Questions about making a reloading die set

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ciphery

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I work in a machine shop and have been thinking about some after hours work. I want to do a whole bunch of things but first on my list is a bullet swageing die set. I intend to use spent 22LR cases to make the jackets then either lead slugs or my favorite shot gun lead. According to Corbin the jackets are thin and highly frangeable. With my particle core the bullets should be even more so! I would buy the Corbin dies but they are too expensive and don't come in the configuration I want. (HPRBT 60gr) I am also making a wildcat cartridge to go with this set and eventually a bolt rifle. It will ALL take quite some time but I am going to start with the bullet swage dies. My question is this; what is the Diameter and thread pitch to standard sizing dies? Also do you think 1070 steel would be hard enough when hardened?
 
1070??
No, A2 or O1 is what you would want to use. What press do you plan on using to swage with? A regular reloading press or a dedicated swage press?
 
7/8"-14 are the standard reloading press threads. That press will be adequate for swaging smaller caliber bullets (also de-rimming .22's) although you may want to think about building yourself a swage press (since you do work in a machine shop). There are blueprints for one on the cast boolits website. You may need to use a longer handle when you're de-rimming .22's, it does require a decent amount of oomph.
 
hey, check out the home gunsmith forum. Many like minded induviduals. I was just reading a thread the other day where some guy made a swaging die for his wildcat .50.
 
I have an idea also about possibly modifying an arbor press. I'm going to build the standard dies first and the longer handle will be built if needed. Also I've been made aware that dipping the case in oil then into the lead pot will perfectly aneal them while the oil keeps them from being soldered by the hot lead. As for the die material I can get some D2 but I have been made aware that the steel we use for hydraulic cylinder rod can be induction hardened and hard chromed. While D2 is probably better in the long run I want to simply find a scrap rod with a 7/8x14 thread already on it and then simply make a "case holder" punch and. Bore a .224 hole in it. This is just an experimental phase as I know that the actual die needs to be of a different size in order to account for the "spring" of the brass. This way my experiments won't break the bank and once I've figured out how to properly over or under size my dies to give me a .224 jacket/case. And shape the nose and base etc etc. Then I can do a coppy of what works in D2. I figured that I'm probably going to drill& ream close as possible to size then try it to see how much bigger or smaller the case/jacket is coming out. Then bore or lap to adjust accordingly to correct size.
 
Perhaps I should mention that my intentions long-term are to build a complete sizing die set and swage die set for a 22wildcat based on a 256WinMag. Also a bolt action heavy barreled rifle based on a modification of a Mosin Nagant action.(It flawlessly feeds rimmed cartridges,is strong,simple.)
 
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