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Corbin Handbook and Catalog No. 7 Chapter 10
.he CHAPTER 10 CORBIN HANDBOOK AND CATALOG NO. 7, PAGE #
INDIVIDUAL DIES FOR THE RELOADING PRESS
You can make up your own swaging kit for a reloading press, or you
can add dies to existing kits and expand your bullet-swaging
capabilities caliber by caliber.
With the suggested kits in the previous chapter, I didn't suggest
any lead tip dies. They are very useful in the three rifle calibers,
when you want a nice factory-finished lead tip. But they are something
you can add at any time. It isn't necessary to match this die as
exactly as with the core seater and point former. A half-thousandth of
an inch tolerance is plenty, and that is easy enough for the die-makers
to handle without getting your set back.
Individual dies are available in these styles and calibers:
.224 6-S Ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.243 6-S Ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.257 6-S Ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R, LT-1-R
.251 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.308 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.312 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.314 RN ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.355 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.357 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
.358 RN, TC ogive CS-1-R, PF-1-R
When you order the CS-1-R, it comes with a flat base internal
punch and a Keith external punch in the handgun calibers. In rifle
calibers, it comes with flat base internal and open tip external
punches. If you would like to add other shapes to the handgun
calibers, you can order these additional punches:
(1) Conical (semi-wadcutter angled to a point, like a pencil)
(2) Round Nose (semi-wadcutter eliptical round nose)
(3) Hollow Point (universal projection punch, used with any other)
(4) Wadcutter (slightly raised button nose style)
(5) Cup Nose (a shallow, round cup shape)
(6) Open Tip (a punch that fits inside the jacket, for 2-die sets)
Those are nose shapes available, in standard off the shelf designs
only. In this system, the punches are made to standard patterns and
cannot be made to special order without incurring regular time and
material charges over the usual punch price. With current salaries for
die-makers where they are, you may not be thrilled to hire one to make
a punch slightly different from standard (chances are, your target
would never know the difference anyway).
Base shapes can also be changed by ordering an extra punch.
There are internal punches to replace the standard flat base. You can
order:
(1) Dish Base (very shallow curve to the edge of the jacket)
(2) Cup Base (slightly deeper, like the cup nose, with flats to
the edge of the bullet)
(3) Hollow Base (very deep, like the hollow point punch. Not well
suited to jacketed bullets but nice for lead bullets)
The rifle calibers are always ordered with a matching point former
die. You can't make a complete bullet in the CS-1-R alone for a rifle
caliber, since the velocity is so high that pistol designs tend to be
unstable and have poor ballistics. You are welcome to order these dies
for replacements, but good luck trying to make a finished bullet in
one! When you order the core seater and point former as a set, it
makes up the BSD-xxxR catalog number. You don't need to order each
one, if you specify the BSD-xxxR.
All punches are ordered with the catalog number "PUNCH-R" for
reloading press use. Then, specify internal or external punch,
caliber, and shape (if it needs to be specified, as with noses for
handgun punches). To order a replacement ejection pin for the point
forming dies, always specify the caliber. You can call it a "PUNCH-R"
and specify ejection pin, plus caliber. That will get it.
Core seating punches for the rifle calibers are made in different
diameters to fit inside the various jackets available. Either tell us
the diameter you want and we will supply the closest standard diameter
that we have, or send a sample jacket to match. In the .224, we have
two core seat external punches. One fits the rimfire jacket, and one
fits the commercial jacket that we sell. The diameters are 0.204 and
0.197 inches, respectively.
Many people have commented that they were not able to make a light
enough bullet with a certain jacket. After I checked it out, I found
that the problem was the style of bullet. Most of the standard jackets
make just about any weight you like, if you know how to make use of the
punches and dies. The open tip core seating punch will push a short
lead core as far into the jacket as you like. Then the point forming
die will wrap the end of the jacket around the ogive, and the bullet
can be as light as you wish.
The problem is with solid lead tip Keith style bullets. They fill
the jacket, and then some. Typical jackets available today make
maximum weights for the caliber with this sort of style. The answer is
to use the hollow point and cup base punches on the bullet first, then
follow with the Keith punch. This lets you use a lot less lead, moves
it forward so it can form lead nose within the cavity of the Keith
punch, and thus produces a very light bullet in a very long jacket.
One last point about reloading press dies: they are just as good
as any other kind, except that they are made to fill the need for
entry-level, lower cost bullet-making. Rather than cut corners on
quality, we decided long ago that the best approach was to limit the
styles, calibers, and options available to a managable, popular group
and then make the equipment in longer runs, without the expense of
individual, custom work.
When someone calls and insists on having a reloading press die,
but with some special options that are not standard ones, they are in
effect crashing the whole idea of equal quality at lower cost. If one
can afford the expense of the custom work, they can probably save money
by getting the Mity Mite system to start with. It was designed with
custom work in mind. And if someone doesn't want to buy the press, but
just wants the dies made special, then they should consider the cost of
the die-maker's time. It amounts to buying the press anyway. Why not
get it? Then, everything made in the future will still fit and
interchange properly. Custom work usually doesn't.
