Speer 357 SIG brass - very small flash holes

[cmhellie]

I agree, run them through a 40 S & W carbide sizing die. If you want to determine if the small flash hole is the main obstacle, consider using a decapping die to remove only the primer. If you meet a lot of resistance with the decapper, then the resistance issue is with the flash hole, not the brass.

Little wolf

I thought it was odd that my resizing stage took so much effort. I even had a friend come over because he is a veteran reloader and mostly with bottleneck rifle cartridges. He too thought it was odd that such a small case with a small shoulder should put up so much resistance.

Wait til I tell him it was the flash hole, he will roll his eyes because he is constantly complaining about how industry is making it hard on guys like us to save money or be self sufficient by reloading. I'm sure Speer and Starline will maintain that this is not an effort to make our lives miserable, but if there is only one pin on the market that work, I question that motivation greatly.

 

[beatledog7]

I have a few hundred of this little S brass. It's good brass worth keeping, so I'm gradually working it thus:

1) Deprime with a Lee universal (no risking the pin on the cartridge-specific dies)
2) Drill out flashhole to normal size
3) Tumble
4) Size with .40S&W carbide die
5) Size necks with 357Sig die (doesn't require lube at this point)
6) Chamfer case mouths

Seems lot a lot of trouble, but it's only about an extra 1/2 minute for each piece. Given I have the time and don't mind the effort, it's the right process for me. I'll only have to do steps 1, 2, and 6 once, but you can bet I'll be working on ways to make sure I get most of this back when I shoot it.

 

[cmhellie]

Several follow ups here to get my mind right.

1. Why do I see a few people resizing with .40 first, then .357 sig? Does it totally eliminate the need for lube?
2. I have determined that the decap pin is causing the resistance and not the resize. If I have to choose between drilling the flash holes or milling my Dillon decap pin, which should I choose? I likely have 1.5 to 2K worth of "small s" Speer brass (that's a lot of flash holes to drill). If I decide to mill down the pin, what abrasive or tool should I use (I have a drill press and will chuck the pin in it). It appears that I will have to mill the pin down by at least 25/1000 maybe up to 40/1000. Can anyone comment on how much they have taken it down?

 

[ReloaderFred]

I solved the small flash hole problem in two ways. The first was I drilled out the small flash holes, but after a couple thousand it got tiresome, even though I devised a method of doing them really quickly. It only takes me about 6 or 7 seconds at the most to drill one out, but it's still tedious work, and I have to stand up to do it.

The second cure was sizing and decapping with an RCBS 357 Sig die. I've got sets of dies in this caliber from Dillon, Redding and RCBS, and use a combination of them to load, since each one has something that works better than the others.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[cmhellie]

So, the RCBS size die also decaps or do you start with a univesal decap, then size? I am not familiar with their product line. I think I want to find a decap die or size/decap die with a small pin diameter versus machine my Dillon decap pin smaller.

Thanks

 

[ReloaderFred]

I size and decap with the RCBS die. The decapping pin is smaller in diameter in the RCBS and it works just fine.

I used to have a list of the diameters of all the major decapping pins, but it's hiding somewhere in my PHD file (that's Pile it Higher and Deeper).................

Hope this helps.

Fred