I bought some 135 gr .357 Gold Dot Short Barrel JHPs and immediately ran into trouble seating them. No matter which seating punch I used, the HP opening was deformed.
With a RN punch, the opening was mashed inward. With a SWC or WC punch, the opening was flattened. Either way, it looked like the bullet’s performance would be significantly degraded.
I’m seating and crimping in two steps with different dies in my Dillon. I’m no beginner. I’ve been loading since 1971 and have loaded almost 200,000 rounds.
RCBS makes seating plugs for the 125 and 158 gr Gold Dots, but not the 135. Is there a difference? The 135 is supposed to have a larger opening. And I’m using Lyman dies anyway.
I took my SWC punch, chucked it in my lathe, turned the sharp edge off the shoulder and drilled out the center with a 3/16 bit. Then I mixed up some JB Weld, filled the hole and the mouth of the punch and waited for about 90 minutes until it was nice and firm.
I screwed the punch into the die and gently pressed a dummy round I’d made into the die, forming the JB Weld to the exact shape of the bullet. As the epoxy hardened, I kept pulling the round out, rotating it and tapping it in the die to get a smooth, even impression.
After leaving the die overnight, I tried it this morning. It works perfectly. The bullets retain their shape and seat nice and straight.
And it was free, except for the tiny cost of the JB Weld.
With a RN punch, the opening was mashed inward. With a SWC or WC punch, the opening was flattened. Either way, it looked like the bullet’s performance would be significantly degraded.
I’m seating and crimping in two steps with different dies in my Dillon. I’m no beginner. I’ve been loading since 1971 and have loaded almost 200,000 rounds.
RCBS makes seating plugs for the 125 and 158 gr Gold Dots, but not the 135. Is there a difference? The 135 is supposed to have a larger opening. And I’m using Lyman dies anyway.
I took my SWC punch, chucked it in my lathe, turned the sharp edge off the shoulder and drilled out the center with a 3/16 bit. Then I mixed up some JB Weld, filled the hole and the mouth of the punch and waited for about 90 minutes until it was nice and firm.
I screwed the punch into the die and gently pressed a dummy round I’d made into the die, forming the JB Weld to the exact shape of the bullet. As the epoxy hardened, I kept pulling the round out, rotating it and tapping it in the die to get a smooth, even impression.
After leaving the die overnight, I tried it this morning. It works perfectly. The bullets retain their shape and seat nice and straight.
And it was free, except for the tiny cost of the JB Weld.