Reloading 380

[samurai]

I am having a problem loading 380s. I have a Lee Turret with a Lee 4 die set. I am damaging the mouth of case when I am putting the flare and powder in the case. The damage is a nick about 1/8" wide and 1/16" deep on the edge of the mouth. I have remounted the dies, indexed over one hole on the turret (in case I had a bad base), and have backed out the die to the point that the powder won't feed and it still does it. All the other calibers (9 , 40 and 45) work fine. 380 brass is too hard to find without tearing it up after you get it. Any suggestions?

 

[LiveLife]

Looks like it might be the die, I would start with calling Lee.

 

[HOWARD J]

Do you have a 9mm lee die that you can replace the 380 die--try it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[samurai]

On replacing the die, are you talking about the whole expander die or just the insert( flare plug) that actually flares the casing? I noticed that there is a difference in OAL in the flare plug. Would I compensate for the length or give it the" ol college try"? By the way , the lip of the damaged area is turned "in" on the case.

 

[HOWARD J]

set your flair just enuf to allow the bullet to seat w/out crushing the case---I sub many 9mm
dies for 380----------------------flair, bullet seat, taper crimp but not resize

 

[samurai]

Thanks. I'll give it a try. Will let you know the results.

 

[samurai]

I replaced just the flare plug from my 9mm and adjusted to comp for the length and it seems to work fine. I don't see any damage on the 380 plug, but I guess somethings out of whack. I'll contact Lee and return it. This is my first attempt at 380. There doesn't seem to be too much loading data on it. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[HOWARD J]

I use 3.8 gr of Unique for practice---90-95 & 100 gr. bullets

 

[samurai]

I have 1k of the Berrys 100 gr. plated RN. I have loaded some up with 4.gr. Power Pistol at .975. I'll give the Unique a try. Have anyone tried WST with 380 acp 100 gr.? It seems close to 231. I really like WST in 9mm and 45 acp as well as titegroup.

 

[zxcvbob]

I use 4.2 grains of Unique with 95 grain cast bullets for my hot load, and 3.0 grains of International for something a little lighter that doesn't sting my hand as much when I shoot. I don't recall the OAL for sure, but I think it's .980". I just use a Lee 3-die set.

 

[samurai]

I tried using Unique and am having a problem with it and my Lee powder measure (doesn't like flake powder on small feeds) I've loaded the Power pistol and some Auto Comp to go to the range tonight.

 

[HOWARD J]

You may have a static elect problem.
Cut a 1 1/2" wide piece of bounce ( frabic softner ) & place inside powder drop--tape the rest to outside of plastic to keep fabric from plugging drop hole.
See if this helps.

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[jcwit]

You need to polish the part that flares the case mouth. Very easy to do.

 

[samurai]

I'll try the fabric softener trick on the next reload. I tried the three loads tonight thru my 380cc and LCP. The 3.8 Unique worked, as did the Power Pistol, but the Auto Comp shot the softest and I was at least able to recover most of my brass. They were all pretty accurate and clean shooting.

 

[GoHerdGreg]

I crushed a few cases on my first attempt at reloading .380, too, with Lee 4-die set. With such a small case...you have to really slow down and be precise every time you raise/lower the arm on the press.

FWIW...I use 95 grain Rainier round nose bullets and 3.1 grains of TiteGroup powder. This setup is almost identical to the recoil felt by factory ammunition. Tons of fun to shoot.

Finding .380 brass is like finding gold...literally.