Core Cutter! ...for $12.68

[FrankenMauser]

As many of you are aware, I swage bullets for my (and my family's) .44s and .444s from .40 S&W cases.

I usually use pure lead 195 gr SWCs (.41 cal, Lee) as the cores, but I just can't find the time to get ANY casting done. ...And I am out of these swaged bullets. (I'm really low on pure lead, anyway.)

So, I bit the bullet and ordered some lead wire to use in place of the SWCs. It's still cheaper than commercial jacketed bullets.
As such, I needed a much more repeatable method for core-cutting. I've used linesman's pliers in the past, and it doesn't result in good cores. It also requires "nibbling" at each core with wire cutters, to get them to the proper weight.

So I looked at the scrap materials on hand, and decided I'd need slightly thicker steel. I paid $11.72 for some 1/4"x1.5" cold-rolled flat, and started some "organic"/free-form building.

It needed to be used in the vise, rather than bolted to a bench.
I wanted continuous-feed of wire, to eliminate the waste created by the common method of cutting two or three foot sections from the spool.
And having a feed guide would be nice.

I ended up having to spend another $0.96 on 4 washers and 2 bolts.

The constantly-evolving "plan" turned into this:

Overhead wire feed.

Square tube serves as the clamping 'lug' and wire guide.

Depth stop keeps core weights within ~2.0 gr (there's some flex in it).

Continued...

 

[FrankenMauser]

Cutter.

Stop detail.

$12.68
Other than the flat stock, 2 bolts, and 4 washers, everything else was scrap or already on-hand from other projects (and considered free).

 

[FrankenMauser]

Oh...
This is only intended to work for 0.375" wire, and the holes in the shear are 25/64" (0.390").

You need a little bit of room for imperfections in the wire.

 

[reddog81]

That's pretty cool.

I've got a few questions. What is the cutter made of and how is it operated? How do you get the lead to the correct diameter after cutting it into sections?

Thanks

 

[FrankenMauser]

The cutter is just plain old cold-rolled mild steel, and operates as a simple by-pass shear. (Like wire cutters or small bolt cutters. Example link.)

The upper plate (shown bolted to the square tube) is fixed.
The lower plate pivots on the hinge bolt. (Left-most bolt in all photos).
The mating surfaces of the shear were filed and then block sanded to within 0.001" of flat, and then very lightly oiled with a model train lubricant (it's 80-90w gear oil, if you ask me, but who knows...).


Because these cores are used in swaged jacketed bullets, roundness and perfect diameter are not necessary.

The cores are seated in a .40 S&W jacket with a "pusher" (punch) from a Lee .429" bullet sizing kit and a 7x57mm sizing die. In the process, they expand to whatever diameter is necessary to bump the .40 S&W case up to the interior diameter of the 7x57mm die.
Then the jacket with the core seated is turned around and run back into the sizing die in the other direction. That forms an ogive and "nose" on the bullet in the form of a 7x57mm case shoulder.
Once sized in a Lee push-through bullet sizing die, they're ready to load and shoot (.430" for .44 Mag, .4315-.433" for .444 Marlin).

I have a thread on it, starting from when I initially tried to prove the concept, through taking a bull elk with the bullets in 2012, here: Something New to Play With.

 

[reddog81]

Awesome. Thanks for the detailed response.