357's BULGING?

[hangnoose]

I'm getting a fair amt (1:7) of cases that when after the bullet is seated the round won't drop freely into the cylinder. They can be pushed all the way in & are a little stubborn to eject after firing. when resized they go in easy & fall out easy. They have been loaded many times but show no OBVIOUS signs of cracks or overpressure. Anyone with similar problems? I hate to toss the brass if the problem is elsewhere. Now I have the guilty cases separated. thanks in advance.

 

[Fla_Sun]

Lead or jacketed bullets?

 

[MichiganScott]

Sounds like some (if not all) of the brass is getting old and is work hardened. It's lost the ability to spring back after obturating the chamber. Toss it.

 

[hangnoose]

357's

It's happening a lot more now since switching to cast lead.

 

[hangnoose]

357's

Thanks, but that's about the first thing I tried. Not all rounds are the same, some go in much further than others and the same in all chambers. After loading I check them all to see if they drop easily in/out of the cylinder & separate the bad ones. I shot a steel challenge yesterday with all rejects and loading/ejecting was slower, but no other difference. I didn't think to measure the bullet diameters for variations.

 

[125JHP]

Is the lead enlarging the case necks a little due to their larger dia. and causing the extra friction? You could try running the loaded cartridges through a sizer (no decapping stem) just to see if that is the cause but of course accuracy might suffer when you fire them from the lead being squeezed smaller.

 

[357Ruger]

Is your brass trimmed to the same length? Something about your loads are inconsistent. If some brass is longer this could cause a bulge in the brass from over crimping.

By the same token if your crimp is a little on the light side you may have some shorter brass not getting crimped enough to totally remove case flare and that could be causing your issue.

If you don't have a noticeable bulge below the crimp on the rounds that stick try slightly more crimp and recheck cylinder fit.

Are you crimping in a separate step? I've always found it more reliable.

I've reloaded some of my 357 cases over 50 times and they are still going strong. So unless you are using inferior brass, overworking your brass (too much case mouth flare), or using top end loads constantly I wouldn't think your brass is the culprit.

Good luck and I hope you find the solution.

 

[Nevada Ed]

+1 on cases near the same size for the crimps

also minimal belling and a crimp that takes it out !!

With a medium crimp and a clean cylinder I hardly ever have a problem with ammo going "home" in my revolvers, using lead bullets.

 

[OKFC05]

I didn't think to measure the bullet diameters for variations.

And then measure your loaded round, including crimp diameter to see where it is tight.
Easy to do with cartridge in hand, not over the internet.
My loaded .357 cartridges drop in with a "thunk"

 

[kwselke]

when resized they go in easy & fall out easy. They have been loaded many times but show no OBVIOUS signs of cracks or overpressure. Anyone with similar problems? I hate to toss the brass if the problem is elsewhere. Now I have the guilty cases separated. thanks in advance.

Are you not doing a full length re-sizing on them? If not, that is probably the issue.

 

[mikld]

A micrometer is your friend. Measure! Measure the cases before and after each step to see when the bulge occurs. Measure before sizing, after sizing, etc. Many times a bulge is from too hard crimping.

 

[358156hp]

Is the bulge at the bullet base even all around, or more pronounced on one side? If its more pronounced on one side, you aren't seating your bullets straight, they're cocked in the case.

 

[rwsmith]

I had a similar problem with .357...

When chambered the round would stop almost 1/16" short but I could 'snap' them in if I pushed, then they were hard to extract. I tinkered with the resizing and crimp and cleared it up, however I still don't know what the 'snapping' into the chamber was from. I had trimmed all cases to the same length. Never had this problem with .38s.

 

[Handyman163]

I noticed this myself when crimping and seating in the same step that any tiny bit too much crimp would bulge the case just below the crimp and cause this binding in the cylinder(assuming the cylinder is clean). I lightened the crimp ever so slightly and got it to go away. I still seat and crimp in the same step.

Also, Ruger chambers seem tighter than S&W chambers in the same caliber in revolvers I've tried.

 

[hangnoose]

357's

OK, all the resized "problem cases have been cleaned & resized and are at or slightly below the minimum trim length of 1.285" and all fall in/out of the cylinder. I measured the cast bullets and they are all very consistently the same diam, kinda surprised at that and I've just about used up the # 500 box of bullets. They would start to get tight somewhere at the 2/3 way down the case, some way down by the rim. what has me stymied is that some are fine & the others vary so much. Maybe it is that I am not holding them in straight when seating them. I'll finish loading them this weekend. thanks for all the help.

 

[rwsmith]

Let us know...

OK, all the resized "problem cases have been cleaned & resized and are at or slightly below the minimum trim length of 1.285" and all fall in/out of the cylinder. I measured the cast bullets and they are all very consistently the same diam, kinda surprised at that and I've just about used up the # 500 box of bullets. They would start to get tight somewhere at the 2/3 way down the case, some way down by the rim. what has me stymied is that some are fine & the others vary so much. Maybe it is that I am not holding them in straight when seating them. I'll finish loading them this weekend. thanks for all the help.

Let us know what you find, please.

 

[skrazo]

When I'm seating bullets (seat/crimp in same step), I run the bullet into the case just slightly, then back the die up, rotate the case 1/4 turn, and finish seating/crimping the bullet. That pretty much eliminates the bulging cases for me. FWIW

 

[mtgianni]

Different brands of brass can vary in inside thickness. Are these the same brand and lot number? If not you may be swelling more on some than others.

 

[Denny Crane]

Sounds like different types of brass to me. I had to separate all of my .357 mixed brass. The brass case wall thickness increases as it get closer to the bass. If seating a DEWC that goes in the case further than other bullets I get a bulge. Only way to avoid it is to figure out which brass is the problem.

One I remember won't work is WW Super nickel .357 and I think I had trouble with PMC in .38 Sp.

Shorter, shallow seated bullets work fine in the thicker cases.

It was very frustrating until I figured out which brass and got them separated.

 

[KLYDE]

You can get a Wilson case gauge and check each round upon completion to insure it will chamber. I have one for every caliber I load, both rifle and pistol.

I'll agree with others as the culprit being an over crimp or under crimp leaving a slight bell. Many here will disagree, but I always initial trim my brass. Size, then measure for the shortest piece. I then trim all cases to that shortest piece length. This insures uniform belling and crimping.

 

[rwsmith]

An awful lot of people...

You can get a Wilson case gauge and check each round upon completion to insure it will chamber. I have one for every caliber I load, both rifle and pistol.

I'll agree with others as the culprit being an over crimp or under crimp leaving a slight bell. Many here will disagree, but I always initial trim my brass. Size, then measure for the shortest piece. I then trim all cases to that shortest piece length. This insures uniform belling and crimping.

In other threads thre is an awful lot of opinion that says it is a waste of time to trim pistol brass. I wonder how they deal with this issue. I'm for trimming the brass before first load/reload then not worrying about it any more.

 

[blujax01]

First, I presume you don't have carbon build up on the chambers from shooting 38's.

When I have a problem, I take it back to basics:

1 Size a fired case and see if it chambers. (I expect it will.)

2 Bell the case mouth and see if it chambers (I expect it won't.)

3 Seat a bullet to the proper cartridge length, but apply no crimp whatsoever. Examine the sides of the cartridge case to see if there is any bulge where the base of the bullet is.

4 Using the roll crimp/seating die with the seating stem backed WAY out, and the die body backed out to apply no crimp, but adjusted just to remove the case mouth bell, straighten the case mouth to remove the bell. Try chambering the cartridge. (I expect it will.)

5 Apply the amount of crimp you normally want. Try chambering the cartridge. (I expect it will.)

Can you post pictures?

Good Luck

 

[mikld]

FWIW; When a question is asked, without pictures, and without holding the offending round in our hands, all you can hope for is a bunch of guesses. A "shotgun approach" to your problem; every conceivable answer is given and can be pretty confusing. When this kind of problem arises, just go back to square one and work your way through the process until you find where/when the problem happens. I'm not saying don't ask questions, please continue (and some answers can be pretty funny!). All part of learning/perfecting your reloading skills...

 

[hangnoose]

357 tight chambering

Thanks for the replies & attempts to help. I tried most of the suggestions prior to the original post. Perhaps bulging was a bad choice of words, nothing is visible so a pic wouldn't help, even if I knew how to post them (it's on the to do list). I do sort by brands and it happens to SOME from all brands and to different degrees. I always trim the brass, and uniform the flash holes first and usually never need to do it again. It's really only been a problem since going to cast bullets. the dies have worked fine for 30+ years on quite a variety of bullets & wt's. I saw that post about NOT flaring cases for cast bullets but don't really buy it and I only flare enough to hold a bullet upright & not get a bunch of crushed cases. None of the jacketed bullets have the problem, so maybe it's a cast thing. I haven't found the cause but did find a solution. a spare lee seating die with the stem removed run over the loaded round fixes the rounds that are tight (likely a very small tweak of 1/1000, or 1/10,000"). I use the cylinder of a gun to see if they need correcting instead of a guage, and after 35 years I suppose a micrometer is more accurate than a caliper and will likely buy one in the near future along with a concentricity gauge (more for rifles). All the problem cases have been reloaded and shot today without a single problem, some just need an extra step.

 

[glider1]

I've had a similar problem with 9mm, it's the brass. A lee factory crimp die will solve the problem .

 

[bedbugbilly]

Are you casting your own or buying? If casting, are you using them as dropped or are you sizing them? Are they consistent? Take a look at that as well.