I was loading some .357 cases today and noticed that a bullet was not seated down far enough in the case. It was a nickel case and the crimping groove was well above the case. It almost looked like a bullet in a .38 Special case. The bullets were seating right at the crimping groove in the brass cases.

So I measure the nickel .357 Magnum case and find that it is 1.244 in length. It is a new Hornady case that is once fired within the last month. I measure the Federal case and it is 1.288, a difference of .044.

I sort out all of the short Hornady cases and finish reloading the Federal cases. Then I measure the loaded ammo from other brands to see what is happening. The Winchester Silvertip case is 1.278, the PMC case is 1.282, and the Mag Tech case 1.278. A box of Hornady 25 count hollow point ammo has cases 1.252.

Now, I was wondering what would the difference in pressure be if I loaded a heavy load of 2400 in the Hornady 1.244 case and seated the bullet in the crimping groove without realizing that it is .044 shorter than than the Federal cases?

I was shocked that the Hornady cases were that much shorter. I have loaded very few .357 Magnum cases lately. But, I never loaded previous magnums with any problems in crimping in the crimping grooves before.

It pays to sort your brass to have consistent crimping!!

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

You've found a .357 Magnum case from Hornady that was factory loaded or someone handloaded the new Hornady FTX bullet which is a pointed rubber nosed bullet. The FTX with the soft rubber type pointed tip is even ok to use in tubular magazines of lever action rifles. The cases have to be trimmed to a shorter length than normal. The .357 Magnum case for using the FTX bullet is supposed to be trimmed to 1.240" and load data for the FTX bullet has to be used. The FTX for .357 Magnum is a 140 grain weight. They also have some .44 caliber, .45, and 50 caliber FTX's.