.357 Magnum Brass

dwpmusic

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What has made it almost IMPOSSIBLE to find .357 Mag brass? I know the shortages of everything we've faced due to all the idiotic shootings and having to live with Obama et al but really I cannot put my hands on any .357 brass. I'm just starting to attempt to reload .357 and nada, nothing can be found. I don't have but a few hundred pieces of .357 brass and I hate to keep loading and reloading and reloading the same brass. Have been tempted to buy some factory ammo just to get the brass but guess what? You can't hardly find any of that either. It must be a more popular caliber than I thought. OK, rant over. Just shoot me a message if you know who has any.
 
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Doesn't hurt to keep reloading the same brass. Unless you're loading really hot and crimping really hard, you should get many loads out of your brass.

The manufacturers are concentrating on the really popular stuff, i.e., 9mm, .45acp, .223.
 
New .357 Mag brass is, as you stated, just about unobtainium now.

Target Sports USA, SG Ammo and Dan's Ammo (PA) all seem to have decent deals on 158 grain new 357 Mag ammo right now.
Mostly Fiocchi. I have shot and reloaded much Fiocchi and can recommend the ammo as a good source of brass.

By the way, I have Winchester .357 Mag brass I've loaded over eight times. Finally had to trim because of case stretch. Still going strong.
 
You will just have to be diligent.
Even if I saw some right now, by the
time you find out, it will most likely be gone.
You can call Starline, ask for Hunter. If he is busy
[he does work in production also] he will call you
back. He may have a tentative date when they will
run a batch, then it may take a month or two to get
it even then. The last .357 from them took me 7-8 weeks.
If you don't get on a list now, it will take even longer, although
Starline is not taking .357 orders today. Buy a couple of
the cheapest boxes of ammo to get started. Then just keep
burning up the search on the www.
 
I hear ya. Took me over a month to find .357 brass.

Since .38 Special brass is still plentiful I'm thinking about loading a batch of 38/44 for my .357's.
 

Thanks! I gave them a try. The website said they had 1300+ pieces of mixed .357 brass. I ordered 400 pieces from them. Now, let's see if they come through or send me an Ahhh S*** that they're back ordered or whatever. 400 plus what I already have will keep me going. This has been the hardest thing I've tried to find since this junk started. I, personally, don't think it will ever get back like it was. Hope I'm wrong. Thanks again for the heads up. Hope they ship it.
 
I regularily load 38 special with used brass (I pay $15/500) and comercially produced 158gr LSWC's.

If usually just buy the full bore 357's since I shoot the 38's more often. $.09/round is great :D
 
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I see 357 mag brass all the time on many of the forums I haunt. Just saw some used on the AR-15 forum for $17 per 100 ( once fired/mixed headstamp). Star line has plenty of 38 spl but not 357 mag but put my name down for 500 next time it is available.
 
Except for hunting or self defense, why bother shooting 357? 38 special loaded from mild to hot will do for poking holes in paper, shooting tin cans, popping steel, or most any handgun competition except sillywet. 38 special brass is cheaper and easier to come by.
 
There is a lot of 357 brass out there if you don't mind paying the price.

I load my 38 Special with brass and my 357 with nickel brass so as to keep the 2 calibers seperated easier.

djh
 
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Except for hunting or self defense, why bother shooting 357? 38 special loaded from mild to hot will do for poking holes in paper, shooting tin cans, popping steel, or most any handgun competition except sillywet. 38 special brass is cheaper and easier to come by.

Because shooting .38's out of a .357 makes a mess of the cylinder and .357's are WAY more fun!
 
Because shooting .38's out of a .357 makes a mess of the cylinder and .357's are WAY more fun!

Says who? Never makes a mess of my Dan Wesson and if you want fun, load 12 grains of 2400 under a 358477 150 grain SWC in a 38 special case. You might never go back to 357.
 
I have a copy of Philip Sharpe's Complete Guide To Handloading (1937) wherein he attempts to conduct an experiment and determine the maximum number of times a rifle cartridge could be reused. He had 50 cases and after 50 reloads each, he gave up. They still worked fine.

Run 'em until the primers will no longer seat. Which should be, like, never.
 
Kinda late to the party, but I bought way too much extra stock back in 2008. Still have 300 new Starline cases from that buy I'd be willing to part with if your other deal falls through. PM me if interested.
 
I have 2K of Starline and 400 left from 1K of Winchester new 357 brass. Wasn't taking any chances with the last election. I had to dig into my savings to purchase but I think it was worth it although my wife may not think so.
 
I have a copy of Philip Sharpe's Complete Guide To Handloading (1937) wherein he attempts to conduct an experiment and determine the maximum number of times a rifle cartridge could be reused. He had 50 cases and after 50 reloads each, he gave up. They still worked fine.

Run 'em until the primers will no longer seat. Which should be, like, never.

I stop reloading cases after 7 times fired. I used to discard after 10 but later realized that the case mouth gets weak after about 7 if you want a really accurate round.
If you are just slinging lead down range then keep reloading until they split or crack.
 

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