Bullet resizing / swaging.

M

Mike38

New member
I've reloaded for 30 years, but have never resized / swaged lead bullets before, so forgive my ignorance. :o

Let's say I have a handgun chambered in .32 S&W Long with a bore diameter of .3135. Bullets will be pushed at low velocities ~680 to 700 fps.

Let's say I'm looking for swaged wad cutter bullets 80 to 100 grain, with a diameter of .3145. Well, that's impossible to find. Let's also say I found a place that will make me cast wadcutter bullets at .315. They will be delivered to me "as cast" meaning not sized or swaged, and will be tumble lubed with Alox.

What would you suggest? Try shooting the bullets "as cast" at .315? Buy an off the shelf die that will resize the .315 to .314? Buy a custom made die to resize to .3145?

Extreme accuracy is the goal. Looking to get 50 yard groups at less than 4 inches, and closer to 3 inches would be ideal. The pistol is capable, just need a bullet that is.

Will my resized bullets need to be recoated with Alox?

Thank you!
 
That .315" bullet will be fine as is. Normal cast bullet diameter for the S&W Long is .314", but 1 thou won't matter.
You can get 1,000 Speer 98 grain swaged WC's for about $80, Stateside. I really don't think making 'em would be cost efficient. You'd be better to use the money developing the load.
Swaged lead bullets are made of pure lead. They're actually made out of pure lead 'wire'. Swaging is just squishing 'em into shape. Takes special machines/tools. Prices vary from expensive to really friggin' expensive.
 
Question is what's your price-point? How much is that tighter group worth to you? When we have that we can likely voice a range of options. $100 - not going to happen. Somewhere higher you might get a custom sizing die made to that precision. $600 you might get the tools together to make your own "cheap" trial sizing die with used tools. At somewhere along $1800 you'd definitely find someone to make you EXACTLY what you want.

A swage press will start at appx $600 just for the lower end press. You can easily spend $2500 on a really good swage press. Swage die sets will run you anywhere from $200 to $950 depending on who and what.
 
I would try them as-cast myself...I rarely size handgun bullets anyway, usually just tumble lube and go. I don't shoot handguns competitively though. If you do resize them they will need another coat of lube, even if a light one.
 
I would shoot them as they are cast first to see if they deliver the accuracy you seek. If not what you want, than you have your answer.
 
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You can get 1,000 Speer 98 grain swaged WC's for about $80, Stateside.
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Those Speer bullets work great out to 25 yards, but don't cut it at 50 yards. Speer claims a size of .314. Not true. They actually measure .313 to .3135. I contacted Speer about why their bullets don't measure what they claim. Basically, they don't seem to care.

What's it worth to me money wise to get small groups at 50 yards? Hundreds? Sure. Thousands? Nope, I'll switch caliber from .32 to .38 for less money. A company that produces what it advertises would be nice.

Looks like I will try the .315 "as cast" bullets to see how it works, then go from there. Thanks.
 
If extreme accuracy is your goal you'll have to try .314, .3145, and .315. To see which one works the best.

You can powder coat .313 bullets to bump them up to .315 and use at that diameter or resize them to .314 / .3145.
 
I believe Lee takes custom order for their lubrisizers at very reasonable price. The other vendor is ch4d, but at higher price.

One more option to consider. This place makes impeccable cast bullets with wide range of diameters. Man's name is Daniel.

https://bullshop.weebly.com/bullets.html

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Mike38,

What kind of gun are these to be fired in? If it's a self-loading target gun, you are stuck with wadcutters. But it's a revolver, you can use the Tumble Lube SWC .314 bullet from Tangolima's vendor (under .30 cal bullets). I got the 6-cavity Lee mold in their Tumble Lube design for 38 WC's, and had it cut my groups in half in my K-frame, fired unsized. It's an issue of chamber size more than anything else in the revolver.
 
Two points...

Let's say I'm looking for swaged wad cutter bullets 80 to 100 grain, with a diameter of .3145. Well, that's impossible to find. Let's also say I found a place that will make me cast wadcutter bullets at .315. They will be delivered to me "as cast" meaning not sized or swaged, and will be tumble lubed with Alox.
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You may actually see better accuracy with those in the true .315 as opposed to .3145. My best groups (measured at 25 though, not 50) were with Dardas cast sized .002 over bore. If you decided that you must have a perfectly round .3145 sizing die, your better bet may be to obtain a quality .314 die and hone it out. It's difficult to do while keeping it in perfect round as a DIY project, but any GOOD machinist competent with small scale work could almost get it done on a work break. You could have what you needed for less than $100 going this route.

A swage press will start at appx $600 just for the lower end press. You can easily spend $2500 on a really good swage press. Swage die sets will run you anywhere from $200 to $950 depending on who and what.
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Sizing cast bullets down .001 in diameter does not require a swage press. Thousands do it on a turret press. Furthermore, A $150 dollar rock chucker or slightly cheaper lee Classic cast can be used to swage cast into a different profile or to swage jacketed rounds. I doubt either of them would last thousands of rounds if trying to swage large heavy caliber jacketed bullets... Either of them would handle sizing .32 caliber cast rounds for 10's of thousands.
 
See if you can get a sample of the TL SWC's and load them backward. The TL grooves go all the way down the sides of the bullet and you can crimp into any one of them or just crimp over top of the base. The volume of lead in the case will be the same, so WC loads for the same bullet weight will work. You'll be the only fellow at the range firing boat tail wadcutters, in effect, and that may cut drag a little, though the 15° angle is a little too steep to help much, I expect. Whether or not the shorter bearing surface will disadvantage you appreciably, I cannot say, but it seems worth a try.
 
I'm confused. How does a semi auto feed wadcutter bullets?

Anyway, you can specify bullet diameter. He will size it, if he has the sizing die. He has lot of them, and he is very accommodating. Certainly one can't ask for diameter larger than the drop diameter.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
I'm confused. How does a semi auto feed wadcutter bullets?
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Just like the Smith and Wesson Model 52, some target semi autos are build specifically to shoot wadcutter rounds.

Don
 
USSR said:
Just like the Smith and Wesson Model 52, some target semi autos are build specifically to shoot wadcutter rounds.

Don
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Interesting. Didn't know that. Wondering how it feed those wadcutter rounds. Long and shallow feed ramp? It is exclusive for wadcutter bullets? Other bullet types should work too, shouldn't they?

Sorry. Don't mean to go off topic. Just curious.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Interesting. Didn't know that. Wondering how it feed those wadcutter rounds. Long and shallow feed ramp? It is exclusive for wadcutter bullets? Other bullet types should work too, shouldn't they?
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No. The magazine length is such that anything other than a fully seated wadcutter would be too long to fit in the magazine.

Don
 
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