357 Mag OAL question

Personally I wouldn’t worry about it. No crimping groove. Shoot a few and see. No crimp other than a taper so watch for bullets moving under recoil. Out or in.

I use this, https://leeprecision.com/357-magnum-custom-collet-style-crimp-die.html for plated and bullets w/o a cannalure the bullet stays put.

You screwed the seating plug all the way in, but how far is the die itself toward the shellholder?

Bullets may move forward from recoil. (Jump crimp). Test. Load cylinder. Fire all except the last round in the cylinder. Has the COL BECOME LONGER? More then .005" may be a problem?

Bullets that jump crimp may lodge between cylinder and barrel. Powder like 296/H110 may not burn correctly.

Seems like something weird is going on with that die or how its adjusted. I don't have any redding dies so I can't say for sure. Did it come with more than one stem? If so try the other one. Just seems weird that you can't get it seated any further.

Two more dumb questions, sorry. Does that die have a sleeve to guide the bullet? If so are you screwing the die down until the sleeve touches or past that until the die body touches?

The die setup doesn't sound right. The seating die body should just touch the shell plate but you will have plenty of adjustment (threads) on the seating plug to seat the bullet much deeper. I would call redding customer service and discuss your setup. They have always been extremely helpful when I have a setup questions and have mailed additional seating plugs at no cost when I have needed them for various 9mm and 45 ACP bullet types. Their customer service is first class.

The 550 can take time to setup properly. Because the press incorporates it's own ram stop, you always want to have adjustment remaining on all the dies, both Up and Down.

► From your description, it truly sounds as if you may still have the Redding die lock nut on your Seating die. Due to the thickness of the 550 Tool Head, on some non-Dillon dies, you need to use the much thinner Dillon 1" Hex Lock Nuts.

► Additionally, it sounds as if you may need to move the die Lock Nut to the bottom side of the Tool Head with this particular die. This may be strange looking, but is common practice. When the die nears the correct working position, are more threads exposed on the top or bottom of the die ? The Lock Nut belongs on the side with the most threads so you can achieve the most adjustment.

► Due to the Dillon Tool Head having about 0.010" of vertical clearance, die to shell plate clearance can be very hard to judge. Especially with carbide dies, you may want some dies to approach the shell plate, but you never want them to actually touch. So the best way to adjust dies in the 550 is to be able to pull out a sheet of notebook paper from between the die and the shell plate at the top of the stroke. Go back and set your Sizing Die this way, because on the 550 all other dies take their position cue from the Sizing Die.

Hope this helps.

Redding die chart. ] The seat plug is the same for the 3 die sets in 38/357, 38, 357. (STEEL)?

Then there are carbide sets? Gets confusing. Steel vs carbide?

The Redding Pro Series Carbide 3-Die Set is designed for use in progressive presses. Set includes Carbide Sizing/Decapping Die, Bullet Seating Die (designed for bullet seating only - no crimping feature) and a Profile Crimp Die

Click to expand...

Different part number. Total of 3 different 38/357 sets?

What die set does the OP have?
80184
88282
89282

Looks good. Sounds almost like loading for 360DW since your loading longer than “normal”

as for crimp, that’s one reason I dislike a lot of bullets for 38/357. With no crimp cannelure and being a slick fmj I would be concerned with motion under heavy recoil. You can fight that with a lee FCD among other options, but your best bet is to just buy a bullet with crimp cannelure and crimp in the groove which makes it more difficult for the bullet to grow longer or shrink.

before giving up though, load some true magnums or maybe use factory loaded magnums and just have 1 reload in the chamber and see what it does under recoil from 5 of the hand thumpers. That way if it moves it will be easy to get the cylinder open and free the problem round. 1 bullet doesn’t create much drag, and can be overcome to get the cylinder open just by a simple palm whack when the cinder release is pushed open.

If it’s moving .004 under a light load it’ll surely move more under magnum recoil. If it ties it up early it may be a pain to open (depending on where the “jumped” bullet sits in the cylinder). I would stop there and fix the issue.

I would go drop 13 bucks on the Lee Factory Crimp Die and crimp them properly if you still want to shoot up a bunch of the bullets you have. If not, buying crimp-groove bullets are the way to go.

As a side note, the 686 with unrecessed charge holes has a bit longer COL allowance than other makes (like my Dan Wesson), so if your loads stay on the long side you may be limited to shooting your loads in that gun...or ones like it.

Stay safe.

bob4 said:

almost .004 longer

Click to expand...

Neck tension keeps bullets from moving, for the most part.

Expander should measure about .356" in diameter. if larger, make smaller with emery paper. Measure case outside diameter before and after seating a bullet. Case should expand .002" or more after seating.

If this doesnt work, a different sizing die is needed, or brass that has thicker case walls.