Evolution Of Reloading Procedure For .357Sig

[WrongHanded]

I had a significant eureka moment today, whilst reloading 200 rounds of .357Sig range ammo.


And it got me thinking about how my process has changed since I first started.

I no longer lube the cases. Instead I resize the body in a carbide 10mm die, then the neck in the .357Sig die. This means no lube inside the neck, and no lube to clean off outside. Because there's no lube to worry about, I also prime whilst resizing the neck rather than as a separate step.

I still weigh each charge (because I run at the top of the data), but now after I funnel a charge into the case, I throw another straight into the pan and set it on the scale. I handle the pan less this way, and let the scale settle as I complete the current cartridge.

But my eureka moment today makes things far easier, and yet I feel a little stupid for not thinking of it earlier.

Anyone who loads .357Sig knows that neck tension is important to preventing bullet setback. So case mouth flare should be kept to a minimum. Like many others, I bevel the inside of the mouth slightly with new brass to aid in seating, but pre-fired brass doesn't get this treatment. I've tried to flare as little as possible to preserve neck tension, because I discovered even a FCD doesn't fix it after the bullet is seated. This has proved to be my bane with the cartridge. Trying to get each bullet started requires a lot of force, and really hurts my fingers when I'm batching more than 50 rounds at a time. And too often the bullet slips out whilst the ram is going up. Like this:

Which is extremely frustrating.

What I realized today was that if I just hold the bullet on top of the case, and carefully raise the ram until the bullet is inside the die...


....It always seats! No fiddling or time wasting, just quick seating. And provided I keep focus and don't accidentally crush my fingers in there, it'll be far less painful on the finger joints than the old method.

I'm not sure what more I can do to streamline the process, but it's certainly far faster now than it used to be. Perhaps it'll help others too.

 

[Blue68f100]

I use the Hornady dies with the drop down sleeve to align the bullet. When the bullet contacts the sleeve I spin the cartridge to help it self align, then seat. Keeps your fingers clear of things that pinch. Like you I do not expand the mouth much to accept the bullet. Really depends on the base of the bullet, how rounded or square it is.

 

[Soonerpesek]

What I realized today was that if I just hold the bullet on top of the case, and carefully raise the ram until the bullet is inside the die...

I also do that on any caliber bullet I seat.......Glad you found it helps...( majority of loading is on a Dillon 550 )

 

[cfullgraf]

For 357 Sig, i guess one could use a 10mm or 40 S&W carbide die to size the body. Then run the case through a 357 Sig die to size the case mouth.

I lube the cases and run them through a 357 Sig sizer die and then a mouth expander die. Then I tumble clean the the cases and put them away for a future reloading session.

On a progressive press, one can install the necessary dies in a separate station to effect the desired process. A body sizer, a neck sizer and then a mouth expander. Since I separate sizing from reloading, I can tailor the process to my needs.

I also load 38/45 Clerke, a 45 ACP necked to 38 caliber, using a similar process that I use for 357 Sig. Actually, the process I use for 357 Sig was developed when I began loading 38/45 Clerke. A bottleneck pistol cartridge is a bottleneck pistol cartridge.

But there are several ways to skin this cat.

 

[kcofohio]

With some cartridges such as the 357 SIG, when I want little to no bell mouth, I spin the case as I'm seating. I know what position the ram handle is to be when the seating starts.
But if you get the Hornady 147 gr. XTP, it's boattailed.

 

[kcofohio]

I should add that the first time of reloading a once-fired case. I give it a quick spin of a 60 degree chamfer bit to knock off any burrs. It's ever so slight.

 

[WrongHanded]

I should add that the first time of reloading a once-fired case. I give it a quick spin of a 60 degree chamfer bit to knock off any burrs. View attachment 1057727It's ever so slight.

I do that for each new piece of brass. I usually recover 80-100% at the range. I've yet to have a case fail and typically have 200-250 pieces circulating. So it's entirely possible some of my current brass has been loaded 10+ times.