Men in Sheds

I have been a member on the Stalking Directory for just over a year now.
In that time I have meet some very interesting people. Most have been very helpful, freely giving advise when asked for and help when needed.
I wont do a list, you guys know who you are and you will always have my thanks!
This article is about one such fellow.
I have wanted to swage bullets for quite a while now. To be frank the price of dies, the wait time and shipping from the U.S put me off. As it will most people.
I decided to get my self a second hand lathe and try making my own dies. But I had no clue where to start. Also metal work is not really my cup of tea. Wood Work yes, metal work NO
I PM’d Joe blogs of Turvey stalking fame! ( Turvey Stalking ) After he had posted some pictures of the ones he had made.
Lets say that Joe explained the issues that an utter novice would face if trying it for your self. “Ok” I thought maybe I need to start looking into a basic machining course.
Then I thought!
“Joe will you make me a set of dies to turn 22lr cases in to 6mm bullets. Please”
“ Let me think about it” he replied.
To me that’s fair enough I thought, I didn’t expect him just to say yes as I now had a much better idea of what was involved. Later that week I got a Txt from Joe saying that he has a .243 and was thinking about doing a set to fit in his swage press. But he WOULD do me a set for my lee cast iron press.
We agreed his commission and Joe set to it. I must say I found the price reasonable and comparable to what they would be in the U.S. With very little wait time and no problems with import duty they represent outstanding value for money. I also understood that this was going to be doing this in his spare time.
4 weeks later the dies were done. Then it turns out that Joe is an avid angler and loves his Flatfish. The one thing Southampton water is known for is the quality of the flatfish fishing. It seemed like a great opportunity to meet up learn how to swage some bullets and do some fishing.
We spent two days working the dies and swaging .243 bullets. The smile on my face was very hard to remove. The dies are a fantastic work of art and when looked after will mean I never have to buy bullets for my .243 again
What does having a set of swaging dies mean to me? One word! INDEPENDENCE and Knowledge. So I would like to express my thanks to Joe for the work he has done the quality is outstanding. Shame we didn’t connect with a lemon sole that night but we can try again soon I hope.
I will do a pictorial step by step of the dies in action in the reloading section. In next few days, so you guys can see the dies make a great little 68grn bullet.
Again my Thanks Joe
 
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