Lead Squirter Die And Bottom Pin

Our lead squirter or lead extrusion dies have now been designed, manufactured and extensively tested and are available to suit bullet jackets in two sizes, .243 (6mm) and .284” (7mm). The 7mm cores can also be used in 30Cal projectiles and the 6mm cores can be used in 25Cal and 6.5mm projectiles.

The dies have been designed to utilise a micrometer adjustment head to make the adjustment of the lead core lengths and hence their weights much simpler and easily repeatable than the old method of using spacers and shims fitted internally.

The dies can produce core lengths over a wide range and will cover all bullet weights normally used in each calibre, as shown in the chart below.

The body of the dies are machined from hardened and tempered 416 stainless steel, and the internal pin is hardened, tempered and ground D2 tool steel. The clearance between the pin and the internal hole diameter is less than 0.001”, so care should be taken with the die when stripping and assembly for cleaning not to damage the pin surfaces.

The micrometer adjustment cap is machined from 6061 T6 aluminium and is marked with half thousandths of an inch graduations to allow precise setting and resetting of core lengths. These features in turn give very accurate and repeatable core weights.

The die body thread is the standard 7/8” x 14tpi UNF thread to suit all presses, including our heavy duty swaging press and comes with a standard lock nut.

The dies utilise three evenly spaced small extrusion holes of 0.0312” (0.792mm) diameter which produce evenly packed, consistent sectional density solid cores

Each die is supplied with a hardened and ground flat faced bottom pin of the correct diameter to suit the die calibre. The internal push pin is also flat faced to produce square, flat faced core ends. These pins are available with either the 5/16” stem (suits most American and Italian presses) or the 3/8” stem (suits the AbD press) and this pin size is selected during the ordering process.

Domed (convex) core end dies and pins are available as a special order at a small additional cost.

The most common lead wire diameters available in Australia are from CA Group in Melbourne and come in 10kg rolls at 4.8mm, 5.56mm or 6.3mm.

The extensive testing we have done using our dies in our AbD H/D swaging press show that very consistent weights can be obtained if you feed in consistent lead wire cut lengths and adopt a regular and consistent handle pull routine (speed) during lead core swaging.

If your lead wire feeds vary in length, then the extrusion pressure will vary as you swage the core, and this will give undesirable small variations in core weight. It is recommended that you cut your lead wire feed pieces long enough to give a decent extrusion length (say 20mm or more) from the three small extrusion holes. This extruded lead is not wasted as it can be recycled and processed again.