357 rant!

[MW surveyor]

So I had a generally relaxing morning loading up 150 rounds of 45. Nothing much to do around the house that needs fixing right away (That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.).

This afternoon I decide that I need to load up some 357 ammo. Get the calipers out, the trimming tool and the decapper. Dump out the range pick ups (about 200 or so) onto the bench and start inserting the decapped rounds into the trimmer.

Find that only one or two need to be trimmed. Do those two and then start measuring. This was my mistake. Of the 200 or so empty cases, there are eight different manufacturers (even have 5 Russian mfg and one, yes one Starline). The cases range from a long of 1.292" to a short of 1.250". So I go and sort them out by manufacturers. Next big mistake, even the sorted by manufacturer there is still a variance and they are all shorter than the 1.290" they should be!

Arrgh! Now I've got sort them by length (or at least 1 or 2 thousandths) so I can batch load the like OALs and don't have to adjust the bullet seating die for each individual round, just by batch of like OALs. Gotta get the crimp in the right spot (or nearly there-so).

Ok, rant off! I'll have fun shooting them when finished.

[mr surveyor]

hhhmmm....sounds like you picked up a bit of other reloaders' refuse. I rarely ever find revolver brass at the range. If I do, it's always new, and one "wheel's worth" from someone (an non reloader) that made a quick trip to the range just to cycle their carry ammo. That single starline case kinda supports the reloader reject theory.

I have though about keeping all that mfg mismatched brass, particularly that which is cut too short, and trim it down to .38 spl lengths. Just don't like the idea of head stamp confusion that would cause. At least half of my brass is Starline, and the rest Rem, Win and Fed that I've saved by the box or from friends. I don't think I have any commie cases for any of my revolver uses.

[CJB]

Spec on the .357 Mag is 1.290" - .020 inches.
http://www.saami.org/PubResources/CC_Drawings/Pistol/357%20Magnum.pdf

Anything shorter than 1.270 would be considered out of "spec".

Two problems persist with short cases. One is the amount of crimp (and related, relative seating), the other is short cases MAY be able to fit in the chamber of a .38 Special chambered firearm, with possible disastrous results.

FWIW - when I reloaded range reloads on a production basis, we got around it all by using a long taper crimp, and that was that. The bullet seating depth - relative to case mouth - did vary a little... hey it was FREE discarded brass we were reloading into new range ammo... couldn't be picky. The AmmoCrafter machine didn't seem to mind. And we probably loaded...someplace in the neighborhood of 165,000 rounds a year of 357mag alone. Same held true with 38 special, and we did at least double the 357 round count in those. Same thing - taper crimp - because the case lengths were so variable.

The thing with mixed range brass - is that its just blasting ammo. Reasonably accurate, not overly powered. It goes bang, it makes holes in paper. Its deadly. It is not the kind of ammo you'd load for yourself if you were serious about things. Its compromised by its very nature.

[Tilos]

I leave them there if the primers appear to be reloads and the empty factory boxes are usually nearby for once fired.

Trim them to 38s and call it good:p

A 1/8th washer under the flare, seating, and crimp die make it easy to switch between 38 and 357:)

[Charlie98]

I don't think I've ever trimmed a handgun case. I use a taper crimp on 95% of my rounds; the only thing that gets a roll crimp is the big charges of W296, and those are loaded into known cases with few miles on them. I DO inspect my brass for damage/split case mouths/loose primer pockets/etc, but never OAL.

[MW surveyor]

From what it looks like, all of the stuff I have is once fired. I know for sure that some of it is as I got it directly after it was fired straight from the factory box. Got a whole bunch of 38 spl like that.

The stuff that is short is Hornady Lever Revolution because I fired it!

I'll go ahead and discard anything less than the 1.270 and just taper crimp where possible.

I do have about 75 cases of nickle plated stuff that is all from the same lot so I'll probably just go ahead and use that too. The other 200 cases are plain brass.

Still trying to figure out where the 5 commie cases came from.

[CJB]

Still trying to figure out where the 5 commie cases came from.

The commies, of course....

[mr surveyor]

so it was a commie that dropped by the range to refresh the carry ammo.... did Nagant make a .357?

[DM123]

I don't think I've ever trimmed a handgun case. I use a taper crimp on 95% of my rounds; the only thing that gets a roll crimp is the big charges of W296, and those are loaded into known cases with few miles on them. I DO inspect my brass for damage/split case mouths/loose primer pockets/etc, but never OAL.

Same here. I don't load hot loads, however. I do custom the OAL to the type of bullet for autos. Those with tight tolerances don't like long loads, especially lead. I have a Wolf barrel in my Glock and need to load fairly short to pass the ker-plunk test. I've shot lead in my Kahrs too. Those polygonal barrels are hard to clean with lead though and seem to foul quicker.

[CJB]

No so much the tight tolerances, by my experience, but more like the type of mechanism and its feed arrangement.

Kahr likes the longest stuff that wont bind in the magazine, while 1911's seem to like shorter rounds, especially those truncated cone target rounds.

Thats what I've found at least....

[MW surveyor]

No so much the tight tolerances, by my experience, but more like the type of mechanism and its feed arrangement.

Kahr likes the longest stuff that wont bind in the magazine, while 1911's seem to like shorter rounds, especially those truncated cone target rounds.

Thats what I've found at least....

Big +1 on that!

[muggsy]

I don't reload range brass. I start with new unprimed brass and trim all of the cases to -.010 under max. From there on out I don't bother to check case length. I keep reloading them until the case necks split and then I discard them. That system has worked out well for me.