.38 way Below Min OAL

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Chester32141

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I have a few .38 spcl rounds loaded w/ 4.7 grns of v-N340 under a 125 grn LSWC cast bullets that fell into the case before I crimped them ... the entire bullet is inside the shell w/ the crimp holding it in ... is there any safe way to recycle these rounds or should I just bury them ... ?

Chester
 
I'd get out my handy-dandy puller and start over on those.

You didn't have enough neck tension to hold the bullet in place. Are these 9mm bullets by any chance?
 
+1

Hammer puller.

And find out the cause of the bullets falling into the cases.

Something is not right there for sure!

The bullets should have enough neck tension to stay where you put them before a crimp.

rc
 
Something in the loading process is bad wrong...case not resized properly, bad batch of thin brass, seating stem set way too deep or under-sized bullets maybe...?
 
125 gr Lead cast bullets .357 dia ... lost 9 of 500 loaded to this problem ... the rest were fine ... not sure a puller would work since the bullet is all the way into the shell w/ the crimp holding it in ... :scrutiny:

Chester
 
A hammer puller will yank the spots off a Dalmatian if you pound hard enough long enough.

About the only bullets they have any problem with at all is crimped .224, and smaller .204's & 17's that don't weigh anything.

rc
 
A hammer puller will yank the spots off a Dalmatian if you pound hard enough long enough.
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Heh, and pound long and hard you will...

But!

If the bullets are deep enough in the case, you may be able to open the mouth up a bit with your expander die first - which will save you a TON of effort pulling the bullets as you don't have to fight the crimp.

I had to pull about 100 hard crimped JHP .357s a few months ago... I learned after about 20 or so that there's no such thing as hitting too hard when it comes to a hammer puller. I also learned to check my brass more carefully.
 
I've split a 2X6 or two with my hammer puller. It will get them out.

rc for those tight ones I always seat the bullet a little deeper to break the crimp then put it in the hammer. It hasn't failed for me yet.

jim
 
According to Dardas Cast bullets where I purchased these they are for cowboy action .38 ... I believe the 9 cases that 'swallowed' the bullets were primed w/o sizing ... they were given to me by a friend and I mixed them w/ my other brass ... I've got another 500 of these bullets ... sure hope I can use them cause I don't shoot 9mm ...

Chester
 
If they fell in that easy they will come out easy too. The crimp really won't be a significant hinderance when pulling them. It certainly won't if the crimp isn't even touching the bullet.
 
I believe the 9 cases that 'swallowed' the bullets were primed w/o sizing
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yep, that will do it also.

Pull those 9 rounds and redo 'em.

The most suited diameter for lead 357mag's is usually .358", for copper jacketed it's .357".

But if the .357" lead bullets shoot fine, just shoot 'em. ;)
 
... I believe the 9 cases that 'swallowed' the bullets were primed w/o sizing ...
Click to expand...

That would explain it. All you need to do to be sure is pull one of the bullets, rezize the case and re-seat the bullet. If it's a tight fit, mystery solved.
 
You also do not need to try and pound the kinetic bul;let puller like you're trying to break concrete - but you DO need to use a solid base to rap it against - like a solid workbench top.......
 
My "error eraser" anvil is a 10" block of 4X4 mounted on end on a 10" X 10" square of 1/2" plywood. And that is on the floor of my gun/reloading room. Sure saves the work bench top...
 
I had a similar problem when I was loading 9mm fmj's and plated round nose into plated cases. When I set the bullets on the necks, they tended to slip inside a bit, and I didn't want to depend only on the crimp to hold them in. Now I only load regular brass cases. Doesn't happen with lrn's, though.

Chuck
 
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