New Loads and Dirty Rear Face of Cylinder

[DillHarris]

Finally got a chance to shoot my first full power 357 loads. Loads were 140gr Hornady HP/XTP, H110 powder (min. to max.), WSPM primers, and Winchester brass. Everything went well with shooting them. No sticky extraction and the primers on the max loads looked no different than the primers on the starting loads. I even shot them a lot better than I do my target loads. The recoil wasn't as much as I was expecting.

I noticed the rear of the cylinder was pretty dirty when I was finished shooting. Much more so than with my target loads. There was also some soot in a couple places on some of the brass by the rims. Is this normal? I've never noticed this with my target loads (W231 and 158gr plated FP). There was some copper fouling of the bore that came out with a little extra cleaning. Everything else was dirty like when I shoot my target loads. Firearm is a 6" stainless GP100.

Thanks for any replies, just want to make sure nothing "weird" is going on. Have a good one.

 

[stans]

Did you give these rounds a firm roll crimp or Redding profile crimp? What was your powder charge? Low powder charges and/or insufficient crimps can lead to inconsistant burning of H-110/W-296 and a lot of soot and unburned or partially burned granules.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

That combo shoots well out of all my 357s. Sounds like you need a heavier crimp is all. As posted by stans, the redding "profile crimp" die is the be all/end all crimp die for straightwall magnum cases.

Try it, you'll love it, and never use anything else again I'd bet. I use them exclusively on all my 357, 41, 44, 45, and 454 loads. Generally slightly higher velocity, less velocity spread, and better accuracy. Plus you can put really heavy crimps on brass without wrecking it.

Do a search on that die, it has been heavily discussed on this board.

 

[DillHarris]

Thanks a lot for the replies. I already use a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I had to pull some these when I first made them up, and let me tell ya, I 'thought' I had a pretty firm crimp. I'll crimp the next set heavier. I marked where the crimp was set so I'll just go a bit further. I'm a newbie with no real local reloading friends, so I'm still trying to feel my way around the crimping issue. I did notice a few granules of semi-burnt powder now that you mention it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Disclaimer--The flollowing is reloading data listed as maximum in published reloading manuals. Use at your own risk and confirm data from independent sources.

My starting loads were 17.1 grains H-110 and my max was 19.0 gr H-110. I got these from the newest Hodgdon Annual Manual. I confirmed with my 47th ed Lyman (min 15.x, max 19.5).

Thanks again for the replies. I really appreciate it.

 

[Mannlicher]

With heavy loads, there often is some unburned powder or residue. 17+ grains of H-110 is indeed a heavy load, reaching capacity for the .357 case.