Swagging 9mm to .40 cal

Huh??? Before I go off half cocked... What are you trying to do and why?

What you wrote says you want to make a 40 caliber bullet from a 9mm bullet.. Swaging makes things smaller... flaring makes them bigger... However to do either (flare or swage) a bullet a whole mm would take a several (or 12+) tons of pressure to do it right. and it still has me asking why...

If you are talking about putting a 9mm bullet in to a 40 case... it's already done... called a 357 sig...

Typically you don't swage a jacketed bullet as the jacket will tear...
 
Last edited:
Still thinking about this... So before I go to bed.. (yes it's 2230 in Oz!) and with World Youth Day really ramping up tomorrow I have to get into the office early before the bible thumpers are out in force....

If all you are trying to get is a light 40; nosler, sierra and rainier make a 135.. they are damn small.. By the time you have a diameter there isn't much room for length with that little lead... They pretty much have to be a hollowpoint.

They are for a home/personal defense round quick and dirty like birdshot...


I shot an ISPC match with 155's loaded to a near 200 PF trust me it was a hoot but wasn't competitive.. I'll go back to 180's way more controllable..... The 155 is a fine load at a resonable power factor... I just didn't have time to load down...
 
Last edited:
9mm to 40

Yes I PURCHASED 5000 NOSLERS 135 GR hp CAME TO AROUND $700 tax and shipping
I HAVE 6000 138 GR 9MM WOULD LIKE TO FLARE THEM TO .400 to make cheap practice ammo

they should swage (flare) larger just don't know if jackets will handle the strain , can swage up to 3000psi hydroliclly,

for info
lino type lead swagged at 2700 psi made great 265 gr .430 bullet had size of 300gr but only weighed 265gr shoots great .
Also have softened 40 s&w casings and used them for jackets for 300gr jsp in .44cal fly exceptionally fine hit hard.


have loaded the 135 gr nosler and they chrony out fine to make major in open and are softer recoil than 38 super not as much bark but with longshot and 800x they make comp work fine, I think
sr4756 didn't make comp work


supermag
 
A 9mm jacketed bullet is usually .355" in diameter. A .40 S&W is .400". You want to increase the diameter of a jacketed bullet by 45 thou. Forget it. Buy the right bullet.
Cutting a hole in a jacketed bullet to make an SP doesn't work either.
 
Possible, yeah, I suppose with a suitable hydraulic press, and a nose punch, and the appropriate die, you could bump the bullets to over size, then with a sizing die, squeeze them back, and get it right.
Practical is another subject.

I have swagged jacketed rounds from .430 to .427 with no issues using a simple Lee press mounted sizing die, and case lube. Bumping sizes takes a lot more force.
 
Sell/trade for something you can use.

Also, I've found 4756 doesn't work really well in a comped gun until you get up to 175-180PF.;)
 
SUPERMAG said:
Yes I PURCHASED 5000 NOSLERS 135 GR hp CAME TO AROUND $700 tax and shipping
I HAVE 6000 138 GR 9MM WOULD LIKE TO FLARE THEM TO .400 to make cheap practice ammo

they should swage (flare) larger just don't know if jackets will handle the strain , can swage up to 3000psi hydroliclly,

for info
lino type lead swagged at 2700 psi made great 265 gr .430 bullet had size of 300gr but only weighed 265gr shoots great .
Also have softened 40 s&w casings and used them for jackets for 300gr jsp in .44cal fly exceptionally fine hit hard.


have loaded the 135 gr nosler and they chrony out fine to make major in open and are softer recoil than 38 super not as much bark but with longshot and 800x they make comp work fine, I think
sr4756 didn't make comp work


supermag
Click to expand...

By the sounds of it your convinced you can do this so go ahead..
Are the 38's jacketed or plated?

I don't know what your 38's cost you but by the time you factor those in and your time and the dies, relubing/rejacketing, the electricity and whatever you loose to your trial and error. What is it going to cost you and what have you gained? You have 6000 plinker bullets that you can't work up a competetion load from...
Sorry 14 cents a bullet landed these days ain't that bad...

You might be better off melting, recasting and swaging the cast bullets for uniformity...

And not to be a twit but mixed case, sentence structure and punctuation actually say things about people....
 
Last edited:
You can swage it in a larger die but there will still be a "crease" or mark were the old base was located. The other thing that will happen is the base of the 9mm bullet will not likely be centered in the larger die.

You would need A LOT of force to swage it larger to get the copper jacket to expand to fit the larger die, likely to the point where the lead would start extruding out around your punch. (really gumming up the dies)
 
Bumping bullets up a few thou. is possible with cast bullets, trying to do this with jacketed would lead to all kinds of problems, esp. the one mentioned earlier, where bullet is left off ctr....Bumping/swaging jacketed bullets can lead also to losing any jacket/core adhesion of the orig. bullet. I'd try to trade into some bullets if it were me.
 
Swaging increases bullet diameter, while drawing decreases it. I've never heard tha term "flaring" used in either context.

Since you plan to create a soft point bullet out of a full metal jacket, it seems that you're planning to reverse the bullet in the die and re-work it. You would need a swaging die and press to do this. both of which are expensive and require a lot of lead time to order and receive.

I have a series II press that generates up to 130,000 psi of swaging pressure and a Walnut hill press that can produce up to 180,000 psi. The more substantial Walnut Hill system would probably be better for this job.

As was mentioned above, 45 thou is an awful lot to bump and re-form a bullet - usually its done with only a few thou of change. Also, the jackets of your 9mm bullets may be work hardened to a point where they'd split when you try such an operation.

If I were you, I'd consult one of the Corbins (preferably Richard) before putting any money or time into this project.
 
Rick Teal said:
Swaging increases bullet diameter, while drawing decreases it. I've never heard tha term "flaring" used in either context.

Since you plan to create a soft point bullet out of a full metal jacket, it seems that you're planning to reverse the bullet in the die and re-work it. You would need a swaging die and press to do this. both of which are expensive and require a lot of lead time to order and receive.

I have a series II press that generates up to 130,000 psi of swaging pressure and a Walnut hill press that can produce up to 180,000 psi. The more substantial Walnut Hill system would probably be better for this job.

As was mentioned above, 45 thou is an awful lot to bump and re-form a bullet - usually its done with only a few thou of change. Also, the jackets of your 9mm bullets may be work hardened to a point where they'd split when you try such an operation.

If I were you, I'd consult one of the Corbins (preferably Richard) before putting any money or time into this project.
Click to expand...

From the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swage#Firearms_and_ammunition

In ammunition manufacture, swaged bullets are bullets manufactured by swaging room temperature metals into a die to form it into the shape of a bullet. The other common manufacturing method is casting, which uses molten metals poured into a mold. Since metals expand when heated and contract when cooled, cast bullets must be cast with a mold slightly larger than the desired finish size, so that as the molten metal cools, it will harden at just the right point to shrink to the desired size. In contrast, swaged bullets, since they are formed at the temperature at which they will be used, can be formed in molds of the exact desired size. This means that swaged bullets are generally more precise than cast bullets. The swaging process also leads to fewer imperfections, since voids commonly found in casting would be pressed out in the swaging process. The swaging process in reference to cold flow of metals into bullets is the process not of squeezing the metals into smaller forms but rather pressing smaller thinner items to form into shorter and slightly wider shapes.
 
Project Works 9mm now .400

For those who are interested , took a while and couple failures with design .
Can't make a JHP too hard to get it released from die, but was able to swage flare whatever a .355 138 plated fronteir bullet to a very nice .400 plated bullet with slight pointed nose, somewhat in shape to a JHP style. Had to go with flat base as first trials with somewhat concave base cracked plating.
ran best with 500 psi hydrolic pressure . fast probablly will run through sizer die to ensure uniformity and consituncy.

Sorry Brian sentance structure awful and can't spell but I can swage 9mm to 40 cal .

supermag:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom