Time to make the donuts....

[David Conder]

Jackie I hope you are doing well I to started making bullets in the 80s I to bought bullets from Jef Fowler also an by the he lived close to me when he moved to Charlotte NC he was making so many bullets the were very hard to get so I bought a set of Bob Simsonson set of 6mm carbide dies I had a mentor in the way help in Jef an David Tooley an Jack Nuyen the got me started an ever since I have been making my own an now I shoot my own Like Jackie it is a keep every
clean an wash cores an jackets even though jackets are cleaner then the older jacket were still clean them I will tell how I get dies up to temperature later
Thanks

 

[AlNyhus]

I did a bit more work on the collet holder adapter today. Two more holes were milled and tapped to allow for fine tuning the float, if needed.

The adapter actually started out as a Lee 50 BMG shell holder which I whittled on. We wanted to start this way because of the very good fit of the shell holder into the ram. This is what it looked like to start.

This was my first version. While the concept was fine, it simply took up too much room. I grabbed another and went from there.

Final tweaks were done at Randy's including threading the ram further. The engineers at Lee were very helpful and gave me specific tap spec's. It worked great.
114 gr. .925's:

117 gr. on the 1.00" jacket:

The business end:

Also, I pulled the ejector rod inboard about an inch. I wanted it outboard to make room for a bullet chute I had in mind. Pulling it inboard give it quite a bit more rigidity. The bottom plate got whittled a bit too.

 

[JoeDuke]

Nice Al! Is the piece you are holding in the first photo above all that is left of the 50BMG adapter after you whittled away all that was not needed?

Have you considered changing the handle linkage to provide less stroke and more leverage?

 

[Tim Singleton]

Randy @RGRobinett
Awesome to hear you making some dies!

 

[AlNyhus]

Nice Al! Is the piece you are holding in the first photo above all that is left of the 50BMG adapter after you whittled away all that was not needed?

Have you considered changing the handle linkage to provide less stroke and more leverage?

Yep...that's all that's left of the 50 BMG adapter. Going forward, it will be less work to make them from scratch....Randy is already on it. I'll start with the linkage the way it is but it's a simple matter to give it more leverage.

 

[Fuj]

Al.....Any reason you used a Lee press, or was it just what was
laying around ?? I have a pile of RCBS presses I'm sorting over
just for experimentation. That newer Rebel press looks like a
good project piece for what I have in my mind, but I'll sacrifice
some of the older presses first. I have a few too many, I collected
over the years from flea markets to barn finds......Keep throwing
them chips !! Thread is only getting better......

 

[AlNyhus]

Al.....Any reason you used a Lee press, or was it just what was
laying around ?? I have a pile of RCBS presses I'm sorting over
just for experimentation. That newer Rebel press looks like a
good project piece for what I have in my mind, but I'll sacrifice
some of the older presses first. I have a few too many, I collected
over the years from flea markets to barn finds......Keep throwing
them chips !! Thread is only getting better......

Randy has been converting the Lee Classic Cast presses for about 17 years. There's a lot of back ground to that...Randy can fill in the blanks better than I can. The short of it is that they are very concentric due to how they're produced plus they have several other attributes that lend themselves to bullet making.

This was a new press I got specifically for this project. Actually, it's the second one I purchased for this. The original one is still lost in space...in the space between spaces.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[RGRobinett]

Nice Al! Is the piece you are holding in the first photo above all that is left of the 50BMG adapter after you whittled away all that was not needed?

Have you considered changing the handle linkage to provide less stroke and more leverage?

Joe, yes, regarding the Lee CC, Al is aware of the easy leverage conversion - not only did we discuss it, but, from the beginning, Al has been aware of my original "conversion" facets. I'll add a couple of pics of the linkage of my first Lee Cast Classic experiment. Making the ram receptacle deeper - to the depth which, with the collet holder inserted, leaves only the wrench-flats visible, will be necessary to accommodate shortening the usable stroke.

Using the Lee CC idea came to me second hand - through Terry Myer & Dal Fritts - from Ferris Pendell: upon returning home from the second super shoot, where, since they loaded across the table from him, they [repeatedly] overheard Mr. Pendell advising people who were looking for a press to convert, or, to have him convert it, to get the RED presses (my jargon) - "the Lee Classic Cast press the best threaded-bore to ram-bore concentricity of any commercial press". After hearing it the second time, Terry and Dale still couldn't/wouldn't believe what they heard (Mr. Pedell was getting old ) . . . so, being the village idiot, I bought 6 of the Lee CC: "to see for myself". Oh, at that juncture, the presses cost me about $65 each.

I have no intention of making carbide die for sale - only for my own use. Now, could I erase a few birthdays (say 20 of them), my perspective would be different. I got excellent advice from George Ulrich, and regarding sourcing the carbide, gave my oath to keep mum. As George has, publicly stated, when he's ready, he'll let everyone know.

P.S. Once the initial carbide die was finished, in return for favors done and kindnesses graciously granted by him, I wanted AL to have this die - but first, it needed to be "proofed" - didn't want AL messing with a DUD bullet-die! The first time I shot bullets, from this die, at a NBRSA registered Hunter (10 Lb. rifle//6x scope) tournament, they delivered a nice 250-16X (100Yd.), a 248-x??(200 Yd.) and a 499-xx Grand Agg - the proverbial, "clean sweep" victory (there were several TOP shooters in attendance) - for a ballistic idiot, not half-bad . . . and the bullets have continued to "work" well . . . now, the die is in deserving & capable hands, and BIG MIKE is smiling. RG

 

[JoeDuke]

Thanks Randy. I have either seen your pivot pin relocation photos before or heard talk of it. Hence, the leading question to Al.
It is a shame that there is a dearth of bullet making dies available today. It is fairly obvious that making them is not very profitable or I believe more would be available.
I do believe that your and Al's work on using the collet and pins will prove to be helpful. Precise pins are again, an item that are somewhat hard to come by.

 

[AlNyhus]

I do believe that your and Al's work on using the collet and pins will prove to be helpful. Precise pins are again, an item that are somewhat hard to come by.

Joe, the use of easily available gauge pins was a big driver for this project. Between the plus and minus spec pins, a goodly range of sizes are easily and quickly available. -Al

 

[liljoe]

This is kinda funny about what you are building Al. I made up a very similar piece a couple years ago and most people that I showed it to said it was a dumb idea and won't work.
Joe

 

[RGRobinett]

This is kinda funny about what you are building Al. I made up a very similar piece a couple years ago and most people that I showed it to said it was a dumb idea and won't work.
Joe

Good on YOU! RG

 

[AlNyhus]

This is kinda funny about what you are building Al. I made up a very similar piece a couple years ago and most people that I showed it to said it was a dumb idea and won't work.
Joe

Very cool Joe! I see you used an ER11 series holder and collet. How did you like it? It just goes to show that there's nothing new under the Sun!!

 

[liljoe]

The only reason I used the ER11 was I only load 6mm. If you are doing 30 cal stuff they won't hold a large enough diameter. I believe the er11 only goes to about. 250" diameter.
Joe

 

[liljoe]

And about using gauge pins. Call every bullet die maker and tell them you want to order 6 pins from. 2100" to. 2110" with a size of. 0002" difference. And say you really would like them by next week.
This is easily done with gauge pins at less than $20 each.
Joe

 

[Tim Singleton]

Joe if you have a source for BT punches Id buy your lunch

 

[jackieschmidt]

The only problem I have run into with the big Lee Press is the linkage arms will break. They are some type of nodular cast iron.

With The first set I broke on my core seat press, George actually had a set of steel replacements that he sent me. Then the other set broke, I made a set myself.

So far I have not had any problems with the point up press.

 

[David Conder]

Tim you are talking about point up punches

 

[Tim Singleton]

Tim you are talking about point up punches

yep

 

[JoeDuke]

Joe if you have a source for BT punches Id buy your lunch

Understand that! I have not made any 6mm bullets in several years and so do not know where any of them can be found. Boattail or otherwise. The other Joe might have a source.