This is a draw die and core seating punch set for making handgun caliber cases into reasonably good (but not benchrest quality) bullet jackets.
The most popular kit turns a fired, annealed
9mm cartridge case into a 308 jacket. You can get a reasonably good inch-long .308 jackets. The case MUST be deprimed first, and MUST be heated to a dull red (annealed), or you WILL have problems making the jackets! With a CSP-1H Hydro-Mite, one pass will reduce the jacket to .308. It is possible but somewhat difficult to reduce a 9mm case to .308 in one pass with the S-press due to the length of the ram stroke available. A long handle option is helpful.
The thick head area of the case causes the jacket to swell slightly after the core is seated, so that it may become too large for the .308 point form die, and stick in the die unless you do a little trick with the jacket draw die:
- Loosen the set screw on the jacket drawing punch base, and pull out the punch "rod".
- Reverse the "rod" so the end with the tip is put inside the base, and the flat end is showing.
- Secure the set screw again.
- Push the seated core and jacket through the die. Now you can form the point and it won't stick!
Other straight cases can also be made into jackets, but you cannot use bottle necked cases.
The CSP-1 hand press must be used in the reloading or long stroke mode, with the stop pin removed. The short or swaging stroke does not have enough ram travel to push the case through the guide and draw section of the die. The long handle option for the press helps to reduce the effort required.
Some of the possible draws include:
25 ACP to .257, .251, 243, 236, .228 and .224
32 ACP to 312, .310, .308, .284, .277, .264 and .236
380 ACP or 9mm to 357, 38 Special, 9mm or .380, .338, .323, .318, .311 or .308
40 S&W or 10mm to .40, .375, .366, .358, .351, .348, and 338 (but short bullets only)
.45 ACP to .45, .430, .429, .423, 416, 412, .410, 400 and .375 (short bullets only)
The ID of the resulting jacket is different from commercial jackets.
For 9mm to .308 the correct core seating punch diameter is .284. You may at first believe the
jackets are "too big" as they are very close to .3077
diameter depending on the specific jacket and heat
treatment you provide it, which is a snug, almost press
fit into the core seating die. It is not recommended
to use these for RBT bullets, as the base section is too
thick for making a good RBT shape. We've had some luck
pushing them into the BT-1 die, however, and putting a
modest boattail shape on them, then going directly to
the point form die. The thick base tends not to get "mashed
flat" like a normal jacket might, so you wind up with a
fair simulation of a boattail bullet.
The jacket wall of a drawn 9mm case is quite tapered, but
it starts thin (.015 or so) at the mouth. Therefore, a
standard .250 lead core, same as for the commercial jacket,
can fit inside. A .275 core will fit about half way,
and can usually be pushed down inside without "nail heading"
but if you should have any such issue, use two shorter
cores on top of each other, seated one at a time.
At first, new users tend to believe the core seating
punch diameter is incorrect, because the punch is a snug
fit compared to the usual one for commercial jackets.
But the cartridge case has a very thick head section,
which will not expand readily with normal pressure. The
cartridge must be drawn to a size that is very close to
final diameter to make a decent quality bullet (not
undersized at the base). This makes it necessary for the
punch to be a very snug, pressure-sealing fit almost as soon
as it enters the jacket. It works. But first-time
users may assume it is "too big" due to the close fit.
If the punch tends to stick in the jacket, the solution
is the same as with any other jacket: use more lube on
the punch itself, and little or no lube on the OD of the
jacket (or cartridge). This increases friction between
jacket and die, and decreases it between punch and jacket.
Thus the jacket tends to stay in the die, and pull off
from the punch on the down stroke of the press.
