Anyone Made Their Own Swaging Molds?

[HighWall]

What glue if any is used for the patching.I am trying to get an old 71/84 Mauser to fire again.I have some original rounds made in Karlsruhe over a hundred years ago which seem to have only one patch layer.I have extruded some lead for cores and was planning to use bare slugs but patching may be best if I use BP?

Traditionally, no adhesives are used. The idea is for the patch to detach shortly after the projectile leaves the muzzle. If the patch is retained, it's detrimental to accuracy.

[Buckshot]

Traditionally, no adhesives are used. The idea is for the patch to detach shortly after the projectile leaves the muzzle. If the patch is retained, it's detrimental to accuracy.

The above is correct, although I have had people tell me they've used masking tape and address labels with success. I've never bothered to try it. Very possibly as a traditional paper patch is scored/cut by the lands and then blown to shreds at the muzzle by the closely following high pressure gas, the adhesive isn't an issue? Maybe their definition of success and mine differ :-) .As I said, I've not tried them.

Basically the paper is wetted well, and is then stretched as it is rolled on the slug. The paper at the base is rolled under the base, the base of thepatched slug is pressed tightly down onto a hard smooth surface and then given a twist, then allowed to dry. Alternately some will twist the paper over the base into a 'tail'. When dry it's clipped off. As the paper is stretched when it's rolled on, when drying it shrinks and when dry will grip the bullet tenaciously.

The ability of the paper to be wetted and still retain the strength to be stretched as it's rolled on, is the criteria for a paper's suitability. I had a friend who used some 4 color insert advertising paper to patch some bullets. In addition he was using a bit of toilet paper over his powder charge and a card wad under the slug. Upon shooting he had a absolute cloud of paper shreds floating around :-)

If you have a problem getting the paper to stick to itself, it's possible it isn't wet enough. However you can also add just a small bit of egg white to the water as an aid to 'stickiness'. Via sizing of the slug before patching, after patching, and the thickness of the paper you can achieve a very wide range of OD's. Remember, the thicker the paper to start with, the more you'll lose when it shrinks as it dries. You also do not have to have a bullet designed for patching to be successfully patched.



These 577-450's use a 405gr grease groove bullet as cast @.460" and then get 2 wraps of 24# bond for a dry OD of .472". If you do not have a slug in mind for your Mauser, either the Lyman or RCBS mould for the .43 Spanish will work well. They drop from the mould at about (.439" nominal) .440" or so depending upon your alloy and will weigh about 370 grs. Two wraps of 9# paper will give you a dry OD of .447" for your .446" groove, if the chamber will accept this OD. Early cartridge rifles can have issues in this regard, but you may already be aware of these. Regardless, you can easily size the patched slug down a thousandth if need be.



One other thing in patching is that the leading edge of the patch cannot be damaged if feeding from a magazine or in chambering. Accuracy can suffer. You can barely see in the photo that the bullet is engraved as is the patch. The patch is being pressed down into the slug and not being pushed back or wrinkled up. You might have to patch over the ogive or into a crimp or lube groove.

Rick

[38_Cal]

Excellent explanation, Rick.

David
Montezuma, IA

[DJones]

i am new here however been reading posts for awhile anyway i hve recently purchased corbins press and am interested in making my own swage dies anyone know maybe the type of tool steel they use? im thinking H3.

I've made quite a few bullet swaging dies from .224 to .416 and my prefered steel is A-6. It's easy to machine, very stable, hardens at 1550 degrees and is air hardning i.e. no need for quenching in oil etc.

If you can Corbins book "Discover swaging" it has quite a bit of good information on making dies.

Hope this is helpfull.

[Southron129]

I have a Dave Corbin press and dies to swage .574, .568, etc., HP, SWC Minie Balls, so I am familiar with swaging techniques.

Anyway, Historically speaking, Metford developed the HP Enfield Ball in the mid-19th Century for use in the M/L P-53 Enfield- the idea being that the HP cavity would be filled with some type of detonating compound to blow up enemy artillery cassons from long range. Civilian British NRA shooters quickly discovered that the HP Metfords/Pritchetts shot wonderful groups at long range in their matches.

Shortly the time the Snider was adopted, British Ordnance appreciated the benefits of the HP round-first they filled the HP cavity with a wooden plug and in a later "Mark" of the Snider bullet, actually dispinsed entirely with the wooden plug, closing the front of the bullets HP cavity with a "spun over" lead cap.

BAck in the 1980's I acquired several Snider rounds of this type at a gunshow and was amazed that, while the bullet looked like a solid lead bullet, in actual fact, the "spun over" lead did a fine job in concealing the cavity within the nose of the bullet.

I have toyed with the idea of making up some repro Snider rounds (including the cannelures) of this type, but because making such a bullet would require a 3 piece die (excluding the nose punch for the HP) and this would require an entitely different type of (and very much more expensive) press than the Corbin Press.

(I have tried "roll cannelures on my Minies, but the cannelures: (1) Slightly swell the diameter of the bullet with the displaced lead on both sides of the cannelure groove & (2) The cannelures cannot be rolled wide nor deep enough in the Minies to deal with the black powder fouling. Hence, the only alternative is using paper patches in lieu of rolled cannelure grooves.)

What I did discover was that the SWC HP, paper patched .574 caliber bullets swaged in my Corbin Press and dies did shoot better "off the bench" at 100 yards than solid nose bullets swaged my repro, glass bedded and accurized Parker-Hale P-58 muzzleloader. Needless to say, SWC's are not "long range" bullets, but seems to do fine out to 100 yards.

Anyway, my question is: Have you tried HP Snider rounds in your long range shooting? Any benefits in accuracy?

THANKS!