Reloading mistakes?

[LoneCoon]

I think I made a mistake with my this batch of reloads. I didn't crimp the last batch and they worked fine, although the blew unburned powder everywhere.


This batch was made up with 148g Copper jacked wadcutters and .37g Universal Clay.

This time, though, the wadcutters broke two of my guns. One round jammed the bullet in barrel of my Single action .357. Another jammed in the feeding tube of my Marlin.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Am I seating the bullet too far? The wadcutter bullet sits about 1/16 of an inch beyond the case. Am I crimping them to tight? They're crimped less than 1/32 of an inch.

 

[ReloaderFred]

First of all, I'm hoping you're loading at least 3.7 grains of Universal Clays, and not .37 grains. That said, I would venture a guess that the bullet stuck in the barrel of the revolver didn't have any powder behind it, or there wasn't enough powder to drive it through the barrel.

The wadcutter bullets will not feed through the Marlin Carbines. I have several of them and they need a loaded cartridge with an overall length of at least 1.40" to feed, and some of them won't feed rounds that short. Mine will, but they've had action jobs and are used in Cowboy Action Shooting.

For any cartridges used in the Marlins, or any other tube fed rifle, you'll have to crimp the bullet, or the spring tension will collapse the bullets into the cases and they won't feed. This is pretty common with tube feed lever guns. When the magazine is full, there is a lot of pressure on those rounds, and if there isn't enough crimp or neck tension to hold the bullet in place, it will get pushed into the case and jam up the action.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[The Bushmaster]

".37 g" ??

 

[joneb]

and .37g Universal Clay.

"g" grams or grains ? .37 grams = 5.69 gr

 

[LHB1]

+1 on getting that powder weight cleared up PDQ.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

 

[LoneCoon]

My mistake. It's 3.7g.

The wheel on my Auto disk powder measure is set to .37, hence the confusion and poor typing.