357 with a tight fit.

[rvenneman]

I am using the 3 standard Lee dies (not the factory crimp die) and occasionally I get one that will not fit the cylinder. Should I put all the 38/357 through the factory crimp die?
I am using a S&W model 60-15 J Frame 3". The OAL in within factory specs.
Any ideas?

 

[someguy2800]

The lee factory die will smooth them out so they fit. I never have one not fit after I stared using that.

 

[ReloaderFred]

First thing to do is figure out why the rounds won't fit, and then fix that problem. It could be several things, such as too much roll crimp that bulges the case, a bullet where the ogive is hitting the mouth of the chamber, etc.

Fix whatever is causing the problem before resorting to a "one size fits all" type of fix.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Walkalong]

What Fred said.

 

[Toprudder]

Agree with the above.

One problem with roll crimping, you must make sure all the brass in the batch are trimmed to the SAME length. If some are longer than others, they will get crimped more, and possibly cause a bulge just below the case mouth.

As far as the Lee FCD, I am a fan (more so of crimping in a separate step) but Lee also makes a collet crimper for 357mag. I highly prefer this over the normal FCD, and it does NOT depend on the brass being trimmed to the same length.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I also agree, the FCD will probably cover the problem but not fix the problem. Try and find out why first, it will allow you to produce better ammo and make you a better handloader too.

You can do it...

 

[SASS#23149]

any chance you were shooting .38's in it,and have a crud ring from shooting them ? All it takes is a smidge to keep a .357 round from chambering

 

[Reefinmike]

I am using the 3 standard Lee dies (not the factory crimp die) and occasionally I get one that will not fit the cylinder. Should I put all the 38/357 through the factory crimp die?
I am using a S&W model 60-15 J Frame 3". The OAL in within factory specs.
Any ideas?

The FCD removes dimension from somewhere. That somewhere is the bullet. Running a round through a fcd will swage the bullet down and result in reduced neck tension. You are having your problem because you are either using mixed brass with varying case wall thickness or bullets that vary in diameter.

Which cases stick? S&B, GFL, PPU, CBC? they are all overly thick. I personally like remington brass best for use with .001" oversized lead cast bullets because the brass is thinner than average leaving no visible case bulge.

 

[Steve C]

Check the cases in the chamber to find where it is hanging up. With .357 mag I've had most of my chambering hangups (failure to completely chamber) due to the expansion at the bottom of the case above the rim caused by failure to resize the case all the way down when resizing. This is more often found in my Colts which have tighter chamber tolerance than my S&W's or Rugers. If you have a Lee FC die use it to bring the case diameter down to maximum SAAMI diameter which is all the FC die does.

On cases that will not enter the cylinder due to a case mouth that has been bulged, deformed or not removed belling at the mouth, the FC die may be able to iron out the bulge.

 

[murf]

do you seat and crimp the bullet in separate steps?

murf

 

[9mmepiphany]

When I got into reloading .38Spl I noticed some similar issues.

What I did was buy a Redding die set with the Dual Ring Resizer die and set it to take advantage of my Hornady LNL designed cam-over. I also added a Competition Seating die to insure alignment of the bullet and the case mouth.

I learned that case .38Spl case length (all once fired W-W) varied quite a bit which affected both expansion and crimping. To attain a uniform crimp, I trimmed all my cases to a uniform length.

It might have been a bit of over-kill, but I haven't had any completed rounds fail a chamber check since then

 

[Walkalong]

I trimmed all my cases to a uniform length.

It might have been a bit of over-kill, but I haven't had any completed rounds fail a chamber check since then

IMHO, if it fixes a problem, it can't be considered overkill. .38 Spl brass does indeed vary greatly on length. We either need to trim it, adjust our crimp so the longest cases don't buckle, which means the shortest receive little to no crimp, or taper crimp heavily on full power loads to stop bullet creep, which can squeeze down the bullet when overdone. I also trim all .38 Spl brass.