First attempt at swaging

[darkcharisma]

S7 is an air cool alloy steel and it is soft compared to 01. I have tried to make swaging molds out of S7 and destroyed it with 01 punch. LOL

I want to know the details about your lapping tools, processes if you would be so kind to share. those slugs look shinny!

[sb327]

From what I’ve read, there are a lot of different ways to lap these. I just swage a bullet, drill and tap the base and use that. If there is an area I don’t want lapped any more, for instance, the driving band, I just turn that part off in the lathe.

For the process, I run the die in lathe and either hold the lap or chuck it in tailstock. Checking (swaging a bullet) every so often. As I get closer to final dimensions, I go to finer grit. I start with 220 and end up with polishing compound.

Hth,
Dave