Cases Growing? Help!

[mr-mom]

Not new to reloading by any stretch of the imagination, but new to .38 special. Loaded and shot my first batch over the weekend. Trimmed all the cases to 1.450" and loaded 158 gr. swc with 3.2 gr. Bullseye and also tried some HP-38. Really liked how these performed in my Model 66. After cleaning the cases and resizing them, discovered that all of the cases had grown to roughly 1.570 - 1.590". Now, I can't remember the last time I've had to re-trim a handgun cartridge. In fact it's probably close to never. Is this kind of case stretch common with .38 special, and if so, how do you guys handle it? You certainly don't re trim every time you reload!??

 

[SteveFi]

had a colt lawman I bought for next to nothing that some bozo had polished all the blue off - I had it parkerized - looked decent enough and even after the refinish cost next to nothing but it also had too much cylinder play so it wouldnt headspace properly (cant remember exactly what caused it - that was quite a while ago) and the time I fired it the brass stretched a lot - a possibility to check for

 

[358156hp]

Did you trim your cases before or after sizing them?

 

[Titegroups]

Did you zero your caliper originally. Never seen a 38 case stretch to 357 length. That's .120" plus.

 

[bustedmp]

I don't trim my cases until after resizing them.

 

[MichiganScott]

Did you zero your caliper originally. Never seen a 38 case stretch to 357 length. That's .120" plus.

First thing I thought was some sort of operator error. No way did the cases grow 0.120" +.

 

[H Richard]

Did you zero your caliper originally. Never seen a 38 case stretch to 357 length. That's .120" plus.
Reply With Quote

Also my question.

 

[Fkimble]

Hmmm, fire a 38 spcl and eject a 357 case, sounds like a money maker to me.

 

[JBnTx]

I've been reloading since 1976 and I've never trimmed a handgun case.

 

[MP22]

That's a bit of a stretch...pardon the pun. Go through the process with one case and see how it stretches. That's not normal.

 

[tappedandtagged]

I trimmed some bulk 44 mag brass given to me just so they would all be uniform. Beyond that, going on 12 loadings for mixed 44 brass and 10 for my 357 brass. No need to trim yet.

How much crimp are you putting on the things?

 

[thndrchiken]

How much crimp did you put on it?