VrockTDSaz
Member
Yep, that's the one.Do your other dies have this? Might be the problem??
Yep, that's the one.Do your other dies have this? Might be the problem??
That's exactly what I'm going to do. Two different steps.Vrock, seat all your rounds following the Hornady instructions for seating without crimping. Then crimp all your rounds in a second step, adjust the crimp per the instructions, making sure the seating stem is all the way up , not touching the bullet. You can seat and crimp in two steps, with the one die.
What are your case lengths?? They should be between 1.280 and 1.290 inches.
High pressure cartridges such as the .357 Magnum "stretch" their cases more than low pressure rounds. For this reason, the cases should be trimmed on the first reload to even them up.I'm having problems with crimping my .357 rounds. I'll get one round set up perfectly, and the next will over crimp and be bulged and not fit in the chamber. I'm using the Hornady dies with the seater and crimp in the same die. I've done the seating and crimping in the same die many times in the past. Just never with .357 magnum.
I'm assuming the problem is that the brass I'm using is different lengths. Though I've never had that problem with other calibers.
Is .357magnum especially sensitive changes in case length when crimping?
Would getting a separate crimp die solve the problem, or would I still have to trim all the brass? I don't trim handgun brass, is there a way to avoid it?
Not much pressure at all. Certainly, didn't feel like much more then a crimp. The funny part is that the cases are not "uniformly" bulged.What kind of pressure are you using to crush cases like that? I have had stickers that I have had to put a pipe on my lever to free and I have never seen a case crush, even when intentionally pushing a sticker further in just to force it to move, and that was with a 3' cheater pipe.
Either the seating stem is adjusted wrong. (Too high up), or if there is no adjustment left on it, the die is down too far.
True. I assumed (whoops) that he had seated a bullet with no crimp, then tried to do both at the same time. Could be wrong of course. If the same setting produced both rounds, your right, something else is wrong. Case mouth catching on something? Dunno.In the pics shown, the difference in where the bullet is seated and crimped correctly and the case at the right that is noticeably buckled is much greater tho than any possible difference in case length. It's hard to believe one case in the batch would seat and crimp so well and another with the same die adjustment would buckle the case when the bullet was so far away from proper seating.
True. I assumed (whoops) that he had seated a bullet with no crimp, then tried to do both at the same time. Could be wrong of course. If the same setting produced both rounds, your right, something else is wrong. Case mouth catching on something? Dunno.
I can live with the amount of crimp in the first round. Do you think its enough?If that is not from over crimping, I'm stumped.
If you do not have a problem with bullet creep, and it shoots well, yes.Do you think its enough?
That's a good point about the cannelure. I'm beginning to suspect it may be the bullet I'm using. I intentionally over crimped a plated round (way, way over crimped it) and the case didn't buckle.If you do not have a problem with bullet creep, and it shoots well, yes.
Another thing to consider is the cannelure. A poor cannelure (No depth) will not allow a very good crimp.