Manual

The first die is the CORE SWAGE (CSW-1-H).
It is used to form a piece of lead to precise di-
ameter, length and weight. You can use cut lead
wire, or a cast lead core. Apply a small amount
of Corbin Swage Lube to the cores as you handle
them.
There are three bleed holes through the
sides of the die, and its punches are very
close fits to the die bore. They are the small-
est punches in the set and only fit this die
properly.
For power presses, set the bottom sensor
so the pressure stops (red LED on the sen-
sor goes on) just as the swaged core is ejected
(internal punch even with the top of the die).
Use a knock-out bar that allows the punch to
come just to the die face, if you have more
than one height of bar with your press (hand
presses use three different heights of bars for
various punch and die lengths).
Set the floating punch holder so the desired
amount of lead is left in the die when the press
stops moving up (position of the top sensor controls top of
stroke on hydraulic presses, physical end of ram travel is fixed
on hand press).
After making the desired number of cores, clean them in hot
water to remove the swage lube, then let them dry and insert
them into bullet jackets (if jackets are used). Select a diam-
eter of external punch that fits the jacket ID at the point where
you want the core to be after seating. Thicker jackets, and
lighter cores in tapered jackets, both require a
larger diameter external punch than thinner jack-
ets or heavier bullets with a tapered commercial
jacket. (See Corbin Handbook for discussion of
proper core/jacket/punch fitting).
The core seating die (CS-1-H) is the second
die in a flat base die set. It is NOT used when
making rebated boattail bullets: instead, a pair
of RBT dies is used in sequence to seat the
core. The external punch can also be full di-
ameter for the die in order to make large lead
tip bullets, or have a projecting cone on the
end to make hollow points. The internal punch
can be flat, domed or have a conical projection
to form the mirror image of that shape in the
bullet base.
The correct core seating pressure is normally in
the 300 to 500 PSI range. This can vary with the
particular caliber, jacket thickness, and other fea-
tures of the bullet, so follow any written instruc-
tions provided with the die regarding the sug-
gested pressure. Always start with the pressure
in a low setting (300 to 500 psi) and increase is
slowly until the jacket expands to just under
the diameter you get with a swaged pure lead
slug in the die. Any greater pressure than this
will only stress the die and could bend punches
or break dies, and serves no useful purpose.
Apply a small amount of swaging lube to the
outside of each jacket as you pick it up to
insert in the die; the amount that you get by
rolling a drop between finger and thumb is
sufficient in most cases. Lubricant should not
be allowed inside the jacket: that is why the
cores were washed clean before insertion
into the jackets.
The final die for an open tip bullet is the POINT
FORMER (PF-1-H). It shapes the ogive curve
on the bullet and gives the bullet its final diam-
eter. The diameter of the point form die itself
is usually NOT the same as the bullet, and is
designed to match the core seater, the jacket
material and thickness, and the lead hardness.
The point form die is slightly different from
the others in that the internal punch must
push the bullet out by its nose, and consists
of a spring steel pin mounted in the punch head. This pin
must be retracted from the main cavity of the die during swag-
ing, or the tip of the bullet would form around it and prevent
ejection. When installing the internal punch, make absolutely
sure that the retraction pin goes through the punch head so
the retraction pin projects equally on both sides of the ram,
and that the die is, in fact, screwed down with the end of the
spring wire punch inside the die hole.
Shape the bullet by slowly lowering the external
punch and pushing the open end first into the die.
Eject, examine, and re-swage until the tip is closed
to about the size of the ejection pin diameter. For
lead tip bullets, leave the tip open and extrude suf-
ficient lead from the end of the bullet so that there
is enough lead to fill the cavity in the punch of
the lead tip forming die.
The final die for a lead tip bullet is the LT-1
LEAD TIP FORMER. It looks like the core
seater, but has a diameter slightly larger than
the final bullet, and the internal punch has a
cavity in the tip that is matched to the point form-
ing die shape. Gently push the lead tip bullet from
the point forming die into the LT die, to reshape
the tip. Adjust the external punch insertion so that
the bullet tip is just formed. Any further insertion
will tend to press the edge of the internal punch
against the jacket and create a ring or step in the
ogive. Lead tip bullets require a larger tip open-
ing, in the core seating operation, than open tip
bullets, in order to assure that the lead tip is con-
nected to the core securely.