LATHAM? lead bullet swaging press

[dave milne]

Some time back at Bisley there was a company making lead bullet swaging presses. Based in Devon?

Drop a length of lead wire in, heave, and lo! a perfect bullet/ball

I need to make some .395 balls for a muzzle loader and swaging seems to be the most precise way.

Anyone heard of Latham(?) They were very expensive.

Thanks



Dave

[tacfoley]

Yes, I've heard of them. It was a father-and-son business that produced swaging gear of the very highest quality, and commensurate pricing. I recall that their Whitworth die set [punch and swaging die] was almost £500, without the hydraulic pump gear, back then. When the father died, around 2010, the son carried on for a short while, but finally gave up the ghost. Over in the USA there is Dave Corbin, who supplied many of the Latham's bits of kit.

For sure, swaging is a very useful way to make otherwise unobtainable bullets if you don't want to go casting, but by golly, it's dear. The complete (spare) Whitworth set-up from Dave Corbin was mine for a special price of just $3000.

IMO your very best bet is to get a custom mould from Jeff Tanner - excellent quality, VERY fast turnaround, and he's right here in UK. Figure around £50 - 60 for your custom mould, and less than two weeks. His website has recently had a title change - something like bulletmould.....take a look.

[dave milne]

Very much!
Yes I had found Corbin in the USA.
Just ordered some patches from bulletmoulds . Looks like I might have to consider melting lead...
Rgds
Dave

[tacfoley]

Very much!
Yes I had found Corbin in the USA.
Just ordered some patches from bulletmoulds . Looks like I might have to consider melting lead...
Rgds
Dave

Ordering patches?

I guess that you're made of ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££?

The best patching material is 10 or 15 thou pillow ticking. You decide. Nothing man-made at all - ever.

[Peter C]

Hi Dave

Why don't you try the easy way and get in touch with Brownells UK they stock .395 swaged round ball at £13.80 for a box of 100, if you don't fancy making them yourself?

Regards Peter

[tacfoley]

Hi Dave

Why don't you try the easy way and get in touch with Brownells UK they stock .395 swaged round ball at £13.80 for a box of 100, if you don't fancy making them yourself?

Regards Peter

Ah, goon plad!!! Didn't know that, me. My dealings with Brownells in UK have been fraught with lack of success, so I guess I'd put them out of my mind.

[Peter C]

Hi Tac

I've found them to be very good, 2 x boxes (100 per box ) .395 Hornaday RB carriage just £5.99

Guess I've spent too many hours in the garage playing with melted lead.

Peter

[dave milne]

Couldn't find them initially...
Now I have them..... £7 cheaper than Henry Crank's Pedersoli balls.
Search for Hornady not HornadAy
Tks

Dave

[markreid]

Have a look at shell house bullet company

[DesG]

The swaging tool you're on about was made by my old mate John Ellis who founded Wamadet loading tools in Barnstaple. I still use a couple of his presses. Very solid steel construction. The swaging dies were excellent but rather slow to use and really needed pure lead wire to work properly. That tended to bump up the cost per bullet to rather more than cast bullets, and I always found cast to be quicker and easier to make. John retired quite a while back and I don't know if he's still alive.

Jeff Tanner passed away last November just after I had an excellent .75 in ball mould from him for one of my cannon. I don't know if his son is still making the moulds, but the change of name would suggest that he is.

[enfield2band]

The swaging tool you're on about was made by my old mate John Ellis who founded Wamadet loading tools in Barnstaple. I still use a couple of his presses. Very solid steel construction. The swaging dies were excellent but rather slow to use and really needed pure lead wire to work properly. That tended to bump up the cost per bullet to rather more than cast bullets, and I always found cast to be quicker and easier to make. John retired quite a while back and I don't know if he's still alive.

Jeff Tanner passed away last November just after I had an excellent .75 in ball mould from him for one of my cannon. I don't know if his son is still making the moulds, but the change of name would suggest that he is.

Jeff Tanner's son has taken over doing the bullet moulds, and I think his wife does patches.

Re the swaging die. A friend of mine had one made that was a split block like a bullet mould with a ram to form the bullet. He used lead wire at first but, as you said, it was expensive, so he started casting pure lead bullets and swaged them in his die.
He used a fly press and it was a slow job but it worked.