Waltz 22 Rimfire Bullet Reforming Die: Arrived!

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AikiNut

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What a tale. In July 2024, I ordered this from the new person who's taken over the business of making the dies.

They were completed and ready to ship in November. But we had a post office strike.

So the person making them, left them at the shop - all packed up and ready to ship.

Then... his shop burned to the ground.

After (gradually) retooling, using a friend's workshop in their off-hours, ordering parts from others, looking after ageing parents, working full time, I have the dies...

They look really well made - fits in a standard reloading press, and has "flat nose", "round nose", and "hollow pointer" punches. all seems to be tight tolerances.
Clear PDF file with instructions. Now... to do some testing.

Won't be too fast getting it done but I'll be testing a few varieties of bulk ammo in "factory" condition, and then with a few different batches of swaging. When I've had some time to do that, I'll report what I get in changes of ammo consistency.

AikiNut
 
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Congrats, they're great. I ordered one from Neal maybe 10+ years ago. Don't remember exactly how long, but I do remember having a couple of phone conversation with him. Retired machinist, doing these in small batches...at his own pace. There was some chatter online speculating he had closed up shop because it was impossible to reach him. I mentioned that to him, and he replied that people just need to have a little patience. ;) He was about to tell me I'd need patience too, but I assured him I was in no rush..just grateful to know one will be coming in the mail eventually. And it did.

I did ammo testing at the time, the 3-4 types I was using most. I know CCI SV was one, my Anschutz 1450 liked Federal Gold Medal Target so I know I ran both of those through. All I remember from that experience is that accuracy on all either stayed the same, or improved slightly. Nothing lost.

What is has done very effectively for me? It's helped me turn affordable CCI Blazer solids into gaping hollow points, much to the chagrin of the resident gopher population in S. Alberta.

If you find yourself wanting to run any waxy ammo through in big volumes for any reason, PM me and I'll let you know how I keep it running smoothly, how many rounds before you have to clean, what happens when you don't, etc.
 
Who's making them now? Performance varied a bit in my tests. I think I only tested with cheaper ammo. You could easily tank the results by going too far on the squish, so if you haven't seen results get worse then you're more lenient than I, hehe. There seemed to be an ideal amount of squish for a given ammo type, and that was particular to the gun. Switch guns and you'd find a different crossover point. Seemed you could help performance a little bit, but it wasn't a game changer. Kinda like sorting with the pros and cons of bothering to spend the time and effort versus just spending money. I seem to recall Eley Sport liking just barely being touched. Kind of made me wonder whether or not running ammo through a 22 LR crimping die might also be helpful. Never did get around to ordering one of those, though.
 
Oh it’s nice to hear these are available.

I tried to order one from neil a year or two back and never got a reply.

Really wanted one to play with and test the hollow point making ability more than anything else
 
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