A few photos.....
To help get a better idea of the dies, what they do, and how.
This is a photo of a disassembled point die. Left is the die body itself, and right is the internals. The die body has a insert of carbide that actually forms the point. The ejection rod on the right holds the ejection pin (.049) that contacts the metplat of the bullet and pushes it out of the die when the point is made. The spring in the middle returns the ejection pin to the top of the die when the pressure is released. Without the spring, you would capture the pin inside the next bullet as you made the point, which is a pure pain in the butt, I'm here to tell you.
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In this photo you'll see (Left to right), core, jacket, seated core/jacket, and completed bullet. The boattail is made in the core seating process. There's been some discussion on the differences between a flat base core and a core with a pre-formed boattail, the debate being a pre-formed core will not allow any air voids at the base. I'm sure there are some merits to a preformed BT core. However, the cores I use for .22 bullets measure .180" diameter, and fall all the way to bottom of the jacket. Thus, when the core is seated, there's no chance for any air pockets, at least not in any of the bullets I've sectioned. I've neer had any cores pop up in the jacket because of internal air pressure.
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This is a veiw of the point up punch. The formed BT core/jacket fits in the punch perfectly. Please note, the edges of the punch are a sharp as a knife, and somewhat fragile. If you were to form the point with the press in the normal upright position, there's a risk of the bullet hitting the punch on the ejection stroke, and dinging the edge of the punch. That's bad, but there's a easy way to avoid this.
Lay the punch on it's back. You can see the bracket that's been clamped to the bench. Also note the bend in the press handle. I did this to get the handle a little lower, and take some pressure off the shoulder. The towel under the press caught the bullets as they were ejected. There's probably a better way to do this, but this worked pretty slick and fast.
If a point up punch is dinged, it can be re-worked by Niemi. I did ding a few during the learning curve, and had them touched up. All the point punches with the set are ready to go. Depending upon how careful the operator is and how much lube is used, a punch can last up to 10,000 bullets before it needs attention.
That's the nickel tour, call or email for more details. I'm best reached after 8:00 PM CST.
Thanks, Clint.
