Hornady .357 brass

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Walkalong

Walkalong

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I picked up 13 Hornady nickle .357 cases at the range recently. After sizing they measured 1.247 to 1.250. Hm, must be from FTX ammo. My .357 expander wouldn't bell them at all and I didn't want to adjust it, so I used my .38 Spl expander by feel, which wasn't very consistent, but it worked.

The primer pockets are very tight, and deep.

My taper crimp and roll crimp dies are set for heavy and I use spacers to adjust them for a lighter crimp, so I was able to put a light taper crimp on the 158 Gr X-Treme SWC I wanted to use.

I am loading up a few to test out tightgroup tiger's BE-86 load. I expect it to do well. I am already a big fan of the X-Treme 158 Gr SWC.

So bummer, short brass. But I did pick up a bunch of nice obviously once fired .38 Spl cases. The boxes for it were in the trash can.
 
Walkalong said:
I picked up 13 Hornady nickle .357 cases at the range recently. After sizing they measured 1.247 to 1.250. Hm, must be from FTX ammo. My .357 expander wouldn't bell them at all and I didn't want to adjust it, so I used my .38 Spl expander by feel, which wasn't very consistent, but it worked.

The primer pockets are very tight, and deep.

My taper crimp and roll crimp dies are set for heavy and I use spacers to adjust them for a lighter crimp, so I was able to put a light taper crimp on the 158 Gr X-Treme SWC I wanted to use.

I am loading up a few to test out tightgroup tiger's BE-86 load. I expect it to do well. I am already a big fan of the X-Treme 158 Gr SWC.

So bummer, short brass. But I did pick up a bunch of nice obviously once fired .38 Spl cases. The boxes for it were in the trash can.
Click to expand...
Just adjust your dies to correctly load the brass. It's not hard to adjust back for the other brass you have.
 
Not happening, upsets my OCDness about repeatability, especially not over 13 cases. I will use them for this initial test, see how much they stretch, and likely retire them/hold them back for testing. :)
 
I left for the range today to shoot these and right before I got to my exit work called, so I had to turn around and go take care of an issue. By the time I got to the range the sun was settling below the treeline. I went ahead and set up the chrono at 5 yards with a target at 7 yards as I usually do getting numbers and checking accuracy potential.

After the first three shots I had a small cloverleaf, and after six I had one slightly larger and rounder hole. Ok, looks like it is going to be accurate. I ejected the brass and it looked like new, ready to size and load. Not a single reading on the chrono.

So, it's accurate, maybe very accurate, doesn't scorch the brass at all, and I have no idea what the FPS are. I have been waiting for months to try BE-86 in midrange .357 loads and was eager to see the powder back vs powder forward numbers, I finally picked up a pound at the last gun show, and I got to the range, but I still have no idea what the numbers are. *sigh*

Another day. :)
 
Walkalong said:
Not happening, upsets my OCDness about repeatability, especially not over 13 cases. I will use them for this initial test, see how much they stretch, and likely retire them/hold them back for testing. :)
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That's easy Walkalong. Just buy another press & a set of dies for those 13 rounds. You can save some money & just use the same shell holder. ;)
 
lol, kind of how reloaders think sometimes. :)

I reloaded those six cases and will try again, maybe tomorrow.
 
Walkalong said:
Not happening, upsets my OCDness about repeatability, especially not over 13 cases. I will use them for this initial test, see how much they stretch, and likely retire them/hold them back for testing. :)
Click to expand...
Well, see, that number 13 is the problem! Doesn't fit any sort of OCD pattern that I'm familiar with. If you reduce that count to 10 or increase it to 20, things might start working better. 12 or 15 might even work, for me at least. But 13?? That only works for donuts.
 
Walkalong said:
Not happening, upsets my OCDness about repeatability, especially not over 13 cases. I will use them for this initial test, see how much they stretch, and likely retire them/hold them back for testing. :)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I understand that lol. I hear ya buddy.

Sounds like the ammo you shot is a winner. Can't wait to hear the velocity. If they are that accyratexand the velocity is where you want it, you hit on a great load.
 
None of the six fired cases stretched enough to measure, so no hope of them getting to 1.280. The good news is I am only using a light taper crimp which is easy to adjust with my spacers and I doubt it will make a difference on target. But I still won't throw them into the rotation. I'll shoot these 13 and get some numbers, then load up say 50 with my normal brass for further accuracy testing.

As posted in another thread, I stole the load from Tightgroup Tiger. He posted it it here some time back. I have the link at home.
 
Yeah. I do also but I was thinking about shimming under the head which would be easy on the SS but maybe not so much in the progressive. I still vote a new press & die set. Lol
 
I got to the range and the accuracy was basically a repeat of yesterday, except I pulled one out of the 12 rounds on target. 6 Powder Back and six Powder Forward. All went through the same wallowed out hole ( A little over two bullet diameters wide) except the one I pulled.

48 Degrees 31% RH. I used a 4" 586-3 with a Red Dot mounted on it.

Powder Back:

Hi=1074
Lo=1040
Avg=1057
ES=34
SD=11

Powder Forward:
Hi=1040
Lo=975
Avg=1001
ES=65
SD=21

Minus 56 FPS powder forward at this power level is very good. Six shots is a small sample but it gives me a real good idea of how it is doing. Many powders give 200 to 300 less FPS PF vs PB. Some from 100 to 200. Less than 100 is good. 56 is very good.

Cases were again very clean with just a touch of fouling on one side of the case mouths.
 
Than is for a the information, it looks like you did find a good midrange load. It will probably make a good walking around load alright.

What is the charge weight of BE-86 and which primer are you using?
 
Life's too short. I segregate brass by head stamp. I know the story on Hornady brass and have it all culled out of my active brass, those cases in my reloading rotation. I have a box of FTX bullets for when I have enough suitable brass to bother setting up for it.

I use exclusively Winchester brass on 38 and 357, since about 10% of the time it requires a Hornady shellholder, too big for a Lee. The Hornady SH is thicker, so there is an entirely different setup for it. In that process of sorting, all the head stamps get put in their own bags. The bottom line is that the crimps are pretty consistent.

I use the case trimmer to make the larger calibers uniform.
 
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