RCE Hydraulic Swage Press INTEREST?

I have been talking to Richard Corbin about a hydraulic Swage Press. His top of the line swage press is the Hydraswage. It is massive and will handle all normal and specialized bullet swaging operations with many innovations unique to RCE. It will swage lead wire, make bullet jackets from gilding metal strips (same as commercial jackets) as well as all the normal bullet swaging and reloading operations. It can also reload really large cartridges like the 50bmg, and can be ordered to make 20mm and 30mm projectiles. It really is a commercial quality swaging machine. It is constructed of off-the-self relays, electrical parts and hydraulic fittings, so it is easy and inexpensive to find available replacement parts, if needed, at any American electrical or hydraulic supply. The Hydroswage is also constructed to make all parts easily accessible for inspection, adjustment, and replacement if needed. It uses up to massive 1.5"x12 threaded dies, or with adapters can use smaller dies. It makes the Dave Corbin hydraulic press look small in comparison (RCE press weighs 250 pounds more), and as usual RCE press has better features and more power and is significantly less expensive than the Dave Corbin press. If 3 or 4 of us wanted a press, we might talk Richard into making a run. I am trying to gage interest before entering more serious discussions with Richard about making these presses and maybe opening and official group buy. I am definitely down for 1 of these presses, and wondering if there are 2-3 more who might have interest?

https://www.corbins.com/shop/chp-1-h...ress-606#attr=

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$8000 is still a lot of money, but with both these guys looking at retirement and no other alternatives for retail purchase when they are gone, now is the time if you ever want a hydraulic swage press.

Inquired of Richard 4 or 5 years ago and he said he was not interested in making anymore or selling his plans. Said his cabinet source was gone among other things. I don't know how hydraulic presses he ever did actually make and sell but I'd be interested to know if anyone here has one or has actually seen one. As for dropping 8K plus on one at my age;I'm not interested anymore either...

Everything you say is true, and he has located other suppliers from time to time. He has many several hydraulic presses, cam presses, gear driven presses, air driven presses and the like all the way up to fully automated presses for commercial production. I have from time to time during the years seen hydraulic presses as available and in-stock on his web site. They are quite labor and cost intensive and he has had people who clamored for them in the past and when he built them, they reneged, then he was stuck with them until someone else wanted them. I think mostly semi-commercial applications are the biggest purchasers of hydraulic presses, and the military who use them to research new projectile designs. I would also be interested in to hear from anyone who has one. He has made a smaller cabinet version called the Multi-Swage in the past and it takes Walnut Hill dies or smaller and generates less max pressure. He also makes one with less features which is a benchtop model called the What Cheer that uses Walnut Hill dies (similar in size to Dave Corbin hydraulic press). These were significantly less cost, but less power and features. I believe he might be willing to build a few again if there was a guarantee of purchase, but who knows. He may never build another. I think he could retire at any time and is not going to invest a lot of time or money in something that might take a year or more to sell. I don't blame him. I will probably never get him to make another, but it never hurts to try.

I have been using Richard’s HydraSwage for about 15 yrs. It indeed will do almost anything you might want a swage press to do. I got the press for $260 when A-square went out of the ammunition business and auctioned off everything. Had to drive out to Chamberlain, South Dakota to pick it up. I documented the purchase, setting it up (220v 3phase), extruding lead wire and swaging 50 BMG bullets here on the forum. Search
( Corbin CHP-1 in SD) and you should find it. I posted a bunch of pics.

Bob

Wow, I should have your luck. Great buy.

It wasn’t as cheap as it sounds. A 5 hp rotary converter to make the third leg for the 2 hp 3 phase motor plus an industrial electrician to provide the power cost a lot. Then there are those big 1 1/2 x 12 dies. I found a used CSP-2 Mega-Mite so I could use H dies with a manual press. I thought it was silly to swage 185 gr 45 ACP bullets on the big Hydra-Swage. Other than swaging 50 BMG, 50 alaskan, & 500 S&W its biggest use is extruding lead wire. You can make any size you want. The interchangeble bushings are simple to make so you can change the size of the wire by a few thousandths if you have a specific need. It’s been fun.

Bob

Well discussions are continuing to evolve. There have been no firm commitments as of yet.

IF we could get a benchtop hydraulic press (no cabinet) with an 8" throw, big enough to support wire extrusion and a jacket making die set, and able to use existing WH die sets, for +/- $4600

AND IF at the same time have an option to get a die set for making jackets from gilding metal strip, similar to factory jackets, for +/- $3700

Would anyone be interested?

I am definitely in for one.

As I understand it ,the bullet dies are the expensive part ,and needing repolishing every so often at a quoted price of $1000..........there is no need for a hydraulic press power unit to be 3 phase ,unless its big (over 5hp) ,single phase and a suitably sized pump is alls needed..A die set to draw jackets from strip would be a different matter ...........i was involved in a repair job at a gasket factory ,and was told the thin copper sheet was incredibly expensive ,so id imagine gilding metal sheet or strip (if you could even buy the stuff ) to be even more costly.

There are also other ways of running 3ph equipment on single phase. That don't have the costs that rotary converters have.

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc...y_drives_(vfd)

Full WH die sets are only $540 new, I have had mine over 10 years and they still look like the day I bought them. 1.5" die sets are not required. I never anticipate needing to repolish because I am careful what I put in them, only clean grit free metal. Regular press units are single phase, I am sure the 3 phase unit Midnight bought used at auction was a special order at time of original purchase because it's original use was an industrial site that commonly use 3 phase. Gilding metal is bought and used all the time here for many purposes, and is what all the factory jacket/bullet makers use. They get it from somewhere and sell jackets and bullets at reasonable prices (sort of) all day everyday here in the US. I don't know about availability down under.

Hydraulic presses are not required for many bullet swaging tasks its true, but extruding wire, jacket making from strip or tubing, swaging big bullets, swaging steel jackets, and getting consistent pressure on every stroke are some of the tasks where hydraulic presses shine.

If I wanted a hydraulic press ,I could make one from bits I have ,............lately Ive been watching the free ads for a flywheel type punch press .....there is generally one in the free ads every couple of weeks for $500-$1500............I notice Star-Line started with ordinary punch presses ,normally they are quite short stroke ,but that wouldnt be a problem with jackets .

I would commit to one

John K. ,
Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep us posted.

Contendernut,
I will pass it on.

GONRA's CSP-2 Mega-Mite (hand press!) really verks well! !!.
Use it for for all sorts of goofy Gun / Bullet / etc. stuff.....
Many of ya'll out there would be Really Happy with one of these......

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Originally Posted by GONRA

GONRA's CSP-2 Mega-Mite (hand press!) really verks well! !!.
Use it for for all sorts of goofy Gun / Bullet / etc. stuff.....
Many of ya'll out there would be Really Happy with one of these......

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Those are fine presses, but I will stick with my WH-50 in a hand press. The $2000 I save will be a good downpayment on a hydraulic for the things neither hand press will do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rolltide999

Those are fine presses, but I will stick with my WH-50 in a hand press. The $2000 I save will be a good downpayment on a hydraulic for the things neither hand press will do.

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Amen to that. The new owners are even more proud of their stuff than Dave was. I’ve had my walnut hill for over 12 years and never felt like I didn’t have enough press. Honestly I don’t see the need for a mega mite especially considering the enormous price difference