BTS 45 cal die set avialble

[RangerNick]

Brian, is this die set still available?

[Ervin]

Are the notch punches caliber specific?
Ervin

[.357]

BT next run of these I want one of these! hopefully i'll have the money then, given any more thought BT to a .14 caliber die set?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Are the notch punches caliber specific?
Ervin

BT, I was thinking this same thing.
Can I notch 40's with my 44 XTP clone seating die ?
Jon

[a.squibload]

...Yes BBQ works great for annealing brass. Unless you have a kennel (oven for glass and ceramics)...

I'm sure you mean "kiln", not that I'm picky, just want to help.

Get your kennel to 700º and you'll have some angry pooches!

[BT Sniper]

Finished the die set today. Works very well and makes some very good looking bullets. Made these on a RCBS rockchucker press with wheel weight alloy. The big 45 takes a bit of pressure to form but not bad. With pure lead cores it should be even easier to form. Die is .451 as sold in blank form from CH. These bullets came out at .450 which will give a very long life to these dies before any bullet would drop oversized.


A 175 grain .400 core, 40S&W jacket, seated core, formed bullet, and cross cut.


I imagine these will expand quite nicley and still maintain high weight retention. Bullet weight as shone is 250 grains. Certainly the 40 S&W jacket will alow anything from as light as you want to atleast 350 grains with some lead exposed. The die it's self will allow for atleast 425 grains as I used the same with a sized down 45 ACP and made some this weight.

These dies came together very well and are made to the same high degree of standards as all the rest of my improved heavy duty CH swage dies.

Price is $350 + $10 S&H.

Thanks

BT

Got a few ?s above I'll try to get to

[BT Sniper]

"Kiln" Yep, wish I had one. Got a kennel just up the street

Notch punches caliber spicific?....... I make them to work best for caliber they are designed for but they may just work with smaller calibers too, ie. notch the 40 cal bullet with the 44 cal punch. Jon or myself will have to give it a try and see what happens. I imagine it could work and have certainly thought about a "one size fits all" notch punch but havn't perfected it yet.

Yes this set is now avialble and ready to ship till some one says "I'll take it" here or PM.

Thanks

BT

[par0thead151]

"Kiln" Yep, wish I had one. Got a kennel just up the street

Notch punches caliber spicific?....... I make them to work best for caliber they are designed for but they may just work woth others too. Jon or myself will have to give it a try and see what happens. I imagine it could work and have certainly thought about a "one size fits all" notch punch but havn't perfected it yet.

Yes this set is now avialble and ready to ship till some one says "I'll take it" here or PM.

Thanks

BT

what is the expected number of bullets that can be swagged before the die wears out?

[BT Sniper]

Good question.

I have a 44 cal die that has more then 5 thousand bullets threw it maybe close to 10. Bullets still drop at .430. Might have been closer to .429 when I first got it but it has seen alot of my tryle and error stages. I imagine I can get another 5-10k worth out of it before I notice any difference. Figure by the time you have made 10k worth of bullets it has certainly paid for it's self as all you would need to replace is the die body. The internial components I very much doubt will have any problems.

BT

[Ickisrulz]

Annealing spooked me a bit, untill I did it. Its very easy.
I put my cases standing up in a dutch oven,cast iron fry pan, etc,, turn on the fire and when I can detect a slight red glow, shut them off and let cool. done.

Look at the ch4d sight for a idea of how swaging works, same process but bts custom parts are MUCH higher quality...Buck
http://www.ch4d.com/

Anyone not familiar with swaging using CH4D dies should go to ammosmith.com. He's got a three part video series on using these dies. CH4D has great products...but a very spartan website. They'd probably get more business with some updated graphics instead of their 1960's era black and white pictures.

[BT Sniper]

Played with this die a bit tonight. Going to send out some bullets for testing. Made some very good looking 225 grain pills. Going to put together a notch punch for the XTP and Gold dot copy soon as well. Had to trim the 40 S&W case to get bullet less then 250 grains.

Here is a pic



Trimed 40 S&W jacket, 225 grain gold dot but still working on perfecting a bit more, 225grain SP, 250 grain, and untrimed 40 S&W case.

Should have some bullets back from testing in a few weeks. Die is still avialable.

Good shooting,

BT

[BT Sniper]

Same die just made a notch punch insert for the core seat die. Makes a very good XTP look a like bullet. Results from recovered bullets should be very good.

Takes three steps to form this bullet. Seat the core, notch the top of the jacket, for the bullet. Not that difficult and all can be done on a decent reloading press.

This additional notch punch is avialble with the set above. Nearly any bullet is possible with this set as you can see. PM me for price of complete set with punch if interested.

Thanks,

BT

[Jailer]

First post here.

I had to register to ask, has anyone done any accuracy testing on these? How concentric is the lead core in the bullet out of the die? Just wondering if the jacket ends up thicker or thinner at certain points and if it has an effect on bullet travel.

I have access to a BUNCH of once fired .40 brass. This would make a great alternative to purchasing Hornady HAP bullets at $.15 a pop for IDPA.

[Jailer]

Also would like to add that a .452 die would give some nice options to us 450 bushmaster reloaders. Hornady .452 bullets are very pricey.

[sargenv]

Curious if I need to get a seating punch or if I can just use a similar setup I used on my 650 to seat cores in the 9mm to 40 operation? I'd prefer to keep from needing two dies and the two operations necc for each die (Not to mention the slightly lower cost of only a single die necc to make the bullets...) Most if not all of the cores I use are berm lead, air cooled to about 8-10 BHN.

[bradbn4]

In a word - wow

Some real nice options to reuse some brass one last time - and no need to collect it for scrap.

Brad - In Colorado