How much to start swaging?

S

spacecoast

New member
I've been reading a bit on the Corbin web site, can someone give me a ballpark figure on how much investment there is to start swaging basic handgn bullets?
 
For 500 bucks I was set up to swage one caliber (.451) on a CSP1 press. The neet thing about swaging is that everything comes out match grade (weight control), and unlike a mould there is countless variation in design and type of slug you want to make. A small assortmant of punches to go with the dies and I can FMJ, SP, HP, HSP, TC all with the same set of dies.

You have to order your jackets from him. He raised em up when copper went crazy. The quality of jacketed bullets bullets I am making surpasses anything I have ever seen or used on the open market.
 
I think he means Corbin - http://www.corbins.com/index.htm

Ed, thanks very much for the reply. $500 isn't all that much when you consider that I have probably spent $1000 YTD on bullets alone.

How much is the cost of the ready-to-swage lead, which I understand comes in 70,000 grain (10 lb) spools? I found the price list but didn't see the lead on it. The jackets look kinda pricey at 15 cents apiece, but I guess that's not a big deal if you're making match ammo.

Those sure are some pretty-looking bullets, I guess all it takes is a little pressure.
 
Oh yeah, Corbin! Sorry.

I never ordered lead spools from him, didn't want to pay shipping. I found lead wire (.365) locally. ~ 20 bucks per spool. I'm pretty sure the dies for dwaging pure lead and jacketed bullets are different, be clear with him on what you're going to swage so he sends the right dies.
 
Hmmm... at 20 bucks per spool (4.5 cents per 158 gr. bullet), I would have to swage over 30,000 158 gr. bullets to make back my initial investment on dies and press (even if I considered my labor free). I have a local source of lubed bullets here for about 6 cents apiece. I'm already saving about 20 cents per round by reloading vs. buying, getting into swaging for another couple of cents per round probably isn't worth it to me.

Sounds like swaging is for those who are looking for higher quality, not necessarily to save a bunch of money.

Thanks for the cost inputs, I appreciate it.
 
You havent shot any yet so you don't know but you can not compare these swaged bullets to run of the mill factory componants. If you want to calculate amortization then compare to the custom bullet makers products. They are usually between 1 dollar and 3 dollars apiece. :)
 
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