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hammersmith
08-11-2008, 09:02 AM
Hi,
I've just ordered a walnut hill press and I need to look at getting some dies.
Can anyone recommend a die maker for 308, 6mm and 22 cal of benchrest quality with a reasonable return time frame. I know that the end product is propotional to the effort put in so can anyone give me some contact details for Niemi, Larry Blackmon, or any other die sinkers familiar with bullet dies.

Greyfox1947
08-11-2008, 11:58 AM
Larry Blackmon's home # is 318-387-3266. I can give a positive recommendation for his dies, but you will have to wait a while. He doesn't usually have any on hand and since this is a hobby for him, it takes some time to get them.

Rick

457ciSBC
08-11-2008, 10:57 PM
Hi,
I've just ordered a walnut hill press and I need to look at getting some dies.
Can anyone recommend a die maker for 308, 6mm and 22 cal of benchrest quality with a reasonable return time frame. I know that the end product is propotional to the effort put in so can anyone give me some contact details for Niemi, Larry Blackmon, or any other die sinkers familiar with bullet dies.

Detsch Custom Bullet Dies
David Detsch
350 West Creek Road
Saint Marys PA 15857
814-834-3035 phone
diemaker@windstream.net
http://home.windstream.net/diemaker

W.B. Niemi, Niemi Bros Engineering
William Niemi
PO Box 126
Center Rd.
Greensboro, VT 05841
(802)533-7180
wbniemiengr@jpshift.com

Bughole
08-27-2008, 07:37 PM
Good luck on getting your Walnut Hill press. I ordered mine January 9, 2008 and as of today, August 27, 2008 still do not have it, nor ANY timeframe from Richard Corbin when he MIGHT even be able to produce it. He told me it was done in May and sent to the powder coater who sent back part but not all of it (ever know of a powder coater to do that?) so he has screwed my business for 8 MONTHS now and I have HAD it with him!!!!!!! Desperately trying to find someone who will make and sell me my press and dies, I came back here and saw the contact information for Niemi and Detsch. I tried Niemi 20 times last January and they never return my calls. Blackman was nice enough and sent me data but only makes what he wants to, not what the customer wants and as mentioned does it on the side of his dental practice as he gets time. I contacted Mr. Detsch and have ordered three Redding presses, three dies and all the punches, wire cutter etc. to make 6mm bullets from 66gr. to 110gr. with a 6/9 double radius ogive and a 62 by 14 degree ultra boattail. He told me most of it was there now and it would take him around 6 weeks to cut my point up die (carbide by the way, not tool steel). If he does what he claims, he will have me up and runnng soon where Richard has taken ALL the momentum out from under my business. So instead of being ready in January 2008 mayby I'll be ready January 2009 at least!

Bughole

swageall
08-28-2008, 01:14 PM
Bughole;

RCE has not screwed up your business plans, entering the bullet swaging area of the shooting sports requires long term planning. As you will find out, custom swage die makers do not keep your one of a kind of ogive point formers on the shelf. There are lots of ways to handle a problem, checking with other long term swagers here and on other swaging forums will give you the info needed to start your business. If you are this impatient about your tooling, I doubt you will swage any bullets good enough to support a business. Swaging bullets takes a lot of work, time, and the ability to see a job thru completion. Let us know when you get your new order in and we will see how your time frame worked out.

A few weeks ago, there was a used RCE Walnut Hill press on E-bay that sold for a lot more money then the owner paid for it. When a companys tooling sells for more money used then new, do you think it might be worth something. Richards presses are made one at a time by a custom Die & tooling expert (Richard). Where are your new ordered presses made?? China ?

If I ofended anyone with this post, My apology's
I just don't like seeing anyone blamed for "ruining someone's business"


swageall

Bayou City Boy
08-29-2008, 10:52 PM
Bughole;

...................If I ofended anyone with this post, My apology's
I just don't like seeing anyone blamed for "ruining someone's business"


swageall

Good post.....!!! I agree totally. When no one produces some of the rare toys we play with, who will we blame when "time is important"......

JMO - BCB

hammersmith
09-04-2008, 09:50 AM
Thanks for all the input on this. The lead time on the press isn't a problem for me. I only intend to make my own bullets at this point as a hobby.

diemaker
09-04-2008, 09:30 PM
I,am Dave Detsch Detsch custom bullet dies. I been making dies for benchrest sooters for 14 years & my father Clarence 25 yr. before that . I started doing this full time the first of the year. My die are carbide . have made 14 17 19 20 22 23 6.5 &30 cal. dies The world records that were set with my father,s bullets are being brook with bullets out of my. www.diemaker.us is my web page. Check it out thanks Dave

paulskvorc
09-09-2008, 04:00 PM
Bughole;

RCE has not screwed up your business plans, entering the bullet swaging area of the shooting sports requires long term planning. As you will find out, custom swage die makers do not keep your one of a kind of ogive point formers on the shelf. There are lots of ways to handle a problem, checking with other long term swagers here and on other swaging forums will give you the info needed to start your business. If you are this impatient about your tooling, I doubt you will swage any bullets good enough to support a business. Swaging bullets takes a lot of work, time, and the ability to see a job thru completion. Let us know when you get your new order in and we will see how your time frame worked out.

A few weeks ago, there was a used RCE Walnut Hill press on E-bay that sold for a lot more money then the owner paid for it. When a companys tooling sells for more money used then new, do you think it might be worth something. Richards presses are made one at a time by a custom Die & tooling expert (Richard). Where are your new ordered presses made?? China ?

If I ofended anyone with this post, My apology's
I just don't like seeing anyone blamed for "ruining someone's business"


swageall

From a business perspective ONLY, the above comments are absurd BOTH for the business supplying the tools and the business trying to buy them.

Apology accepted.

Paul

Jason Coye
09-17-2008, 03:07 PM
This is the 19th year that I have been using Detsch bullet dies. I have 1 set of .22 caliber set of dies and 2 sets of 6mm. They have given me very good and consistant results. I won the IBS 3-Gun nationals in 2000 with Clarence Detsch's dies, and Dave recently made me a new 6mm pointer die. Since using this die, I have attended 3 IBS matches this year, and It has done very well Including 1st and 2nd place at the New York State Championships and total of 11 trophies in that one match alone; We also were the only two using my bullets. I cannot say enough good things about Dave's die making ability. He is very good to work with. I also highly recommend that you guys use Dave for converting your presses to bullet making. He is the best and very reasonably priced.

iiranger
09-18-2008, 04:07 PM
While I can and will google Mr. Detsch, it would be so much easier if you just mentioned contact info. Please. Thank you. With my fat fingers sometimes I misspell things... like that. thank you.

This is the 19th year that I have been using Detsch bullet dies. I have 1 set of .22 caliber set of dies and 2 sets of 6mm. They have given me very good and consistant results. I won the IBS 3-Gun nationals in 2000 with Clarence Detsch's dies, and Dave recently made me a new 6mm pointer die. Since using this die, I have attended 3 IBS matches this year, and It has done very well Including 1st and 2nd place at the New York State Championships and total of 11 trophies in that one match alone; We also were the only two using my bullets. I cannot say enough good things about Dave's die making ability. He is very good to work with. I also highly recommend that you guys use Dave for converting your presses to bullet making. He is the best and very reasonably priced.

457ciSBC
09-19-2008, 01:08 AM
While I can and will google Mr. Detsch, it would be so much easier if you just mentioned contact info. Please. Thank you. With my fat fingers sometimes I misspell things... like that. thank you.

If you go back a several postings I listed his contact info, but better than that the man himself(diemaker) responded.

Bughole
09-29-2008, 12:02 AM
Detsch Custom Bullet Dies
350 West Creek Road
Saint Marys, PA 15857
Phone: 814-834-3035
Cell: 814-594-2032
E-mail: david@diemaker.us

I talked with Dave yesterday on the phone (which he prefers over computer BTW) and not only is he planning on making the final lap on my point-up die to morrow, he's just waiting for my three new Redding presses to arrive to set up for swaging, which puts him not only on schedule for his estimate of 6 weeks for my order, but he may even be ahead of that. I couldn't be happier, and after reading Jason Coye's glowing comments a few posts back, feel great about it. In fact, I've decided to bite the bullet (pun intended) and add some more to my order. I now will be able to make 6mm match grade bullets with either a flat base or a great .062" 14 degree ultra boat tail base, and any weight (restricted by J4s) from 66gr through 110gr or so, with the match- winning 6/9 double radius ogive. I'll probably only market a few designs to start with, but I should be able to actually make about anything I want in 6mm with all this equipment!

Bughole

Bughole
10-09-2008, 03:15 AM
Dave estimated it would take him 6 weeks to fill my order. It actually took him 4 weeks!!!!! I drove from my home in Indiana to his in Pennsylvania to meet him, pick up my equipment, and learn several very helpful tips and tricks that should improve my products. We made a handful of bullets start to finish and put them on his concentricity guage. They came out dead nuts perfect! I'll be painting the three steel bases he also built me for the new Redding presses, mounting them to my bench and adding the counters and will take a few pictures when it's all set up (along with bullet pictures) and will post here if anyone wants to see. These bases will lay the presses back on my bench on a 20 degree angle which will help the entire process. In addition to the carbide dies Dave made me producing perfectly concentric bullets, I will mention that they are so smooth that almost no swage lube is needed, so I will start out using 3.0 grains of swage lube per 1000 J4s rather than the 7.5 grains I was planning on using. I may need to make some adjustments to that after making some. There is one other point I should make about his work. Dave has a unique method of manufacturing his punches which I understand other bullet die makers do not do. I'm not a tool and die man so won't attempt to be specific, however the net result is this: both the top and bottom surfaces of each punch are EXACTLY perpendicular to the center line of the punch, and the bottom line is that the base of the bullet is EXACTLY perpendicular with the center line of the bullet. Apparently other maker's punches just can't assure this simply because of how they make them. I am ecstatic about the quality of the three presses and four dies (squirt, flat seat, boattail seat, and point-up) and the responding punches Dave made me, and am extremely impressed that he produced all this in only one month! My hat is off to Dave Detsch Custom Bullet Dies!!!!!!!!!

Stephen Perry
10-08-2010, 01:55 AM
Jason
Are you still making the bullet boards. I have a set of the ones your dad made.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

Bughole
02-23-2012, 07:40 PM
It's been a while since I last posted here, so I thought I'd make a few comments. I chose to buy 6mm dies from Dave Detsch in 2008. I have now bought several from him and have more I just ordered. I make 6mm bullets with 6/9 dual radius ogive with either flat base or short boat tail in 10 weights. I will make the same number with an 8 ogive when I get my dies. I make hunting VLDs with a 15 tangent ogive in 8 weights, and target VLDs with thick wall J4s in 6 weights. I have ordered 6.5mm dies and plan to build those in half a dozen sizes. That is 60 bullet designs! I actually started my business January 2009 as it took a while to gather everything. I made and sold 100,000 bullets my first year. I moved from Indiana to Arizona half way through 2010 and was busy finding a new house etc. so only had a half year to make bullets. I made and sold 100,000 in 2010. I moved from Arizona to Nevada half way through 2011 which only gave me a half year for my business again but I made and sold 100,000 bullets in 2011. So that's 300,000 bullets made in Dave's dies in three years and I have customers in 49 states and going through a licensed exporter, have customers in 12 countries. They shoot my bullets locally, in state competitions, nationally and in the World Federation. My bullets are showing up in the equipment lists of some major matches. Sure, I figure my attention to detail and good swaging technique contribute to this, but absolutely NONE of my success so far would be possible without the dead nuts perfect carbide dies and the other hardware I've gotten from Dave Detsch! Hopefully we will stop moving around now and I can actually put 12 months together and see what develops. BTW, I have not advertised anywhere even once. Simply word of mouth from very satisfied customers. I appreciate all the help I got from this site while getting started!

Bughole

Precision Ballistics LLC

Mntngoat
02-23-2012, 09:09 PM
Bughole;

If you are this impatient about your tooling, I doubt you will swage any bullets good enough to support a business.... Let us know when you get your new order in and we will see how your time frame worked out.

Richards presses are made one at a time by a custom Die & tooling expert (Richard). Where are your new ordered presses made?? China ?




Hmmm... I'm thinking 300K bullets is good enough to support a business.
Hows that crow tasting?

ML