.458 cali
bers with up to 0.030-inch wall tubing.
There are special dies that the great control and po
wer of the
Hydro-press can utilize. One is the LED-1 Lead Extruder Die set. This
extr
uder makes any size of lead wire, from the .224 to the .458 caliber
size. Four standard LED-
D inserts are provided (.185, .250, .312, and
.365-inch diameters), and you can order any ot
her standard diameter you
need, or have a special diameter made to order.
The LED-1 co
mes will instructions for use. Basically, the die
replaces the floating punch holder in the
press head. It accepts a
0.795-inch diameter lead billet four inches long. Corbin makes
pure chemical lead.
The kit also comes with a set of two mould tubes
and a base, which lets you cast your own so
ft lead into proper-diameter
billets in rapid order. Extra mould tubes can be ordered by nam
e.
A special, long punch assembly with floating head screws into the
press ram. This p
unch self-aligns with the die bore, and is a very
snug fit. I don’t recommend pushing it in
by hand, because it can be
difficult to remove. To extrude lead wire, simply lubricate the l
ead
billet with Corbin Swage Lube, and drop it into the top of the extruder
die. The
punch and die should be adjusted so that the punch is just
inside the die mouth, and it will
support the lead billet.
Then, place the desired diameter of die insert (LED-D) carefully
lead. Slide it into
place in the top of the die. Then screw the
bushing down into the top of the die body to ho
ld the die in place.
Start the press moving up. Normally, I like to adjust the top position
sensor so that the ram is just short of the top of the die when the
press stops. This
is best done by running the ram up before the die is
installed, then screwing the die down
until it stops against the punch
face, and finally backing it off slightly for clearance. Th
en set the
location of the top sensor to shut off the press and reverse it at this
po
int in the ram travel.
Small diameter wire can take 1,800 psi or so to extrude. Larger
diameters can take as little as 1000 psi on the press gauge. The exact
pressures are sugges
ted in the literature that comes with the LED-1.
When you start up the press, lead will come
out the top of the die
quickly. It will be hot, so don’t immediately grab it with a bare
great force from t
he top of the die, so never lean over the die or
place any part of your body over the top of
it while you are extruding
lead. If you ever observe this rare occurrance, you will be care
ful to
follow that advise.
The quality of wire that you can produce this way far excee
ds
nearly any commercial supply. It looks like chrome, and it is so even
and consiste
nt that it is hard to believe the material is soft lead.
Many Corbin customers sell their le
ad wire at a premium price, and get
it, because it is indeed a premium product.
Copper
tubing jacket-maker dies, CTJM-1-H, for the Hydro-press can
be ordered in .030, 0.049, or 0
.065-inch wall thickness. Brass,
copper, or even steel jackets can be formed. In copper of 0
.030 and
0.049 wall thickness, it is practical to form a partition or wall
across the
middle of the jacket in several of the larger calibers.
This isn’t possible or practical in
all calibers or wall thicknesses,
but generally works well above .30 caliber in 0.030 wall
copper tubing,
and with most of the larger calibers in 0.049 wall copper tubing.
The b
ase closure that is possible with the Hydro-press die set is
total, in flat base designs. Re
cently, we have developed methods of
making nearly total closures in a rebated boattail, cop
per tubing
jacket. Solid noses can also be formed to a high degree of closure.
Bullet
designs that far outshine any conventional factory design can be
produced at home. Hundreds
of fired bullets, recovered from trophy
game by excited customers, line the shelves in my o
ffice. Their
performance all over the world, time and time again, proves that a
perso
n can produce a better bullet in his own garage or loading room
than most of the very expens
ive factory bullets available today.
JRD-1-H Jacket Reducing Die, Hydro-press
Av
ailable for tubing reduction, bullet drawing, or jacket redraw
operations. Also used for red
ucing the diameter of pieces of cut,
solid tubing in copper or brass alloys, in order to pro
duce solid metal
bullets for special applications. The JRD-1-H fits a 7/8-14 to 1.5-12
> thread adapter in the press head, and the punch screws into the press
ram. For unusual app
lications, automatic stripper plates and guide
frames can be built to fit on the CHP-1 Mark
IV Hydro-press, quickly
removing the drawn component from the punch on the down stroke and <
br /> allowing rapid, hand-fed operation that approaches automatic feed
production (at a fra
ction of the cost).
CTJM-1-H Copper Tubing Jacket-maker, Hydro-press
Normally us
ed in calibers above .308, up to and including the .600
Nitro, special sets can be used in c
alibers such as .270 and 7mm.
Usually, smaller calibers can utilize commercially available j
ackets at
lower cost, or use commercial jackets reduced in diameter to thicken
the wa
lls. Wall thickness of 0.030, 0.049, and 0.065 are standard in
the larger bores. Special set
s can be made for other wall thickness
tubing. The flat-base sets round the end of the tubin
g, draw it down
to proper size, and flatten the end in the regular core seating die of
> your swage set. The partition sets utilize two punches to fold and
pressure-weld a band be
tween their ends, making a partition in the
middle of the bullet (exact position can be set
by punch length
ratios). The base is rolled over after the core is inserted. Two
shor
t cores are inserted, one from either end. Partition sets are the
same price as regular sets
, although different kinds of parts are
included. Five punches are normally used to convert
a conventional
flat base set into a partition set. Rebated boattail sets can be
produ
ced as well, again at the same price. RBT and partition designs
are not usually combined.
CSW-1-H Core Swage Die, Hydro-press
The core swage makes precise lead cores from s
oft or hard lead.
Unlike the Hydro-press dies, there is no restriction on lead hardness.
lead swage die. Sp
ecify which kind of lead you wish to use when
ordering, in order to get optimum performance.
CS-1-H Core Swage Die, Hydro-press
The core swage die can make a semi-wadcutter
handgun bullet with
or without a jacket, or it can be used as a preliminary step in forming
a rifle bullet (where the final stage is the point forming die).
Pressure limits for
each caliber of die are given in the book, "Power
Swaging". Punches can be ordere
d by function and shape under that
catalog number PUNCH-H (for this and all other Hydro-pres
s dies).
PF-1-H Point Form Die, Hydro-press
The point forming die has the actual
bullet shape lapped into its
cavity. It can form both jacket and lead into the ogive, unlik
e the
straight wall core seater which uses a punch to shape just the lead
nose. The i
nternal punch is a tough spring-steel ejection wire.
Larger calibers normally use a wire tha
t can be 0.180 to 0.200 inch
diameter. This assures easy ejection on lead tip bullet designs
.
Smaller calibers normally utilize wires of 0.120 or less, down to as
little as 0.08
0 inches for very small caliber bullets. It is important
to know the ejection pin diameter a
nd length so you can order
replacements easily. One of the first measurements you should rec
ord
is the diameter and length of the wire part of this punch, just in case
you ever
need a replacement sent quickly.
LT-1-H Lead Tip Forming Die, Hydro-press
The le
ad tip die shapes the extended lead tip of the bullet, and
it can also be used to close down
the open tip of a bullet below the
diameter of the ejection pin (as discussed under the PF-
1-H heading).
The internal punch of this die has a cavity that determines the
tip sha
pe. You can order extra internal punches to make flat nose,
spitzer tip, or semi-spitzer (ro
unded end) tips. This die uses the
same external punch as the point forming die, and cannot
be used
without first having a point forming die of the same caliber. It does
not com
e with external punch for that reason.
RBT-2-H Rebated Boattail Add-On 2-die Set, Hydr
o-press
This set ounch of this die has a cavity that determines the
tip shape. You can
order extra internal punches to make flat nose,
spitzer tip, or semi-spitzer (rounded end)
tips. This die uses the
same external punch as the point forming die, and cannot be used
not come with exte
rnal punch for that reason.
RBT-2-H Rebated Boattail Add-On 2-die Set, Hydro-press
nose forming
punches of a semi-wadcutter or paper-patch rifle core
swage die makes this die. The weight
is adjusted and the nose and base
formed all in one stroke. The die is used to make lead or
half-
jacketed handgun and rifle bullets. Typical rifle ogive would be a
nose punch ha
ving a 1-caliber long, eliptical shape. Typical handgun
nose shape might be a Keith or wadcu
tter. Other shapes can be made to
order. Standard shapes include conical, Keith, round nose,
wadcutter,
or hollow point, and flat base, cup base, dish base, and hollow base
shap
es.
JSWC-2-H Jacketed Semi-wadcutter 2-die Set, Hydro-press
This set breaks up t
he operation of weight adjustment and final
sizing into two steps, making it possible to use
3/4-jacket lengths.
It can also make lead or half jackets. Since bullet noses and bases
of the jacket aw
ay from full bore diameter. The nose must be formed
entirely of lead, with a small step betw
een the end of the ogive and
the start of the shank, also formed in the lead extending beyon
d the
jacket.
FJFB-3-H Full Jacket, Flat Base 3-die Set, Hydro-press
The
3-die set described under the Mity Mite section is also the
basic set for the power press.
Any caliber from .14 to .72 (or so)
diameter may be ordered. Standard calibers for every con
ventional
factory bore size are available, though demand is quite high and
delivery t
imes depend entirely on the current backlog: call or write
to get a copy of the immediate de
livery list.
LTFB-4-H Lead Tip, Flat Base 4-die Set, Hydro-press
Lead tip bulle
ts or open tip styles can be made with this set.
Generally, the lead tip styles are for rifl
es, because a blunt handgun
ogive can usually be formed with a lead tip even without the spe
cial
lead tip die. Sharper ogives require the extra die to shape up the
lead tip afte
r the actual ogive is formed.
RBT0-4-H Rebated Boattail, Open Tip 4-die Set, Hydro-pre
ss
The open tip, rebated boattail is a favorite amount competition
rifle shooters and
is rapidly becoming popular among winning metallic
silhouette shooters who use long range ha
ndguns. The rebated boattail
can be made in copper tubing jackets in the Hydro-press. Hard a
lloys
are also feasible with these high pressure dies and the press that
"thinks
" so it can avoid over-pressure conditions when properly
programmed.
RBTL-
5-H Rebated Boattail, Lead Tip 5-die Set, Hydro-press
The five die rebated boattail, open or
lead tip rifle set is
popular among shooters who take their firearms afield as well as to th
e
range. Choosing a lead tip offers greater expansion than the same
weight of open ti
p (and most people think it is the opposite!). The
open tip bullet brought to a small meplat
(typically less than 0.1
inches in diameter at the bullet tip) brings a considerable thicke
ning
to the jacket tip. Many factory bullets that were advertised as being
0.049-inch
wall thickness showed over 0.060 inches at the tip as a
result of this unavoidable thickeni
ng when the jacket is drawn to a
point. Using the lead tip gives you a greater opening at th
e actual
jacket’s end, since the lead extends beyond it to serve the purpose of
a sma
ller tip for better ballistics. It is the jacket thickness and
opening size that controls ex
pansion, rather than the mere fact of
whether or not the tip is open.
FRB0-5-H
Flat or Rebated Boattail, Open Tip 5-die Set, Hydro-press
A set for the person who likes open
tip (which is NOT the same as
hollow point, no matter what some of the mass producer
s of bullets say
in their literature) bullets, but wants the widest possible range of
weights. Many people purchase an extra point forming die, as well,
getting a 6 or 7-S ogive
for their longer range target work and for
more conventional weights, then getting the extr
a PF-1-H in a 1-E or a
round nose ogive (.5-E or .5-S — it is the same thing) for both the
very light weights (short shank and short nose) or the very heavy
weights (long shank
, short nose). The advantage of the blunt ogive is
that it gives you a greater range of usef
ul bullet weights. The
advantage of the sharper ogive is less drop and higher delivered
FRBL-6-H All Style System, 6-die Set, Hydro-press
> Finally, the set that gives you everything. This set makes all
the styles of any of the ot
her sets, except that you would need to
order extra punches (PUNCH-H, External, specify cali
ber and shape) to
make semi-wadcutter noses in the core seating die. Naturally, it
do
esn’t make every possible ogive shape, since the ogive is controlled
by the cavity lapped in
to the point forming die. Various ogive curves
would be made by ordering extra PF-1-H dies m
ade in those shapes.
Usually one or two shapes will suffice for the widest range of hunting
and target shooting situations.
LED-1 Lead Extruder Die Set, Hydro-press
The lead extruder die set has a large heat-treated steel body that
fits into the press head,
a long floating punch or piston assembly that
fits snugly into this die, a series of four d
ie inserts which control
the diameter of the lead wire you can extrude, a bushing to hold th
e
die insert into the top of the die, a pack of lead billets, and a mould
base with t
wo mould tubes to make your own billets from scrap lead, if
you wish. Standard sizes of .185
", .250", .312", and .365" die inserts
are included. Others can be order
ed in any desired size down to .125"
(which is the smallest size this extruder can safe
ly produce —
pressure and system size increase with the reduction in wire diameter).
LED-D Lead Extruder Die Insert, for LED-1
The die insert for the LED-1 is a hea
t-treated button which is
about three-quarters of an inch long and equally broad, made to fi
t
precisely into the top of the LED-1 extruder. Corbin also makes
various kinds of wi
re drawing dies for major lead wire manufacturers
and others involved in defense or sporting
ammunition manufacture. You
can order a standard size for a caliber, or you can specify a c
ustom
diameter. Lead wire diameters depend both on the hole size in the die
and on th
e extrusion velocity and ambient temperature, the lubrication
used and the particular alloy
being extruded. If the application is
critical, it may be necessary to purchase a set of die
s in 0.001-inch
increments to adjust the size to your conditions and materials.
LB-4 Lead Billet, Pack of 4, for LED-1
Corbin has pure (99.95 percent) lead billets in 0.795
-inch
diameter, four inches long, sealed in packets of four. A complete set
of specif
ications is included with each packet. A simple Brinnell
hardness test can be made using a s
teel ball, a vise, and these known
hardness cylinders of lead. Details can be found in the C
orbin
textbooks.
RLA-1 Reloading Adapter Kit, Hydro-press
This is one acc
essory I would consider necessary with any Hydro-
press. You would be amazed at the number of
times you’ll find yourself
putting regular type 7/8-14 dies and shell holders of the RCBS t
ype
into your Hydro-press. It is so fast and easy to set it up for power
case sizing
and depriming, using the automatic cycle. Case forming,
military case conversion, depriming
crimped primers, and other tough
jobs that put a strain on your progressive press are trivia
l jobs for
the Hydro-press. The bushing from the RLA-1 is required on JRD-1 type
dies
, which makes it possible to use your Mity Mite or Reloading Press
draw dies, along with a d
ifferent punch, in the Hydro-press. Come to
think of it, you can use a reloading press punch
, too, with this
adapter kit. (The longer Hydro-press punches are sometimes more
conv
enient, however.)
RLA-50 .50 BMG Shell Holder, Hydro-press
The .50 caliber 1-1/2
inch threaded dies that CH and RCBS make
screw directly into the head of the Hydro-press. U
sing the reloading
adapter kit, you can screw this large shell holder directly into the
and out an exhaust
port in the side of the extender. If you load the
.50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge, this
is a handy accessory.
RFJM-22H Rimfire Jacket Maker, 224 cal., for Hydro-press
W
hy not automate the making of free .22 jackets? With the CHP-1
Hydro-press set for an automa
tic stroke cycle, you can slip cases over
the punch and let the press shove them all the way
through the die and
out the top in one stroke. It certainly is more fun than doing it by
RFJM-6MH Rimfire Jacket Maker, 6MM cal., for Hydro-press
The 6mm or .
243 caliber (also .244) jacket maker utilizes long
rifle or Stinger cases to make 65 to 70 g
rain bullets. A special JRD-
1-H die and punch set can be made to draw .22 Magnum cases to 6m
m or
.257 (undersized, but they expand nicely in the core seating
operation).
<
br /> SPJM-25H Shotgun Primer Jacket Maker, 25 ACP cal., for Hydro-press
For 50 grains and le
ss, a spent shotgun primer cup can be made
into a good jacket for the .25 ACP or the .25-20,
.256 Winchester, or
other light-weight quarter-inch bore. The .25 ACP uses a .251-2" <
br /> bullet and the .25 rifles all use a .257" bullet, but the same jacket
diameter wo
rks for making either.
.he CHAPTER 14 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
CORBIN SWAGE PRESSES
There are three presses currently made by Corbin for bulle
t
swaging. These are the Mity Mite press, the Mega Mite press, and the
Corbin Hydro-p
ress. They are discussed in detail in previous chapters.
The operation of the Corbin Hydro-p
ress is discussed in the book,
"Power Swaging", D. Corbin.
On special order,
Corbin has built air presses and other custom
machinery for military and special ammunition
manufacturing operations.
Whenever possible, I would suggest that you consider the Hydro-pr
ess.
This machine will handle nearly any kind of job you have now or in the
future. T
he cost of building special, one-of-a-kind versions of some
other design, even if it appears
to be quite a bit more simple, usually
involves enough set-up and development time that a p
erson would have
been better off financially to purchase the more versatile standard
product.
A great many ideas which have merit also have development and set-
up costs as
sociated with them, which make them less economical than a
person would imagine in compariso
n to a well-developed standard
product. I mention this because I am constantly asked to buil
d or at
least to quote on modifications to reloading presses, adding power to
the Mit
y Mite press, building dies that would fit into some punch press
or home-made press, etc.
to the punches and d
ies, not only the ones made today but the ones you
might need in the future. Years of consid
eration have gone into the
design of the present systems, in order to make them true systems
which
work together, have replaceable components, and have as much
interchange as it
is practical to obtain between various operations and
tools.
While another press mig
ht be perfectly suitable to the one job at
hand, when one looks down the road a little way,
it becomes evident
that most special designs and modifications to other presses have
built-in problems with replacement parts, expansion to new products,
and versatility. Basica
lly, why re-invent the wheel every time you
need something different, when so much time and
thought has already
been put into developing swaging systems that can grow with your needs?<
br /> It stands to reason that if a company makes thousands of identical
punches and dies, i
t will cost far less for much higher quality than if
they had to stop, figure out what you n
eed this time, and build it all
from scratch. In the Corbin systems, we have combined a degr
ee of
custom adaptation to your needs with a base of standard components and
dimensio
ns. Thousands of blanks, semi-finished parts, are run in
production. Hundreds of them are tu
rned into standard sets in the
popular calibers. Then, custom orders are filled using the st
andard
dimensions and materials with which the die-makers have become so
familiar.
based on generations
of accumulated experience and semi-finished,
standard blanks that can be more quickly finish
ed to the exact shape
and size you need without distrubing the versatility of the system.
to the shooting indu
stry has been the development of a wide range of
swaging products and hundreds of articles o
n swaging techniques. I feel
that the most important single thing we have done for shooting
has been
the development of the semi-custom production method, where most of the
bene
fits of mass production are retained, and most of the benefits of
totally hand-made, custom
products are still realized.
Small wonder that Corbin has been swamped with orders for over
a
decade, with no end in sight. Prices are kept in the mass-production
range, but the
results are custom made with skilled die-makers working
one-to-one with you on your order.
When I hear someone offer an
improvement, I listen… but looking at the whole picture, I th
ink the
general welfare of most shooters is served well by the present course.
CSP-1 Corbin Swage Press, Mity Mite Model
The Mity Mite is a 2-inch stroke, balanced t
orque swaging press
with horizontal ram, having the die in the ram and the external punch
together with the geome
try of the ram and punches, permits self
ejection on the back stroke.
The CSP-1 press
takes a die with 5/8-24 TPI thread, which screws
finger-tight into the ram. The external pu
nch is held in the floating
punch holder (in the press head) by means of a hexagon-flanged t
hreaded
bushing, which slips over the punch and presses against its head. The
floatin
g punch holder and details of press operation are covered in the
prior chapter on the Mity M
ite system.
CSP-2 Corbin Swage Press, Mega Mite Model
The Mega Mite is a long-st
roke, balanced torque swaging and
reloading press, built to accept reloading dies and shell
holders, Mity
Mite dies and punches, and Hydro-press dies and punches. Various
adapte
rs and inserts change the press to suit the kind of dies being
used.
The Mega Mite is
quite possibly the strongest and most certainly
the most precisely built hand press availab
le for the handloader today.
It is machined from steel, with the ram moving on bearings agai
nst
hardened and ground guide rods. While it cannot substitute for the
power and stro
ke control of the electronically controlled Hydro-press,
the CSP-2 fills a need for those wh
o wish to manufacture bullets just
larger than the sizes which the CSP-1 can handle, or in h
arder alloys
than are recommended for the CSP-1 dies.
Because many other reloading ma
nufacturers have concentrated on
progressive type presses, most of which do not have the str
ength or
simple rigid design features required of a heavy-duty reloading press,
the C
SP-2 finds use as the ultimate hand press for the advanced
handloader as well as a premium c
hoice for the person who wishes to
invest in only one universal handloading press.
The Hydro-press (trade-marked name of the CHP-1 series)
has gone
through four generations of development. The current model (Mark IV)
incorpo
rates all the features of the earlier models, plus electronic
proximity sensing transducers
and pressure transducers, solid state
dwell time control, and accuracy far beyond the abilit
y of an ordinary
hydraulic or manual press.
The great power of this system is seconda
ry to its precision
control. The ability to precisely set stroke length, maximum pressure, <
br /> the time the pressure will be held, the speed with which the ram will
move, and the po
int of ejection of the bullet (as well as the stopping
position for loading in another compo
nent), is coupled with programmed
stroke cycles that offer manual, one-stroke, or automatic
stroke modes.
Even the various modes offer programmable methods of determining
how the
component will be formed. Operations which depend upon precise
volume generation use electr
onic position sensing and stop when a
precise volume has been achieved in the die. Operation
s which depend
more on accurate pressure levels use the built-in pressure transducers
to apply a pre-set level of pressure and then hold it for a pre-
determined length of time b
efore backing off the ram and ejecting the
part.
The ram can be set to move like the h
our-hand of a clock, for
set up of a new operation. Then, the throttle control can be adjust
ed
for ram velocity of up to 120 inches per minute — faster than any
conventional el
ectric hydraulic system of 20-ton capacity, capable of
operating from ordinary household cur
rent. The secret is the multiplex
or time-shared technology that makes the system appear to
be developing
impossible efficiency from the 1.5 HP motor, gaining both speed and
pre
ssure out of proportion to the power used.
Since swaging only requires maximum power at the e
nd of the
stroke, most operations utilize the high speed only to move the ram
into po
sition and apply the first 500 psi of drive pressure. If the
system calls for more than 500
psi drive, then the second pump takes
the load and moves up to 2000 psi more pressure into t
he lines. Since
the movement has already been handled by the high-speed pump, the
aut
omatic pressure switching circuits make the press appear to be
running at both high speed an
d high pressure at the same time.
Actually, the system switches from one mode to the other i
nstantly, and
is only using the exact amount of power required to handle either one
o
r the other.
The drive line pressure is multiplied 8.3 times by the system
before bein
g applied to the swage punches. A drive line pressure of
only 1000 psi produces 8300 pounds
of ram force. The ram force is
further multiplied by being channeled through the punch face
area,
which can result in pressures well over 170,000 psi inside of the swage
die. A
chart of pressures in the dies for a given gauge pressure on
the CHP-1 can be found in the b
ook "Power Swaging".
EX-10 Lead Wire Extruder
This machine is not a sw
age press, but a special purpose lead wire
manufacturing machine for commercial operators. I
t is one of the most
economical and versatile extruders available today, costing a fraction
of what most lead plants have had to invest in their machines. For
making spools of 1
, 5, or 10 pounds of lead wire, hollow core fishing
wire, or special extruded shapes for sta
ined glass work, the EX-10 can
serve as the basis for a profitable home business. Utilizing
a 2-inch
diameter billet, the EX-10 operates from 220 volt single phase 60 Hz
power (
using the same kind of electricity as a standard electric dryer
or range in the USA — speci
al versions can be built for 50 Hz or 3-
phase operation).
The ram automatically advan
ces into the huge extrusion die, and is
controlled by pressure transducers. When the pressur
e reaches a preset
safe level at the end of the stroke, the ram reverses and retracts from <
br /> the die. If anything should cause the system to meet undue resistance,
the ram will re
verse and back out of the die. At the full extent of
the back-stroke, the ram stops and the
system goes into idle state
again, waiting for another billet to be inserted.
Lead ext
ruded from the EX-10 can be coiled or cut as it comes out,
in order to make convenient packa
ges. Extrusion rate is fast enough to
be practical, yet slow enough so that it is easy to ha
ndle the output
without expensive high speed coilers and feeds. Even a simple hand-
wo
und bobbin is adequate. The billet size and machine design are
suitable for one-man handling
and operation. Unlike larger machines
which use billets too large for safe handling by one
person, the EX-10
makes a compact package for the garage operation.
.he CHAPTER 15 COR
BIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
ACCESSORIES FOR THE HYDRO-PRESS
Th
e Hydro-press comes with a standard floating punch holder, a
tank of hydraulic fluid (you ma
y need to add a little), and the USA
models comes with a standard 115 volt power cord. Expor
t models come
with a power cable but without a plug, or with a plug matching a
standa
rd US 3-prong 220 volt outlet (which may have to be replaced with
a plug meeting conventiona
l standards for the country to which it is
exported).
The machine is designed to opera
te with Corbin swage dies of the
Hydro-press type without any optional accessory items. The
external
punches fit into the punch holder and the dies with their internal
punches s
crew into the press ram. There are a number of items which a
commercial operator would be wi
se to have on hand, either as spare
parts or as accessory supplies to increase the versatili
ty of the
machine.
FPH-1-H Floating Punch Holder, Hydro-press
One
comes with the press. Having extras with the punch installed
and a locking nut secured make
s it possible to pre-set commonly used
punch depths for quick installation. One can also ord
er this unit with
a hole and retainer bushing size for 12 gauge shotgun and other larger
regular punch
holder does not work with huge 12 gauge and larger
punches.
A-220V 220
Volt Power Option, Hydro-press
For use on 50-60 Hz single phase 220 volt current, which is
should order the
Hydro-press with this option factory installed.
Conversion in the field is NOT recommended,
although a qualified
electrician can do it with the correct components. The conversion
indicator lamps and electr
onic circuits can still be used (one does not
need to purchase special 220 volt bulbs, etc.,
for the machine after
the conversion).
RY-1 Logic Relay, Hydro-press
various functions. They
are highly reliable and interchangable, so
that it is easy to troubleshoot a potential defe
ctive relay by changing
it with one of the others to see if the problem goes away or shifts
to
another function. It is a good idea in isolated areas, or for critical
schedules,
to have at least one spare logic relay on hand "just in
case". Logic relays plug i
nto sockets in the Hydro-press. They only
go in one way, so it isn’t possible to put them in
"backward".
PUNCH-H Punch, Hydro-press
As with the other swagi
ng systems, the Hydro-press system can be
expanded to other operations by adding optional ex
ternal or internal
punches to an existing die set. To order any punch, as a replacement
caliber, whether I
NTERNAL or EXTERNAL, the kind of die it works with
(such as CS-1, PF-1, etc.), and any speci
al face shape or diameters
that are needed to make it work for your application (as, Keith n
ose,
or diameter to fit inside sample jacket provided with order).
TDL-1
Timer Module, Hydro-press
An electronic timer module, also known as a time delay relay,
adjust it for any d
esired dwell, from milliseconds (0.001 seconds) to
several seconds. A top-panel knob gives y
ou immediate control of the
dwell time on mid-1986 and later models. The solid-state electro
nic
module is very reliable, but it is easily changed by plugging in a new
unit if tr
ouble should ever develop. In critical or isolated
situations, a spare module is a good idea
.
PDX-1 Position Transducer, Hydro-press
The electronic position transduc
ers are sophistocated proximity
detectors, which sense the position of the ram by the near-f
ield effect
of a magnetic detector circuit inside the unit. These small threaded
cyli
nders hold a considerable amount of electronic circuitry, and are
highly reliable. A red LED
indicator shows you if the unit is working
by lighting when steel objects come close to the
sensor face.
There are THREE of these transducers on the mid-1986 and later
model Hyd
ro-presses, replacing the earlier Micro-Switch roller-arm
limit switches. They offer remarka
ble accuracy and ease of adjustment
— simply slide them up or down their steel standard to
set the top,
bottom, and loading positions for the press stroke. However, if you
shou
ld happen to physically set the transducers too close to the ram,
you can run the ram into o
ne and smash it. Replacement is moderately
easy: remove the back cabinet cover, and trace th
e shielded cable from
the broken transducer to the terminal strip on the logic board. Loosen
the screws and remove the wires from the unit to this terminal strip,
and replace th
e new transducer with the same connections.
If you are careful not to adjust the transducers
forward so they
obviously are in the path of the moving ram guide plate, this damage
will never happen. It is not really necessary to adjust the position
horizontally at any tim
e. Vertical adjustment is made by sliding the
transducer up and down on the standard, in its
slot. Finger pressure
is all you need to hold the transducer locked in position with its
replacement, but in very rem
ote areas and critical applications, where
being out of operation for a week or ten days wou
ld cost more than the
transducer, it is a good idea.
SV-1 Solenoid Valve
, Hydro-press
The main hydraulic control in the press is the 4-way electric
valve that
switches oil flow direction in and out of the drive
cylinder. This valve usually has a very
long life, but can be damaged
by contamination in the hydraulic fluid, incorrect kind of fl
uid, chips
or dirt in the fluid, or normal wear. Since it takes about 30 minutes
to r
emove the old valve and install a new one, the first time, it isn’t
a troubleshooting techni
que to do this routinely and spares are usually
a good idea only if the application is very
critical. The main symptom
of a bad valve is erratic movement or variation in speed from str
oke to
stroke, loud noises from hydraulic fluid vibrating as it tries to move
past a
partly stuck valve opening, failure to stop at the top or bottom
position of the stroke, and
other failures related to ram movement or
speed that are erratic in nature or produce accom
panying loud noises.
A defective solenoid valve does not cause harm to the press, and
can be operated if you can put up with the symptoms. But one failure
mode (where the valve s
ticks in position instead of switching every
time) can cause the press to continue upward wh
en it should be stopped,
and this can cause a problem (such as extruding all the lead out of
the
core swage die instead of making the right weight of core!).
Fortunately, such p
roblems are extremely rare. The solution is to
remove the valve and replace it.
Soleno
id valves do not require removal of any plumbing for
replacment. They are mounted on a sub-p
late which carries all the
steel tubing and ports. The valve control wires (4) unplug from t
he
rest of the system using a very obvious connector that you will see
when you open
the cabinet and trace the wires out of the solenoid
valve. A cover plate on top of the unit
removes (with corner screws)
to expose the box that holds the wire connections and also give
s you
vertical access to the corner scews that hold the valve on the sub-
plate.
Removal of these corner screws allows you to lift the valve
straight up, off the sub-plate.
A small amount of oil will trickle
out, but as long as the pump is turned off there will be
no need to
worry about a flood of hydraulic fluid. There are four o-rings on four
re
cessed port openings beneath the valve, which you must make sure are
not lost. Other than th
at, replacement is as simple as unplugging and
unscrewing the old valve, and putting the new
one in its place.
Since this component is moderately expensive, and is kept in
stock
, it is not something that most people need to stock as a spare.
The ends of the coil housin
gs contain a movable manual plunger that
shifts the valve so you can test the operation. If
a symptom appears
that you suspect is related to a sticking valve, press on the center of
dowel to push the v
alve spool and help it shift into correct position
while the press is trying to run. If this
cures the problem then the
valve is probably at fault. The right end to push depends on whi
ch
direction the press is running. One must be careful not to reach into
the top pane
l electric wiring while fooling around inside the cabinet
— we recommend bringing in a qual
ified electrician for any internal
service work.
CHF-128 Corbin Hydrauli
c Fluid, Gallon Can
Spare fluid is handy if you should ever need to replace a fitting
or if you spill fluid while moving the press. If the press isn’t
tipped too far, but is kept
vertical while moving, it should not spill
any fluid. Fluid lasts for years in a typical op
eration without undue
contamination. Condensed moisture, bits of metal powder from natural <
br /> wear of the pump vanes and valves, heat by-products in the fluid from
long, hard use,
and dust from outside the system are potential reasons
why you might want to change the flui
d after a few years of operation.
A combination of temperature and oil level gauge is located
right
on the oil reservoir, inside the cabinet. You can easily see if the
fluid is l
ow or the temperature rises above the recommended maximum of
140 degrees F. Extended use at
high temperature will cause the oil to
break down, and can lower the pressure you are able t
o generate.
Eventual failure of the cylinder and valve seals, as well as those on
the
pump, result from prolonged high-temperature operation above the
recommended levels. Low fl
uid level leads to high temperature
operation since the oil does not have sufficient thermal
mass to
transfer and adsorb the heat over the back surface of the tank (which
is des
igned to act as a heat exchanger with the air compression of the
dual cooling fans and air e
xpansion during exit through the closely-
spaced exhaust grill.
IL-1 Logi
c Indicator Bulb, Hydro-press
Telephone-quality 115 volt indicator bulbs are used in order to
provide bright display of the status of the logic circuits. LED
indicators were not
chosen here, since a clearly-visible display in
bright light was deemed necessary for operat
or safety. Spare bulbs are
a good idea. They are not expensive and last a very long time (ty
pical
bulb life is over 10,000 hours). The bulbs are changed by unscrewing
the colore
d caps from the indicators, and pulling straight out on the
glass bulb. There are THREE IL-1
bulbs in each Hydro-press.
IL-2 Work Lamp Bulb, Hydro-press
The inspecti
on lamp has a pre-focused ellipsoid spotlight bulb of
the R-14 type, with screw base. This b
ulb provides excellent
inspection lighting with low power and heat. It is a 115 volt bulb
is used in each Hy
dro-press.
FSO-16 Corbin Gun Oil, Pint Can
This instrument grade ISO-15 oil is h
ighly recommended for
lubrication of the ground rods and bearings in the Hydro-press head, a
s
well as for preservation of the dies and punches while they are in
storage. It is a
very economical product that works quite well as both
an instrument and lathe oil. Original
ly marketed as Five Star Gun Oil,
the pint can contains as much oil as EIGHT conventional 2-
ounce cans
for about half the price.
.he CHAPTER 16 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7,
PAGE #
BULLET JACKETS
Bullet jackets are available from Corbin in
popular calibers and
lengths. The current list is always available from Corbin on request.
The typical packaging is in boxes of 250 jackets for larger calibers
and lengths, and
in boxes of 500 units for half-jackets, smaller
calibers, and shorter lengths.
Gildi
ng metal jackets with very consistent wall thickness and with
an expansion controlling taper
from edge to base are usually about half
the cost of a quality bullet made from the same ma
terial. In some
cases, you can save considerably more. In a few cases, you can find
s
urplus or low-cost factory bullets that are available for about the
same price as a good qua
lity jacket.
In the .224 caliber, this is often the case, since many firms
contract w
ith the government to manufacture .223 bullets and can use
much of this investment in machin
ery to turn out low cost .224
projectiles for reloaders. However, in the .224 market, you ca
n also
make FREE jackets using fired .22 cases, so you have the last laugh
anyway!
can often be made from
existing calibers and lengths. Any larger
caliber can be drawn down to a smaller size in a
simple draw die, such
as the Corbin JRD-1. The reduction usually is practical from .284 to <
br /> .270, from .270 to .257, and from .243 to anything down to a long heavy
.224 jacket. <
br /> Sub-calibers can be drawn from .224 jackets, and pinch trimmed to
length in the same o
peration. Jackets can be pinched off as they pass
through a constriction to the next smaller
caliber size, by having the
punch that pushes them through the draw die made with a shoulde
r. The
smaller diameter of the punch, from the shoulder to the end of the
punch, is m
ade to fit inside the reduced diameter of the jacket. The
larger diameter from the shoulder
back to the base of the punch just
fits through the draw die by itself, leaving no room for
any jacket
material.
A minimum reduction of at least the thickness of the jacket wall
is required to do this pinch-trim operation. But it works well and
gives you one mor
e tool to control your jacket supply. In many cases
there is no need to reduce a jacket leng
th as well as its diameter. A
.41 and a .40 caliber jacket can both be drawn from a standard
.44
jacket, for instance. Taking the jacket down in two steps is usually
better than
trying to reduce it all at once.
Copper tubing provides for a superior jacket in calibers fr
om 7mm
up. Conventional water tubing such as type L hard drawn copper works
very well
and makes bullets so accurate you would swear they came from
a custom bullet works (and, co
me to think of it, they DID: — YOURS!).
Tubing normally costs more than conventional jacket
s unless you find a
good deal on a large lot, or have an uncle in the plumbing or
com
mercial refrigeration business. Typical prices at this writing are
about five cents average
price for a good commercial jacket, and about
eighteen cents average price for a pre-cut and
de-burred piece of
tubing.
If you cut and de-burr your own lengths of tubing, then of
course
the cost can be lower. It is still hard to beat the price of
commercial jacke
ts. Trouble is, they are not always available in the
calibers you want, and they are usually
much thinner than you need for
big game. Premium quality game bullets selling for as much a
s $2.50
each can be reproduced for about eighteen to twenty cents, and they can
> include partitions, bonded cores, selective jacket thickness, brass or
steel as well as pu
re copper jacket material, plus the weight and
styles you want instead of those someone else
wants to make for you.
Those are some of the reasons people often choose to make tubing
is often a secondary
consideration when people get serious about big
game, defense, or competition shooting. Per
formance is the issue.
After all, taken to its extremes, a fellow only worried about cost
saying, "…b
ut what about accuracy, expansion, delivered energy, etc.,
", then it becomes important
to start weighing these factors against
the cost of equipment to achieve them. Tubing jacke
ts, made correctly,
can be such huge steps above ordinary jackets that cost really is
out-distanced by performance.
Corbin supplies cut pieces of copper, brass, or steel tubing i
n
the 0.030, 0.049, and 0.065-inch wall sizes. Cut pieces are made to
order (so they
are non-returnable) for the weight and style of your
caliber. A minimum run is 100 pieces of
stock material, 200 pounds of
custom material. If you do want a custom wall thickness or al
loy, we
can probably get it made or make it for you, in the 200 pound minimums.
Price
s typically have been running about $6 per pound with cutting and
material included, but wri
te for an accurate quote.
.he CHAPTER 17 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
LEAD
Corbin supplies lead in several forms, including lead wire and
l
ead billets made to fit our extruder dies and machines. We are not a
primary supplier of lar
ge quantities of lead, however, and recommend
that you locate a lead firm near your bussines
s area for large lots of
lead. If you wish to enter the extruded lead wire market, we can he
lp
you with machinery and billet moulds, but we do not manufacture lead
pots and woul
d recommend that you contact the cast bullet suppliers for
these.
Corbin lead wire co
mes in sizes that are suitable for all calibers
of rifle and handgun bullets. The size of th
e wire usually is much
smaller than the caliber of the bullet, since the wire is made to fit
into a jacket. Jackets are usually smaller than the caliber by a few
thousands of an
inch, themselves. Everything expands upward under
swaging pressure to make a uniform, tight
ly fitted bullet.
Custom diameters and alloys are available on special order for a
dif
ferent price than the stock pure lead in standard diameters. When
you order lead wire by cal
iber, we supply the size that fits into the
standard jacket for that caliber unless you spec
ify some other size.
If you order at the standard price and catalog number, but specify a
to fit into you
r jacket.
Lead wire can be very economical, depending on the caliber. In
.224 caliber
, for instance, a single 25-lb. spool of lead wire makes
well over 4,300 conventional 50 gra
in bullets (the jacket weighs over
10 grains). Even with coast-to-coast shipping, your lead
cost per
bullet is about one cent. Who needs to bother with casting cores, when
you c
an snip off lead wire for that low a price? On the other hand, if
you already have plenty of
lead, you may as well use it with a core
mould, which makes around 1000 cores an hour.
>
LW-25 Lead Wire, 25-lb. Spool
To order lead wire, specify caliber or diameter you ne
ed to fit
into your jacket or core swage die. Standard diameters are: .125
(1/8"
) for .17 caliber, .156 (5/32") for .20 caliber, .185 (3/16") for
.224, .243, .25
caliber, and thick-wall .270 caliber, .218 (7/32") for
thin-wall .270, .284, and thick-
wall .308 caliber, .250 (1/4") for
.308, 8mm, and other calibers up to .338 plus some t
ubing jacket big-
bores, .312 (5/16") for .38/9mm, .358, .366, .375 and some big bores <
br /> with tubing jackets, .340 (11/32") for the .40 and .41 calibers, and
.356 (3/8&qu
ot;) for most big bores except those with thick jackets.
The decimal size is the right one –
the fractional size is the
nearest size you will normally find elsewhere. Corbin makes wire
to
the exact size that fits rather than to match the common fractional
diameter. How
ever, you can use the next smaller wire in any jacket so
long as there is enough bulk to it
that your desired weight doesn’t
come out too long to fit into the die.
Custom sizes a
nd alloys are available but they are not stocked and
there is an additional cost involved in
making special drawing dies and
in getting a special alloy drawn. A minimum of 100 p
ounds applies on
any special diameter or alloy.
Stock lead wire is made in 99.95% chem
ically pure lead with trace
silver, packaged on spools of 25 lbs., and is not sold in smalle
r lots
since this would be a costly way to stock and sell wire. Many Corbin
clients d
o manufacture lead wire in smaller lots for other bullet
makers. The book "World Direct
ory of Custom Bullet Makers" is full of
information by and about other bullet makers wh
o can help you with
these purchases. If you wish to make lead wire or bullets for sale,
edition of this direc
tory.
LB-4 Lead Billets, Pack of Four
This is a package of four chemica
lly pure Bh 5 hardness 0.795-inch
diameter cylinders, four inches long. The package weighs 5
,687.5
grains and the density of the lead is 0.4092 pounds per cubic inch.
You can us
e this as a test standard for other lead, or as raw material
to extrude excellent wire in th
e Hydro-press LED-1 extruder kit.
LB-5 Lead Billet, 1.5-inch Diameter
The
se billets are for melting down, primarily, although you can
use them to make 5 pound length
s of wire in an extruder. If you need a
source for good quality pure lead, and cannot find a
nyone near to you,
we stock a moderate quantity of these billets to help solve the
pr
oblem.
BMT-1 Billet Mould Tube, for LED-1
The LED-1 Lead Extruder Die kit
comes with two mould tubes to make
your own 0.795-inch billets. If you need more, these tub
es are honed,
blued, and ready to slip over the steel mould base that you fasten to
y
our workbench. Fill them full, pull them off the base, and give them
a shake to slide the bi
llet out!
PCS-1 Precision Core Cutter
The Corbin precision core cutter u
ses a pair of hardened steel
dies which slide over each other to slice off pieces of lead wi
re to
proper length. You can adjust the length with a threaded stop screw
that is sup
ported by a steel bar below the dies. The cutter comes with
a complete set of dies in standa
rd wire sizes. The dies are held in
the two cutter bars by set screws and are easily changed
.
Mount one bar of the cutter to your bench. The other has a nice
padded handle that y
ou pull to cut the wire. Push the wire down
through the stationary top bar and die, with the
handle in a straight
line so the dies are above each other. Adjust the stop screw so that <
br /> the lead wire will shear off at the length you wish (weigh a few pieces
to adjust the
length for the right weight). The stop screw can be set
off to just catch the edge of the le
ad, so it doesn’t drag across the
top of the screw. This gives you more accurate weights. Th
e Corbin
Precision Core Cutter is made for soft lead to .365-inch diameter, and
will
handle lead of Bhn 10 hardness up to .312-inch diameter. For
larger diameters, or for alloys
up to Bhn 22 in any size, I recommend
the PCS-2 "Magnum" model, instead.
PCS-2 Corbin "Magnum" Core Cutter
This huge version of the PSC-1 is bui
lt with over-sized pivot,
extra large frame and handle, and accepts much larger diameter die
s
than the PCS-1. We make this on special order — it is not a stock
item — and will
make the dies at the same time, to fit any size of
wire you wish up to half an inch in diam
eter! Few people need this
tool, but for those who do, it is available from the die-works th
at
makes whatever you need to produce bullets.
PCS-D Core Cutter Die, Pa
ir
Sometimes people lose a die or need a different size for some
reason. If you need a
standard size, they are very inexpensive and are
in stock for each of the standard wire dia
meters (we use the .365-inch
wire die for the .340, since it works just fine). If you want a
special diameter, this can be made at standard shop rate rather than
the stock die p
rice. Normally there is no need for any size other than
the standards. These dies are for th
e PCS-1 standard core cutter and
are kept in stock in standard sizes. I recommend that you u
se standard
sizes in the PCS-1, and order your custom diameters along with a PCS-2,
s
ince the cost will be about the same either way for custom work.
CM-4 Corbin Fo
ur-Cavity Adjustable Weight Core Mould
Turning your own scrap lead into useful lead cores is
easier than
casting bullets, and much faster. These moulds do not require handles.
On
e arm mounts to the bench. The mould projects from the bench, and
hangs over the edge. The o
ther arm is a sprue cutter, but a long one
that doesn’t need to be beaten to open it.
There are four pistons and cylinders in the mould, just like a
four-cylinder in-line car en
gine. The engine head would be like the
sprue cutter. Adjustable weights screw up and down o
n the bottoms of
four connecting rods that project from the cylinders. You can set all
> four cavities to have exactly the same displacement by means of these
adjustment weights.
The over-all weight range is from zero to some large maximum for
each standard calibe
r. This is achieved by resting the four pistons on
a sliding captive bar, which we call a re
st plate. The rest plate has
two over-sized holes that let it slide easily up and down on a
pair of
threaded rods. The rods have a locking pairs of nuts on them, under
the holes
in the rest plate.
You adjust the weight by setting the nuts on the rods, thus
changi
ng the displacement or volume in all four cylinder at one time.
To eject the cores, you open
the sprue cutter by pivoting it to one
side, and then press up on the rest plate. It easily
moves up, pushing
all four pistons at once in front of it, and pushing the cores out the
Core moulds are made in all standard sizes from .224 to .458, in
the same step ranges as the lead wire. For sub-calibers, Corbin does
not make a core mould.
It is not worth the trouble to cast these
cores, when you can easily extrude a life-time su
pply using a LED-2 kit
in your Mity Mite press! The LED-2 uses a regular .44/45 caliber
CM-I Core Mould Insert (Pisto
n & Cylinder Unit)
Each Corbin Core Mould has four piston and cylinder units, or
i
nserts, installed in a steel frame with set screws. You can change
these if you wish, to use
one core mould for several calibers. I would
advise a person with a fairly active shooting
schedule not to change
inserts, but to purchase a mould for each caliber.
First, you
will find that it is faster and much more convenient to
have a complete, ready-to-use mould
when you want to make cores. Time
is short enough for enjoying the shooting part and most of
us don’t
need to waste any of it if there is a faster way to get the bullets
made. S
econd, you will find that after changing the mould inserts a
few dozen times, they are hard
to get in and out. This is because
every time you tighten the set screws, you raise a little
burr which
eventually builds up the diameter of the insert so it won’t fit the
frame
.
The interchangability is fine for someone who only changes mould
inserts a few times
a year. You can easily stone off the burrs that
result on the mould inserts. Eventua
lly, if you change them often
enough, they get sloppy in the mould frame and have to be repl
aced.
The best plan is to use a separate mould for each caliber as originally
intende
d for this design, and to use replacement inserts only when
damage or dirty, gritty lead spo
ils the honed inside of the die insert
and makes the lead stick.
CM-2 Co
rbin "Magnum" Core Mould, Two-cavity Adjustable Weight
This adjustable weight two c
avity mould is a huge version of the
CM-4, which has more cavities but is limited to diamete
rs of .365-inch
and less. When you want a special, larger diameter, order one of these
> moulds custom made to your requirements. Custom inserts are no less
costly for the CM-4, a
nd you may as well have the larger equipment
since it will stand up longer when used with la
rge diameters.
For diameters of half-inch and less, the CM-2 offers a rugged
steel fra
me with interchangable mould cylinders and pistons, made to
your order. These are not stocke
d, and there will probably be a
waiting list. Examples of possible need for this mould would
be the
case of a person who wants to manufacture a lead .50 caliber Sharps
bullet an
d wants a mould to turn out .490-.495 inch cores.
.he CHAPTER 18 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND
CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
TOOLS FOR BULLET MAKERS
The basic tools of swaging
are the press and dies. We have
already discussed the core mould, core cutter, and the suppl
ies of
jackets and lead. Beyond this, most tools are to help you prepare
commercially
-acceptable bullets for sale or to help you make bullets
more quickly, easily, or with a wid
er range of performance.
Some of these special tools involve controlled heating of the
components. For instance, you can make bonded core bullets using
Corbin Core Bond and eithe
r a Flameless Heat Gun (FHG-1) or one of the
electronic Heat Treatment Ovens (HT0-1 or HTO-2
). Heating the jacket
materials to precisely controlled temperatures gives you the ability t
o
control the ductility and expansion in a way that most people,
including many other
wise experienced shooters (and writers) never dream
is possible.
A cannelure is not so
mething that your bullets must have in order
to function properly, but it can add value to y
our commercial offerings
and perform useful functions in your own handloads. The cannelure <
br /> tends to stop expansion of the jacket within a limited range of
deceleration rates, an
d helps hold the core within the jacket on
impact. It gives you an area into which the case
mouth can be crimped
if you wish to do this. And it identifies the bullet and points out
Bullets that have been polished
to a high gloss have greater sales
appeal than mottled, dull bullets, even if there is no di
fference in
their actual performance. The BPK-1 Bullet Polisher Kit is a safe and
eas
y way to polish bullets, since it operates on the opposite principle
of a case tumbler. Case
tumblers roll the components around against
the media and each other. They work fairly quic
kly, but they are also
rough on the exposed lead tips of your bullets. Vibratory polishers <
br /> work by rapidly shaking the polishing medium against the slowly moving
component. In o
ther words, the medium does the moving instead of the
component (although the bullets do slo
wly move round in the boiling
mass of polishing material). This keeps the bullets themselves
from
striking each other with such force that the tips are damaged.
HCT-1 Corb
in Hand Cannelure Tool
No, it isn’t for canneluring your hand: the HCT-1 uses a hand-
t
urned crankshaft to put professional cannelure grooves on your
bullets. A cannelure (that’s
CAN-A-LOOR) is a ring or groove around
the circumference of the bullet. Little serrations on
the groove help
the cannelure wheel get a grip on the shiny bullet surface, and let you
The HCT-1 tool received high marks from the Ame
rican Rifleman
staff in a report in the "Dope Bag" of December, 1985. Since then,
we have found ways to make it even better, with knurled adjustment
knobs to set the b
ullet position and cannelure depth on any caliber
from .224 to .50 MG. The comfortable padde
d handle is wide enough for
your entire hand to press down, while powerful leverage puts ton
s of
force on the contact point of the bullet and roller. A roller V-block
supports t
he bullet as it turns.
Unlike vertical designs, the Corbin tool doesn’t have to fight
gravity to hold the bullet in position. Also, it’s a lot easier and
more comfortable to app
ly pressure by leaning slightly down on the
handle than it would be to try and press sideway
s. The leverage of the
Corbin tool is roughly three times more than the nearest competitive
model available today. But best of all, the HCT-1 works as it is
supposed to do, and
then some. You’ll find it handy for hard lead and
jacketed bullets, as well as straight pist
ol cases like the .45 ACP.
PCM-1 Corbin Power Cannelure Machine
This mac
hine is a model of rugged simplicity. Housed in its own
steel case, with a powerful 115 volt
drive motor and torque-multiplying
gear train, the PCM-1 takes bullets as fast as you can f
eed them to it,
and applies precisely located cannelures automatically. The bullets
r
ide on a rotating disk, through a machined steel guide plate, and out
the other side.
The cannelure wheel itself is unique to each caliber: you order
the tool complete with one
wheel, and order additional wheels for each
caliber of bullet. This arrangement assures prec
ise alignment and
exact control that cannot get out of adjustment during production runs
spacer disks that
locate the wheel on a keyed shaft. Again, nothing
can get out of adjustment because the adju
stment is a solid steel disk.
The machines are individualized for your order: they are standa
rd
products, but the cannelure wheel is set for the caliber, and the
spacer disk is m
ade for the proper cannelure height. Extra spacers are
provided so you can set make minor ad
justments in position. While the
PCM-1 is obviously slower to set up for a job than the HCT-
1, and
requires different cannelure wheels for various calibers, it does take
all the
work out of big runs of cannelured bullets, and is very fast.
Order this tool by caliber and
by the location, from the base, of
the bottom edge of the cannelure groove. Specify also th
e width of the
groove if you do not want the stock width (.050-inches wide, serrated,
very much like the conventional factory standard — which it should be,
since many factory
bullets are cannelured on a Corbin machine!). If
you want multiple grooves, be sure and send
a drawing and sample
bullets if you have them already. Cannelure wheels are non-returnable
since they are made to your order — a drawing will assure that you get
what you thou
ght you ordered!
BPK-1 Bullet Polisher Kit
The Corbin Bullet Polisher Kit
has been popular with handloaders
for well over a decade: long before any of the commercial
vibratory
polishers were dreamed of, Corbin customers were happily making their
own
for a fraction of the price!
This kit contains a thermally-protected vibrator motor, a steel
mounting bracket to hold it onto the bottom of any convenient
container (a 3-pound c
offee can is most often used), a 1-pound bag of
walnut shell polishing medium, the self-lock
ing nuts and bolts to
assemble the polisher, and instructions. The motor comes wired with
(Sorry, no 220 volt mo
dels for export — but Corbin DOES have a 220 to
115 volt converter unit available).
S
imply punch four holes in the bottom of your container to accept
the four 1/4-inch mounting
bolts, fasten the steel mounting bracket to
the container bottom (on the outside), slip the
motor into the bracket,
and secure the clamping bolt that pulls the bracket tight around the
motor housing. Suspend the container by means of a coat hanger made
into a bail (pun
ch two holes near the top, on opposite sides, and bend
the ends of the coat hanger wire thro
ugh them). A door spring helps to
make the unit vibrate more efficiently and more quietly. T
he other end
of the door spring should be hooked over a shelf bracket or suspended
fr
om a rafter by a cord.
This is the simple and quick way to do it. Many people have sent
steel rod made int
o the shape of a question mark, with the container
suspended under it. We don’t make a base
unit, since most handloaders
seem quite willing and able to make their own, and I’m not sure
we’d do
as well as some of you have!
If you have a tumbler now, you may still want a
vibratory polisher
for your finished bullets. The large tumblers are hard on bullets —
the BPK-1 is much
more gentle. The particles of polishing medium are
set into rapid motion, instead of rolling
the whole contents of the
container to get relative movement. The more massive bullets are
not
banged into each other as they are with a tumbler.
WS-1 Walnut Shell
Polishing Medium
Corbin packages walnut shells in the correct granulation for
bullet
polishing, in one pound bags. Two of these bags is just about
all you want to put into a 3-p
ound coffee can. One is adequate. Extra
bags are economical and will work in your tumbler as
well as the BPK-1
bullet polisher kit.
FHG-1 Flameless Heat Gun
A
propane torch can be used to melt lead in a bullet jacket for
bonding the core (with Corbin
Core Bond), or to anneal tubing or a
bullet jacket for improved performance or for reformin
g to different
calibers. But propane torches apply a very high temperature if you are
not careful. The flameless heat gun applies a lower, very even
temperature.
It takes
longer to do the job with the heat gun, but you can do
many at one time by making a small e
nclosure out of boiler bricks and
aiming the heat gun air stream into the opening. A metal s
helf made
from a cookie tray will hold the bullets. General purpose heating jobs
such
as drying washed jackets and cores, applying a stress-relief heat
to gun springs and parts
that you have made, and simlar 600-750 degree
F. jobs can be done without open flame, using
the super-heated air from
the 115 volt FHG-1. The control switch has three positions: heat,
cool, and off. Operate the gun in the cool mode for a few minutes
before turning it o
ff.
PE-1 Power Ejector Unit
We met this tool in the section on reloading
press dies. It fits
over the top of any Corbin reloading press swage die, and most of the
around the circumferen
ce of the die, just below the knurled top. The
PE-1 applies the multiple leverage of a minat
ure compound lever press
to the top of your reloading press die, to eject the bullet with a
quick pull of a handle.
This operation replaces the mallet and ejector rod normally u
sed.
A short piece of 1/4-inch diameter steel rod fits into the top of the
die instea
d of the normal knurled-head ejector rod. An adjustable
position ram with fine screw thread
can be set to take up all the slack
in the system, so that you get full benefit of the compo
und leverage
(no wasted motion). The PE-1 uses a forked handle made with a
remarkable
alloy, by the way: it is a high-tech version of the
aluminum-iron bronze which was once tri
ed in the Winchester Model 1886
firing pin! The paramagnetic alloy took nearly 100 years of
development to reach a point where you could have a machined handle on
a modestly pri
ced hand tool formed from it, but there it is: stronger
than iron, corrosion and rust proof,
with over 110,000 psi tensile
strength and the combined characteristics of stainless steel
and
bronze bearing material.
I mention this because if you have a reloading press and
purchase
the PE-1, you might want to take a good look at the handle of the tool.
The
entire frame and handle of the Mity Mite presses made in 1985-6
were machined from castings
of this alloy, making the Mity Mite the
only swaging press in the world to have ever been c
onstructed of
bronze, and also making it the most indestructable hand swaging press
e
ver made (until the advent of the Mega Mite).
HTO-1 Corbin Heat Treatment Oven,
Model 1
Experimental labs and prototype shops all over the world use the
Corbin HTO-1
for precision heating of alloy steels, manufacturing
springs and gun parts, and of course f
or routine core bonding, jacket
annealing, and heat treatment of copper or brass tubing prio
r to
forming into jackets.
The HTO-1 is one of the most economical ovens in its size r
ange.
Nearly any other furnace you will see advertised with the features, or
somewhat
fewer, will be priced at two to three times as much! Corbin
purchases lab grade Thermolyne
furnaces, strips out the cook-stove type
thermo-mechanical heat control, and completely rebu
ilds the furnace
with an electronic "brain" that applies a precise heating pulse,
senses
heat rise, turns off the power, and senses heat loss. Then, it
compensates for
the amount of heat loss by adjusting the next power
pulse width.
In this manner the
HTO-1 is able to maintain heat control much
more precisely than any standard furnace. It is
so accurate that you
can set it and forget it — the temperature will go to the level you
how long you leav
e the furnace on. A stainless steel 2000-degree
sensor probe replaces the original open junc
tion thermocouple, and RF-
shielded input cable keeps the electronics from picking up motor n
oises
and other extraneous data.
The HTO-1 has a direct-reading knob setting. It is n
ot calibrated
in relative units which have no relation to the actual temperature,
lik
e the furnaces sold by others which look like the Corbin unit. The
furnace you would normall
y be able to purchase for about half the price
of the Corbin furnace has the original cook-s
tove type control. With
this very simple thermostat, there is no feedback from the furnace.
The control does not know what the temperature is in the furnace: it
only knows how l
ong it has been feeding power to the furnace in
relation to how hot an internal bi-metal str
ip is getting, heated by
its own internal heating wire.
You could mount the thermosta
t in another room, and it would
operate just the same way. If you connected a lamp to the co
ntrol, and
didn’t even have a furnace wired to it, it would perform exactly the
same
service of turning the lamp on and off at regular intervals. The
reading on the dial has no
relationship to actual oven temperature. It
is merely the relative amount of time that power
is applied to whatever
is connected to the control.
This means that you have to be ri
ght there, watching the pyrometer
reading, to know what is going to happen to the tem
perature. You
twiddle with the knob, setting it higher to try and get the temperature
to rise, and then watching to make sure it doesn’t rise too high. If
you change the mass of
material you put into the furnace, it will come
to a different temperature. As the oven is
used and the radiation of
heat from it changes with time, the settings will mean different <
br /> temperatures even with the same load. In other words, it is a type of
control that get
s you by, but only if you have plenty of time to watch
the meter and play with the knob.
electronics takes over and br
ings the oven to that temperature. The
pyrometer is still there, so you can read the tempera
ture if you like.
But you don’t need to be there if you have something better to do.
T
he cavity size of the HTO-1 is approximately 4 inches by 4 inches
square, with a five inch d
epth. The furnace runs on standard household
115 volt current, no special wiring required. (
Export versions are
available at no extra cost, using 220 volts).
HTO-2
Corbin Heat Treatment Oven, Model 2
This is the commercial, heavy duty version designed for m
ore
accurate setting and control, longer life, and slightly larger cavity
size. It ha
s a built-in forced-air cooling system for the electronics,
a standard 1/4-DIN slip-out, int
erchangable controller box (and we
stock spares so if you should ever need a new controller,
it is a fast
and easy job to slip in a new unit).
The HTO-2 also comes with a 50-degr
ee plus or minus deviation
meter readout, in addition to the full scale 2000-degree F. pyrom
eter,
and an LED indicator tells when the controller is applying a heating
pulse to t
he furnace coils. The main power switch is also a 5-amp
circuit breaker, controlling power t
o the electronics and power
switching relay. The furnace can be ordered with Nitrogen atmosp
here,
so that you can apply a small charge of inert Nitrogen gas to the
cavity and ke
ep scale and oxidation at a minimum.
The cavity size is approximately 4.5 inches by 4.5 inch
es square
with a 6 inch depth. The larger oven cabinet allows for additional
ceramic
fiber insulation (a space age material similar to the that used
on the Space Shuttle), and f
or generally heavier construction desirable
in a production unit. If you plan to manufacture
bonded core bullets
in batches, this is the correct choice in a heat treatment furnace you
can depend on. (We use this same model every day, and have for a
decade, to make your
dies!)
HTC-1 Heat Treatment Compound, 1-lb.
If you heat treat steel, th
is compound is going to make life a lot
easier for you! As you know, iron and steel parts ox
idize and the
carbon "burns out" of the surface, leaving a softer alloy at the
finished part.
A
nitrogen atmosphere furnace is useful in reducing this oxidation
or decarburization, but at
higher temperatures and with more sensitive
alloy steels, If you heat treat steel, this comp
ound is going to make life a lot
easier for you! As you know, iron and steel parts oxidize a
nd the
carbon "burns out" of the surface, leaving a softer alloy at the
sur
face, and often leaving pits or scale that destroys a finely
finished part.
A nitroge
n atmosphere furnace is useful in reducing this oxidation
or decarburization, but at higher
temperatures and with more sensitive
alloy steels,
temperatures, for as long as you c
ould reasonable want to heat the
part. Then, when you quench the part or air-cool it, the co
mpound
protects the surface from pitting and checking.
The glass is almost impossible
to remove by grinding, wire
brushing, or handling. Only one thing works quickly, easily: bo
il the
part in hot water! The black protective coating dissolves, leaving
your part c
lean and heat-treated without any damage to the highly-
finished surface. This remarkable com
pound has been used to protect
Corbin swage dies, finished to 50 millionths of an inch with
diamond
lapped interiors, for the past 15 years. We’re willing to share this
importan
t discovery with our friends in the gunsmith trade.
.he CHAPTER 19 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND
CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
CHEMICALS AND SUPPLIES
BOX-25 Bullet Packaging, 2
5 Boxes
Available in packages of 25, the Corbin commercial bullet
packaging system is
one of the most cost-effective ways to sell and
ship your custom-made bullets. Each bullet i
s individually nested in
its own "chamber" surrounded by charcoal-color soft foam.
There is a 5
by 5 matrix of chambers or cells in the 2-inch-thick foam block, which
results in either 25 large bullets or 50 small ones being safely held
in the foam.
The
re are years of research behind the packaging. Let me share
with you some of the reasons for
this particular arrangement before
going into the other details of the box itself.
Fi
rst, why 25 instead of 100 or 50 holes, or some other number?
Experience shows that handload
ers will pay more per bullet without
complaint when the quantity purchased and priced is sma
ller than the
standard factory package of 50 or 100 bullets. Since there are half as
many or less in the package, your price for the package will seem lower
than it really is to
the buyer who is comparing numbers in his head.
Second, good marketing practice in this fiel
d does not match the
number of bullets with the typical number of empty cases to be reloaded
at one sitting. Most rifle cartridges are packaged in lots of 20.
When a handloader
reloads, he usually will reload all twenty cases.
With your custom bullets packaged in lots
of 25, this gives him five
extra bullets.
The reason for the five is so that he will
be more likely to take
one of them along with him to the range, to show his friends the
and few people want
to throw away five bullets. They will probably
wind up on display somewhere, or be given to
a friend, or, even more
likely, will remind him to purchase another package from you!
If you feel that there is space going to waste in the box with
smaller bullets, you can put
two bullets in each chamber. There is a
foam cylinder in each hole, which will compress as m
uch as needed in
order to hold any reasonable length of bullet on either side. Load one
over the foam block
. Turn the box over, so the other side of the block
shows, and press 25 more bullets down ag
ainst the foam cylinder (now a
disk compressed between the two bullets).
The package i
tself is square, and has triple fold end walls, to
make it highly crush-resistant. While pla
stic boxes look good on the
dealer shelves and on your reloading bench, they often are damag
ed in
handling and shipping when you try to send them without another package
around
them for protection. And if you do that, your cost is more than
double what it would be with
the single Corbin box.
The Corbin box is made for direct mail or UPS shipment without any <
br /> other protection. It is finished with eggshell white, and stores flat
until you need i
t. The interior dimensions are just right for the foam
block and foam pad which accompanies
it (for tip protection). One of
the best features is that the box takes any size of bullets
from .14 to
.600 Nitro! The special plastic foam material stretches without
tearing t
o hold the larger calibers snugly, and is soft enough so that
your small calibers will not b
e scratched up. Styrofoam (white semi-
rigid foam such as most ammo-makers use in the cartrid
ge boxes) quickly
crumbles and becomes dirty from handling. The charcoal color sponge
foam looks good and stands up for your customer to use. The double-
wall corrugated box is a
ctually tougher than either pasteboard or
plastic when it comes to handling.
If you w
ish to have a custom label made, your local printing firm
can make a self-adhesive label tha
t is perfect for both shipping label,
box sealer, and advertising. Write for a free pattern
and suggested
designs to assist your printer.
Remember, when you begin selling your p
roduct, the package is
extremely important. It can make or break your sales until your
> reputation for a quality product is secure. If your package arrives
in good condition, has
good eye appeal, and obvious thought has gone
into the way it is assembled and holds the bu
llets, then your customer
will be impressed with your concern for the product. You can spend
a
lot more for plastic or reinforced pastboard without getting as much
benefit for t
he dollar, and wind up having to repackage all your boxes
in another shipping carton, adding
to your expenses. The Corbin
packaging system does it all, and gets it there, at miminum co
st and
with maximum protection.
CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, 2-0unce Bottle<
br /> CSL-16 Corbin Swage Lube, 16-Ounce (Pint) Bottle
All steps of swaging a bullet require
a thin film of high-pressure
lubricant on the surface of the lead or jacket. Even if the
you put a piece of
metal into a die. Core swaging, jacket drawing,
bullet reducing, and swaging all require Co
rbin Swage Lube for long die
life and proper operation.
The natural components of Corb
in Swage Lube are clean, acid-free,
and good for the skin. Lanolin-based, but not lanolin al
one, Corbin
Swage Lube has been used for over 20 years by the masters in the
swaging
field. Synthetic lubes have come and gone, but this proven
formula remains the best choice.
Corbin Swage Lube is normally applied by putting a drop on your
fingertip and giving
the component a twist between your finger and
thumb as you raise it to the die. This quick,
natural movement saves
you time and does a good job. A thin film on the surface is all that
you need. A two-ounce bottle will normally service about 2,500
bullets. The pint size
is a lifetime supply for most shooters.
Many handloaders have found that Corbin Swage Lube i
s far superior
to most of the case-sizing lubes on the market, and they use it
exclus
ively for resizing cases. The converse it not true: do not try
to use a standard case lube f
or swaging, as you will have stuck bullets
or worse. Case lubes simply are not designed to s
tand up to the high
pressures involved in swaging. They either break down or diesel
(
ignite from high pressure within the die), neither of which does much
good and can result in
a badly stuck bullet.
CDL-2 Corbin Dip Lube, 2-ounce Sampler
CDL-16 Corb
in Dip Lube, 16-ounce (pint) Can
CDL-128 Corbin Dip Lube, 128-ounce (gallon) Can
Dip Lu
be, also called "Liquid Jacket", is a special wax lubricant
in a solvent carrier.
If you manufacture lead bullets, you can dip the
lead cores into Dip Lube prior to swaging,
then swage them while damp.
The lube works well enough for lead in the swage die, and then d
rys
quickly to form a tight skin or jacket of wax on the bullet surface.
No grooves o
r cannelures are needed to hold this film, which is hard
and non-sticky, yet flexible enough
for rough handling.
The lube works by the process of molecular attraction, using
pola
rized wax molecules to attract to the metallic surface of the lead
bullet. The special wax i
s designed both for this feature and for
resistance to high temperatures. You can also use i
t for cast bullets,
if (heaven forbid!) you should still want to cast bullets once you have
read this manual! It takes the work out of the process. Instead of
having to size and
lubricate each bullet, you can put them in a
strainer or wire basket and dip them all at on
ce in a can of Dip Lube.
No particular time is required for the wax to attract to the
bullet. Once it touches the lead, a film of wax molecules has already
bonded to the s
urface. If you want to let the wax cure and then dip
again, you can repeat the process. But
successive layers are held by a
different mechanism than the first one. Repeated dipping may
help with
guns and loads that tend to foul the bore with lead bullets, as will
rolli
ng the damp, freshly dipped bullets in graphite or a product
called "Motor Mica".
Most users, including some large commercial
bullet makers who buy it by the gallon, find tha
t Dip Lube works quite
well just as it comes.
Other uses for this quality wax compound
include a stock wax that
is tougher than most, a boot water-proofing that gets in all the s
eams,
a protective film for gun metal exposed to the rain, and a great way to
keep sc
rews and nuts from rusting when used outdoors. Wood screws
dipped in Dip Lube go in easier a
nd are not attacked by the acids and
moisture in the wood. I have even soaked cardboard roll
s in Dip Lube
and used it as a very safe-to-carry fire starter for my campfire
(the s
upposedly dry undersides of standing deadwood even get soaked in
our Oregon rains!).
<
br />
CCB-2 Corbin Core Bond, 2-ounce Sampler
CCB-16 Corbin Core Bond, 16-ounce (Pint)
Bottle
CCB-128 Corbin Core Bond, 128-ounce (Gallon) Bottle
Most people only need this
product to make good hunting bullets.
If your interest is target shooting, there isn’t much
point in using
it. Core Bond makes it possible to form an alloy junction by diffusion
of metal, between the lead core and the jacket. Core Bond forms a
junction stronger than so
lder, and more easily.
The reason you might want to try it is that bullets made this way
judging by retaine
d weight and expansion. Partition designs typically
lose most of the front core when they ex
pand. We like them because
they manage to protect the rear half of the core. But a bonded co
re
bullet typically holds 90 to 100 percent of the original weight with
just as great
, or greater, expansion!
In test after test, including more than 150 Cape Buffalo to date,
bullet will outper
form nearly any other kind of construction. And best
of all, you can use the bonded core IN
ADDITION to other designs.
Several Corbin clients have established high quality businesses m
aking
partitioned, bonded-core bullets for people who feel they want both
features, o
r for people who want the partition and think it does the
job while actually the bonded core
is what is making these bullets so
good.
To use Core Bond, swage your cores as usual.
Then, swab the
inside of a group of jackets with Core Bond. Use a liberal amount.
So
me people use a cotton swab large enough to squeeze into the jacket
and thus wipe the entire
inside in one pass. Put the cores into the
jackets. They should fit closely but not so tigh
tly that they have to
be pressed in. Use an eyedropper to put one more drop of Core Bond
If you have a small quantity to make, you
can use a propane torch
to heat the jackets, thus melting the lead inside and letting it for
m
an alloy with the jacket wall. If you have many to make, the Corbin
HTO-2 furnace (
or the smaller HTO-1 for less frequent production) is
the best way to apply controlled heat.
Raise the temperature enough to
melt the lead. Then let the jacket cool. Do NOT quench in w
ater!
Cautions: First, do NOT lean over or look into the jackets while
you heat them.
If the core fits too tightly, the gas pressure in the
base will pop the core out of the jack
et and splatter you with molten
lead! If your core does fit somewhat snugly in the jacket bo
ttom, and
you experience a problem with the cores popping out, then you may need
to g
et a smaller core swage, or at least rig up a screen to put over
the top of your jackets to
keep the core inside during heating.
Second, be careful with Core Bond. It contains a strong
acid,
among other things, which can cause blindness or painful burns to the
skin. Wa
sh up spills immediately, and neutralize with baking soda. Do
not use Core Bond in aluminum
or steel containers, as it attacks them
quickly.
Batch processing of bonded cores usu
ally involves making a
rack out of stainless steel mesh. Water systems often use a wide-
intake. If you can fin
d some of this material, it is ideal for folding
into a rack to hold jackets upright, simply
by placing them in the grid
holes. Other methods involve making a rack (like a test tube ra
ck)
with aluminum blocks drilled with holes to support the jackets. Make
the rack so
it fits into the cavity of the HT0-2 oven without touching
the sides. About half an inch of
space should be left between oven
walls and the first jacket.
You can stack two such
racks in the oven at one time, with most
jackets. About 100 jackets can be bonded at one tim
e this way. But
even if you do them one at a time, using a propane torch, the bonding
process is fairly quick and well worth the effort. When you have
finished and the jackets a
re cool, lubricate them well and seat the
core in the normal manner. If there is a surplus o
f black oxide at the
top of the core, you may wish to tumble the bonded cores and jackets or
vibrator polish them before going on. Make certain that you do NOT use
any abrasive
in your walnut shells, if you plan to seat the cores
after polishing. Abrasive particles wil
l embed in the jackets, and
will quickly lap the dies at random, just as they are lapped on
purpose
with brass and diamond.
CCB-2 Corbin Bore Cleaner, 2-ounce Samp
ler
CCB-16 Corbin Bore Cleaner, 16-ounce (Pint) Can
CCB-128 Corbin Bore Cleaner, 128-o
unce (Gallon) Can
Some of the top shooters in the world have stated that they
"co
uldn’t have won without it". That’s very kind of them, but I think
they’d win no matter
what they used. Still, this cleaner is very
effective and much different from the others th
at have so loudly
appeared and enjoyed a brief spotlight of publicity, then vanished.
For the past twenty years, Corbin Bore Cleaner has been quietly at
work in the commercial gu
nshops, in the gun rooms of top competitors,
and in military and law enforcement armories, r
emoving rust, leading,
powder fouling, plastic from shotgun bores, and copper traces from
more of those pro
ducts waiting for the curious handloader to discover
on his own. When you do, you’ll wonder
why anyone is impressed by all
the advertising that floods the magazines and impresses the w
riters
concerning cleaners that promise to get "all the fouling out".
Just t
ry this some day: clean your gun with anything else. When
you think it is clean, dip a cloth
patch in Corbin Bore Cleaner and run
it down the bore. Look at the patch. You’ll see why Co
rbin Bore
Cleaner is one of the quiet secrets of many master shooters around the
worl
d. Now, if you like, you can really clean your barrel with a
couple more patches. And then f
ollow it up with one of the other fine
products that doesn’t shout at you from every magazin
e article and
page, then fade into the night: Hoppe’s Number Nine! No, I had
nothing
to do with developing this and I don’t sell it. But it works
very well as a follow-up to pro
tect your bore and to remove the last
traces of Corbin Bore Cleaner, which holds the last tr
aces of fouling
in its grip.
Between Corbin Bore Cleaner, Hoppe’s Number Nine, Corbin
Cleaning
Solvent, and Corbin Gun Oil, you need nothing else to take expert care
of y
our firearms. These four products will remove gunk and accumulated
grease, clean out the bor
es and protect them, and apply a thin film of
protective oil to lubricate and preserve the m
etal.
CBL-2 Corbin Bore Lap, 2-ounce Bottle
If you have a badly rusted o
r pitted bore, severe fouling, or a
newly-cut barrel to be lapped, this abrasive compound is
formulated to
remove as little steel as possible while taking off burrs and high
poi
nts, and anything that projects above the steel surface, such as
fouling. The 40-micron part
icle size is fine enough not to scratch or
damage your bore, yet the disc-shaped particles a
lign under pressure so
that they tend to act in one direction, along the axis of the bore, <
br /> rather than cutting in all directions like conventional grinding
compounds.
This
is a product for people who know how to lap bores, not for
casual use on a new barrel. But
if you have an old barrel and want to
try to save it, clean it up, and get it shooting reaso
nably well again,
a good polishing with Corbin Bore Lap is worth a try. (Try to remove
> fouling with Corbin Bore Cleaner first. If that doesn’t do it, try
anything else you care
to spend money on to assure yourself that Corbin
Bore Cleaner really is the most powerful sa
fe cleaner available. Then,
when you are convinced that only lapping the bore can save it, u
se CBL-
2. If that doesn’t do it, have it rebored!)
FSO-16 Corbin Gun Oil
, 16-ounce (Pint) Can
There must be a good dozen gun oils on the market. The reason we
offer another one is because it is probably the same thing you are
already purchasing in sm
all lore to spend money on to assure yourself that Corbin
Bore Cleaner really is the most po
werful safe cleaner available. Then,
when you are convinced that only lapping the bore can s
ave it, use CBL-
2. If that doesn’t do it, have it rebored!)
FSO-16 Corbi
n Gun Oil, 16-ounce (Pint) Can
There must be a good dozen gun oils on the market. The reason
we
offer another one is because it is probably the same thing you are
already purchas
ing in small lo from Corbin, in pint cans that give you more
gun oil (which is really high g
rade ISO-15 instrument and lathe spindle
oil) for the money. You can wind up paying three ti
mes as much per
ounce in the little cans. So, save your last little can and refill it
yourself with Corbin Gun Oil in the bulk (pint) container!
We recommend using this oil on mo
ving parts of Corbin presses, to
protect Corbin dies that are not going to be used for a whi
le, and for
your fine firearms. We use it for our lathes and mills, and general
purpo
se lubrication, as well as packaging the dies with a few drops of
the preservative oil inser
ted into the poly packs.
CCS-16 Corbin Cleaning Solvent, 16-ounce (Pint) Can
fingerprints, grease, and
oils from metal. It is flammable, but not as
volatile as gasoline or alcohol. It can be used
to remove Corbin Bore
Cleaner from the bore after it has done its job of removing the
> fouling, if you would rather use it than Hoppe’s. This solvent
actually pulls oils from th
e surface of whatever it contacts, so it
will draw the natural oils from your skin as quickl
y as it removes oil
from metal. I recommend using dishwasher gloves when degreasing any
with the skin.
> CCS-16 is also good for cleaning jackets and cores prior to
swaging, to remove any traces
of lubrication inside the jacket or on
the core. (First you lubricate the core, then swage i
t, then remove
the lube completely so there will be nothing between the core and
jack
et to prevent a close, non-slipping bond.)
CHF-128 Corbin Hydraulic Fluid, 128-
ounce (Gallon) Can
Specially formulated for the Corbin Hydro-press, this hydraulic
flu
id stands up to hard use and is safe with the seal materials used in
the valves and cylinder
of the CHP-1 series presses. If you should
lose oil from moving the press or doing any work
on its hydraulic
circuits, a gallon of CHF-128 is the right quantity for most minor
service replacements. The red gallon container makes a nice spare
gasoline can, too!
<
br />
SL-4 Silver Lube, 4-ounce Can
Silver Lube is a high temperature, high pressure l
ubricant that
can stand up to 2000 degrees F. It is used for extreme drawing jobs
suc
h as heavy copper, brass, or steel tubing jacket manufacture, for
certain kinds of swaging w
here regular swage lube is not suitable, and
has applications where heat and pressure are ex
treme. It prevents
rusting and corrosion when used on lead moulds, such as on the pivot
rather messy and tur
ns everything silver, including your hands! When
you need it, nothing else does the job. Mos
t of the time, if you can
use CSL-2 Corbin Swage Lube, it’s a lot neater and easier to clean
up.
Special note for makers of bonded core bullets: If you form a
bullet jacket usin
g Silver Lube, as recommended with most of the heavy
copper tubing jacket-makers, you must c
lean off every trace of the lube
before trying to bond the core. Silver Lube protects the su
rface
against the action of Core Bond and prevents alloy formation with the
lead core
. Strong solvents such as MEK or Tri-Chlor are needed to
remove the lube film. Remember, it
takes heat to 2000 degrees F., so
there is no way to melt it off.
WS-1 W
alnut Shell Polishing Medium
Corbin packages walnut shells in the correct granulation for
all you want to put
into a 3-pound coffee can. One is adequate. Extra
bags are economical and will work in your
tumbler as well as the BPK-1
bullet polisher kit.
.he CHAPTER 20 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND
CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
TAKING CARE OF YOUR DIES
A good quality bullet swag
e die should last a lifetime in normal
operation. With the right lubricant and normal pressu
res, wear is
virtually non-existent. Here are some tips for avoiding damage:
(1
) Use only CLEAN components. Never use dusty, corroded, or
dirty lead or jackets in the dies
. Keep a clean work area. Wipe the
inside of the dies with a clean cotton swab prior to use.
Never put a
die away with a component inside it, especially one that has been used
w
ith Core Bond. If you tumble or vibrator polish your components prior
to swaging, make absol
utely sure that no abrasive compounds have been
added to the polishing medium. Abrasive addi
tives will embed in the
jacket and core material, and will act just like laps to wear the
(2) If you should stick a bullet in
a die, never try to drill,
dig, scrape, or pry out the bullet. Certainly never heat the die
to
melt out the stuck bullet, as this will ruin the precise temper of the
metal. Ins
tead, use the methods outlined in the book, "Rediscover
Swaging". No tools are req
uired, and the methods work 100% of the
time. A detailed description is also given in the &q
uot;World Directory of
Custom Bullet Makers", on removal of stubborn stuck bullets.
(3) Do not attempt to "improve" the dies or punches unless you
are willi
ng to accept responsibility for the warranty yourself. If a
punch or die does not seem to be
the right size, send it back with a
note and samples of your components. If you decide to g
o after it with
a file, you’ve probably spoiled it for anyone else to use, so sending
it back then doesn’t help anyone. By now, any basic design problems
have been solved a thou
sand times over, and any problems would either
be misuse, a defective part or the wrong part
sent by error, or
mismatch of components to the dies. These can all be solved by a phone
(4) Use the right lubricant. Most
problems with stuck bullets or
hard operation can be traced to lubricant (or lack of it).
(5) Never force any component into a swage die, if the component
is larger than t
he bore of the die. This is a major bad thing to do.
You can destroy the die, the punches, o
r both. If a part won’t go into
a swage die by hand, then do not force it under pressure. Sw
aging
always increases the diameter, never reduces it. To "swage down" is a
contradiction. You can "draw down" with an open-end ring die.
(6) Use jacke
ts and core lengths recommended for a given set of
dies. If you want to experiment, bear in
mind that you will quite
likely reach some limits for any given shape and size of die. Each
set
has a wide range of latitude in bullet weight, but you cannot always
make both th
e weight and the style you want in the jacket you select.
Sometimes, you have to trade off o
ne parameter against another to make
the system work with the available supplies. Part of th
e practical
side of bullet making is recognizing that some of the arbitrary
specifict
ions can be moved one way or the other without really
affecting the bullet performance. If y
ou are practical about your
bullet design, you will have no trouble coming up with designs t
hat are
easy to make in existing equipment.
(7) Swaging pressures are high bec
ause of the small area of the
typical punch, through which all the force of the ram is chann
elled.
It is NOT necessary to use all your might to operate the press. If any
operati
on seems to be taking more than a comfortable, one-hand
pressure, then it is likely somethin
g is wrong and you should find out
what it is. I have seen .243 caliber punches shoved into
a .224 die,
drawing down the solid tool steel of the punch and wrecking it. But
the o
perator kept on making bullets with his newly-formed .224 punch,
only returning it when he f
inally realized that the operation took more
force than it should. I have gotten back point
forming dies with a
piece of solid brass or copper pushed into them, which started out
> being 7/16-inch diameter (.4375"). The die bore was .429-inch
diameter. You can’t do
that. Use a draw die first, to bring the
material down to less the bore size.
( 
There may be some initial confusion over the punches and
dies. It looks like confusion co
uld reign supreme whenever you
accidently mix up a set of dies with another one. But actuall
y, the
components will serve as quick gauges to sort everything fast. All you
have to
do is slip a punch into the die to see if it fits. To discover
which caliber of die you hav
e, just slip a jacket into it. If it fits
easily but closely into the core seater, then you
have the right die.
Core swages have punches that fit closely into the die on both
end
s. Core seaters have an internal punch that fits the die bore and
an external punch that fit
s either the die bore (semi-wadcutter styles)
or the jacket inside diameter. A micrometer is
handy for checking out
the dies. If you have a set of 9mm and a set of .38 dies, for
instance, there is only about 0.003-inches difference, at most, between
their bores. You ca
nnot see that small a difference. So, make a lead
core using whatever external punch fits ea
sily into the die. Measure
the lead core. That’s your caliber.
(9) If you shou
ld ever find yourself getting frustrated over a
seemingly difficult problem in swaging, don’
t keep fighting the
problem: give me a call. With thousands of people around the world
> now making their own bullets, and with a history of better than two
decades of operation o
f the equipment, it is unlikely that you have
equipment that won’t work or that the process
is too difficult for you.
The odds are that (1) I didn’t write the instructions clearly
> enough and a little discussion on the phone or in a letter would make
some point clear to
you that solves everything, or… (2) Someone in
the shipping department picked up the wrong
die or punch when they were
testing and packaging, and you got it, or… (3) You are trying
to do
something that seems reasonable to you, but which a little more
experience wit
h the principles of swaging would quickly show to be
impractical or impossible.
In an
y case, remember that help is a phone call away. Most
problems resolve themselves with great
ease when the die-maker gets in
on the case. Sometimes a die or samples may have to be exch
anged, and
in difficult cases where you are trying to make something with
components
other than those we used to design the set, it may take two
or three exchanges to solve the
problem. But rest assured, you are not
alone to solve everything yourself. I have had a tast
e of that in the
computer industry, where you can spend tens of thousands of dollars and
before you even
figure out that the system isn’t working right, and you
wind up with no choice but paying mo
re for something you should have
gotten in the first place. Corbin is noted for outstanding
support,
and that is the way it should be.
.he CHAPTER 21 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND C
ATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
DELIVERY AND PAYMENT INFORMATION
Corbin dies are han
d-made, often to custom order. We are the only
die-works in the world willing to offer so ma
ny calibers and styles of
equipment. In fact, the development of the entire field of bullet
swaging in the past twenty years has primarily been due to the heavy
investment of ti
me and effort we have made in bringing bullet swaging
back from the brink of oblivion to a c
ommonly-used process for
handloaders. Part of that effort has been to bring the cost of the
dies within reach, while maintaining the custom features and quality.
And part of the
cost of the dies has often been the fact that we
are absolutely buried in orders, making it
necessary to have a waiting
list for delivery on many items. I often state "If you can’
t wait,
don’t order!", because it is easier not to know that I lost an order
fro
m someone impatient than to try and explain over and over how much
work I have backed up and
how long it takes to get to any given job.
Since 1985, most of the orders have been shipped
within two days
of receipt. The new plant, which is the world’s largest bullet-swage
die works, is stocked with most of the common calibers most of the
time. We do get behind ev
en on common calibers, but not the two and
three years we used to quote. Today, you have a g
ood chance of
delivery on standard items within two days, a slight chance that we may
be out and will be making more within 30 to 45 days, and a very slim
chance that what you o
rdered is odd enough that it will take us several
months to schedule in the making of reamer
s, laps, and tooling to
produce your dies.
Still, I would rather that you are prepared
to wait than that you
expect immediate delivery and are disappointed. So, I cannot guarente
e
delivery on any specified date, or within any specified period of time.
Making as m
any custom dies as we do, and with the limited number of
skilled die-makers to do it, I cann
ot guess how long the next five,
fifty or five hundred orders will actually take from start
to testing
and completion. Each one presents its own problems, its own special
differ
ences in tooling and technique to be developed and tested.
The end result, though, is that e
ach set of dies will produce the
bullet it is designed to make. We can develop a whole new p
roduct for
you to sell or use, one that did not exist before, and you do not have
to
bear the expense of the lost time developing it. Once we have
worked it out, solving problem
s you will never have to know existed,
you get a set of tooling that is subtly modified to p
erform your
particular job correctly. If you took your bullet idea to just about
any
other die-works in the world and had them make tools to produce it,
you would most likely be
paying time and material charges for every
hour spent chasing down the problems and trying
different ideas.
We are working as fast as we can, and there is nothing more we can
do
. Offers to "buy a lot more later" or threats to "go somewhere else"
are
both beside the point and have no effect. As I say, if you decide
you want the equipment an
d support that goes with it, both of which
have a hard-earned reputation that reaches back a
couple of decades,
then you should make up your mind before ordering it whether or not you
have the patience to wait for delivery.
I have simply cancelled orders and handed back
deposits to people
who become unpleasant to deal with. Life is too short and I enjoy my
don’t appreciate th
e effort that would go into their dies, and don’t
realize how closely a die-maker needs to w
ork with his clients both
before and after the dies are done. One is not motivated quite by
the
same things in this business as, for example, in selling a conventional
kind of m
ass produced tool. I don’t mind spending hours with a
beginner explaining how something work
s, if necessary, but I have no
time for demanding individuals who think that money substitut
es for
manners.
We do publish a periodic list of items that are available for
immediate delivery, called our "Immediate Delivery List". Ask for a
copy when you
write or call. The items on this list are on the shelf
and can be sent to you straight away.
Quite often, we have new things
that are not yet on the list, and if you have some particul
ar caliber
in mind you might mention it when you write or call. We can let you
know,
then, whether or not the item is available for delivery. It is
harder to let you know when i
t will be available…many factors affect
the delivery of dies, including the possibility th
at a nearly completed
run may have to be thrown away because of tiny flaws that show up in <
br /> final testing. If this should happen, our original estimate may be off
by months.
> It is always best to place an order as soon as you are sure you
want it and are willing to
wait for it. The sooner your order is
placed, the sooner we will have enough backlog on a p
articular item to
schedule it. We run non-stock or special items based on when the order
four months ago, a
nd someone else wanted a .577 Snyder set six months
before, we’d schedule the earliest posit
ive order first. I say
positive order because the mention on the phone that you might be
and your written or
der in hand, then it is an order and we will place
it in the computer scheduling system. It
will be done as soon as it
can be done. Otherwise, it probably will be lost in the constant
flood
of phone calls that continues morning to night.
A good way to assure prompt deli
very on a phone order is to give
alternatives where such alternatives are acceptable to you.
In other
words, if you don’t really care whether your .366 rifle bullet has a 4-
S or
a 6-S ogive, then let us know either is acceptable. The first one
finished goes to you. It
might be that we finished a fine set of 4-S
ogive dies a day after your order came in, but s
ince you specified a 6-
S ogive, we never even considered sending that set. And it may well b
e
months before we can get time to make the 6-S reamers and laps.
Likewise, if the dia
meter can be 0.429 or .430, either way, and
still be acceptable to you for your battery of .
44 Magnums (practically
speaking, it doesn’t usually make much difference and there is proba
bly
that much or more variation in the bores anyway), then let us know. We
may have a
dozen sets of .429 dies just like you want, but if your
order specifies .430, then we will
wait until we can make the .430 size
to fill it. If a cup base or a flat base is equally acc
eptable, let us
know that. We will give you exactly what you specify unless you give
us a range of acceptable differences that might speed up delivery.
It doesn’t necessarily slo
w up delivery to specify exactly what
you want with no alternatives. It is just that many ti
mes we have
something close on hand. If it really does not matter to you, then we
cou
ld ship the available package and you’d be making bullets within a
few days. On the other ha
nd, if you really do want a specific style or
size, we are glad to provide it. Just be patie
nt until the die-makers
work their way through the mountain of orders and can get your work
done.
I hope that this makes sense to you, and doesn’t offend anyone
except peo
ple neither you nor I would like to deal with in the first
place! The alternative to being s
wamped with orders is to raise prices
so few people could afford to buy. Then, those who cou
ld would let us
work a lot less for the same income. That was the situation before we
came into the swaging field, many years ago, and that is how most die
makers operate today.
But motives other than simply making money
brought us to this field and inspired us to deve
lop it. I’m no more
altruistic than the next fellow, but I do feel somewhat responsible for
the survival of the bullet swaging art. You are the carriers of that
torch: all I can
do is make sure the equipment continues to be
available at a reasonable price, and that new
ideas continue to be
explored and written about.
TERMS OF PAYMENT
>
Corbin accepts VISA and MASTER-CHARGE orders by letter or
telephone. If an article
will not be availble for some time, we
normally submit a bank card payment request only for
those items we can
ship quickly. The rest of the articles will not usually be "put on <
br /> your card" until they are ready to ship, unless you specify otherwise.
Corbin acce
pts postal money orders, bank money orders drawn on
U.S. banks in U.S. dollar amounts, certi
fied checks, International
Money Orders, and other instruments of immediate negotiability dr
awn on
U.S. banks for U.S. dollar amounts. Checks from other countries, drawn
on corr
espondent U.S. banks, must be sent for collection. This process
usually involves a delay, an
d the local banks charge a healthy fee for
this service. Sometimes this doesn’t leave enough
actual payment to pay
for the equipment.
Thus, we ask our friends in other countries
to use one of these
methods of payment:
(1) International Money Order
(2) Postal
Money Order for U.S. Dollars
(3) VISA or Master-Charge
(4) Direct funds transfer to o
ur current account number. Please
write for the address and number. At the time of this writ
ing, it is
Jefferson State Bank, Medford, Oregon 97501, USA, but problems can
develop
if you send funds to an account we have closed or to a bank
from which we have switched our
account. If you plan to transfer
funds, please write first and get instructions. When you d
o make a
transfer, insist that your bank send notification to us and have our
bank no
tify us as well when they receive the funds. This is simply
good business and makes sure fun
ds are not misplaced or stolen.
Domestic orders paid with personal or business checks do requ
ire
at least two weeks for check clearance. We will hold any items on the
Immediate D
elivery List, upon first receipt of your funds, so that
check clearance will not cause the l
ast item to be sold while you are
still waiting.
Remember that UPS delivery usually t
akes about 10 days, and that
the UPS will not even begin a trace on a package until at least
15
working days have passed. Foreign shipment usually involves both
fairly long tran
sit time by surface (or fairly high air mail cost) and
a delay in getting through foreign cu
stoms offices. We send a notice
when packages are shipped, to let you know they are in trans
it, in
these cases.
We do accept COD orders, but if you are not there when the package
comes, it may come back to us. If a package sent COD comes back, we
send you a card
to let you know, wait about 15 days for some response,
and if we hear nothing, cancel the or
der and any pending orders that
are COD, and sell the equipment. If a COD package is refused
, we do
the same thing. When packages are refused, or otherwise undeliverable,
it cos
ts us to ship and receive the same package back. For this
reason, we do not accept ad
ditional COD orders when we have had any
significant number of problems with sending them be
fore.
COD orders may be paid to the UPS delivery man by certified check,
money order,
or in cash. If someone signs for a COD order and pays for
it, then UPS has a record of wher
e and to whom they delivered it, and
if for any reason you did not receive it, let us know.
We can have UPS
trace the delivery, and find out who got it.
When a COD shipment is s
ent, a postcard is also mailed telling you
the amount and date of shipment. I can’t guarente
e that the postcard
will get there before the package does, because that is up to the US
sent funds for someth
ing, and then received it COD. If you want it
quickly, the best solution is to go ahead and
accept the COD, notify us
immediately of the error, and let us credit your account or send a
refund check. Otherwise, it may be weeks before the package finally is
routed back t
o us and we are able to get it re-shipped again.
Usually, this latter kind of error only happ
ens when a person
orders by telephone, follows up by letter, and repeats the order, or
> uses both COD and prepayment at different times on parts of the same
order. The most troub
le-free method is to send payment with the order,
or to use a bank card. Bank cards give you
a good tax record and
simplify the entire payment operation, and are only a little more
.he CHAPTER
22 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
WARRANTY INFORMATION
If any Corbin product proves defective in materials or
worksmanship, call 503-826-5211 and r
equest authorization to return the
product. If, upon inspection by Corbin, the product does
prove
defective, it will be repaired or replaced without charge other than
transporta
tion.
The warranty in this section is in lieu of all other warranties,
including any i
mplied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a
particular purpose.
Firearms saf
ety requires that individual handloaders and shooters
ascertain at their own discretion and
risk the proper loads, bullets,
and cartridges to use in their firearms. Corbin has no contr
ol over
the circumstances of loading, and can assume no liability for the
results obt
ained. We can guarantee only that our products are capable
of producing bullets which meet o
ur own high standards of quality.
The accuracy of firearms is dependent upon a number of fact
ors,
most of which are beyond the control of the manufacturer of the bullet
or the to
oling which produces the bullet. Individual firearms require
careful load development to ach
ieve satisfactory accuracy. A bullet
which performs well in one firearm may not perform as w
ell in another,
very similar firearm, for a variety of reasons, some of which are not
well understood.
The responsibility for accuracy rests with the handloader and
shoote
r. Corbin has no control over the circumstances of either
loading or shooting, and can there
fore assume no responsibility for the
results obtained by any particular shooter, handloader
, or firearm.
Delivery of Corbin products cannot be guaranteed at any
particular time
nor within any specified period. Purchasers of
equipment must bear full responsibility for t
he results of their
advertising and promotion, contracts or agreements between themselves
equipment. Corbin
advises that NO committments be entered which depend
upon timely delivery of equipment from
Corbin for their successful
completion. Potential commercial operations based on swaging bul
lets
made on Corbin equipment should wait until delivery has been received
before off
ering products for sale, entering contracts for delivery of
bullets, or making other agreeme
on
the basic techniques.
nts involving the use of such
equipment.