mzimmers
Member
Hi, all –
This is kind of an odd one, so I'll try my best to be clear.
I recently ran off a batch of .357 reloads. Nothing fancy; just some WCs for target fun.
When I took them to the range, I noticed that some of them (about 1 in 5) wouldn't drop into the cylinder all the way. They stopped about 1/4" from seating.
I took these home, and discovered that the part of the case closest to the head measured about .3830". Just for fun, I tried loading these into my pre-19, my pre-28 and my 27-2 with varying degrees of success. It would seem that the 686 is built to the tightest tolerances.
So: I broke open one of the cartridges and resized it on my Hornady progressive. It came back out at the same .3830" (just that last 1/4" though; the rest was good). It appears that the die can't get to that last little bit of the case for sizing, due to flaring at the mouth die and the space that the shell plate takes up.
Just for fun, I tried sizing the same case in my Hornady single-stage, and those came out to .3805 to .3810. These seemed to load in the 686 OK.
So...I'm trying to figure out what to make of this. First off all, should I be concerned that some of my brass got this "bulged" in the first place? Is it possible that one of my guns has a loose cylinder chamber? Or, is this considered a "normal" amount of expansion?
Second...I'm wondering whether my RCBS dies are less than fully compatible with the Hornady presses in this regard. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?
Not quite sure what's to be done about this...do people actually go to the trouble of keeping brass separate for different handguns in the same caliber?
Any input is welcome...thanks.
This is kind of an odd one, so I'll try my best to be clear.
I recently ran off a batch of .357 reloads. Nothing fancy; just some WCs for target fun.
When I took them to the range, I noticed that some of them (about 1 in 5) wouldn't drop into the cylinder all the way. They stopped about 1/4" from seating.
I took these home, and discovered that the part of the case closest to the head measured about .3830". Just for fun, I tried loading these into my pre-19, my pre-28 and my 27-2 with varying degrees of success. It would seem that the 686 is built to the tightest tolerances.
So: I broke open one of the cartridges and resized it on my Hornady progressive. It came back out at the same .3830" (just that last 1/4" though; the rest was good). It appears that the die can't get to that last little bit of the case for sizing, due to flaring at the mouth die and the space that the shell plate takes up.
Just for fun, I tried sizing the same case in my Hornady single-stage, and those came out to .3805 to .3810. These seemed to load in the 686 OK.
So...I'm trying to figure out what to make of this. First off all, should I be concerned that some of my brass got this "bulged" in the first place? Is it possible that one of my guns has a loose cylinder chamber? Or, is this considered a "normal" amount of expansion?
Second...I'm wondering whether my RCBS dies are less than fully compatible with the Hornady presses in this regard. Has anyone experienced a similar problem?
Not quite sure what's to be done about this...do people actually go to the trouble of keeping brass separate for different handguns in the same caliber?
Any input is welcome...thanks.