Home Made Snider dies ??

roseau river rat

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Anyone ever attempt to make a homemade full length sizing die for a Snider? to enable the sizing of new 24 gauge Magtech brass ?

i have a lathe in my shop so it got me thinking
 
I have a home made set here, I never made them, but it is only the sizing die without a decap pin.
A 7/8" -14 tpi bolt was turned to use as an expander. The projectiles was wrapped with a small amount of masking tape. Then to close the brass up around the projectile I run it slightly into the sizer again.
I have since bought an RCBS set.
 
I made up a set. I was looking at the Lee loaders and thought why can’t I make something similar. Decapper is the same idea as the little Lee’s used for taking the primers out of crimped military brass but bigger. The sizing die is the same idea as the Lee hand tool. Die goes over the case. I usually set it on piece of plank and use a mallet to pound the down onto the case. The sizing die is then put on top of the decap base and a rod inserted into the die and the case is pounded back out. I have another piece made up to seat bullets. Fits down over the case. Bullet is started in the case first. I have a rod made up with a shoulder made for a stop. Fits in the top of the die and bullet is pushed home to exact depth every time. Only good for one bullet shape. If switch bullets I would have made a new setter rod with a different length and nose profile. That’s how I started loading for my Sniders. I now have a set of dies CH that fits my old Herters press. My hand set does occasionally get used at the range. The set was a bit of work to make but didn’t really cost me anything as all steal pieces came from the scrap bin at work.
 
I have not made a Snider die, but have made others.
There is no reason not to give it a try.
Don't know about how smooth you can bore a hole; I need to do a bit of polishing.
 
hmmm patterned from the lee loader , great idea i hadn't thought of that , i was thinking more like a conventional die but i like the loader idea , ill have to find an old one somewhere and have a look at its construction.
Burton , since you now have a set are you interested in getting rid of you're home made one ? it does a full length resize correct ?
 
I wonder how case forming with a hammer in type die would work? The Lee dies just neck size if I remember right.
Would be pretty much the same project to make dies for a press. Just start with the right size threaded rod.

Might be able to do a set of forming dies to doit in 3 steps?
 
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hmmm patterned from the lee loader , great idea i hadn't thought of that , i was thinking more like a conventional die but i like the loader idea , ill have to find an old one somewhere and have a look at its construction.
Burton , since you now have a set are you interested in getting rid of you're home made one ? it does a full length resize correct ?

Sorry , I'm not interested in selling them at this time.
 
The dies I made will full length resize. I wanted to fire the cartridges in different guns so neck sizing was not an option. I have formed snider brass from 24 ga shotshell in them. After they are formed it doesn’t take much to resize them. I also thought about making a set for the press but the price of the tap and dies needed cost a affair amount. They would have been a one time use. Everything I had heard about Snider dies made for the regular 7/8 size was not good. They are known for cracking during case forming due to the dies being thin. I didn’t have to buy anything to make the hand set. The center of the dies was drilled out on a drill press smaller than needed. The lathe did everything else. You want to have a compound slide for your lathe so you can cut the case taper. If you are going to make thread dies I would go with the larger size die 1 1/4-12 thread.
 
When I had a Snider I used the Lee F/L Die Set, but I made up a custom bullet sizer and cartridge neck sizer to compliment it. All sold now along with the gun and Lee Dies.

I used 1 1/4" - 12 bolts, and drills of 15mm (0.590") for the bullet sizer and 15.3mm (0.602") for the neck sizer and Magtech brass (other brass would probably require someting different. My crude tooling did not produce as smooth a finish as I wanted, but they worked.

Using 24 ga Magtech brass, I only used the Lee Dies as Forming Dies. I didn't even have to Neck Size after every shot with the low pressures employed in the Snider.
 
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