Why only two dies for bottle neck cases?

[YankeeRebel]

Why are only two dies, a resizer/decapper & a seating/crimper, used to reload non-straight walled cases such as the 357 Sig and rifle cartridges? I would think that a die to "bell" the mouth would also be in order. I am just starting to reload for my 357 Sig and the resizer/decapper leaves the mouth smaller than the .355 FMJ bullets I intend to use. I would believe that this would deform the base of the bullet especiall if using lead. Does belling the mouth place so much stress on the case that it can be deformed by this operaiton?

I really don't want to go any further in reloading for this cartridge until I get a good explination. I enjoy and have had good success and enjoy reloading for my straight walled pistols. Now I want to try reloading for my new toy.

 

[swifter]

By and large, any advantage in bullet seating would be obviated by the loss in case neck tension, IMHO...

You might consider adding a Lyman "M" die to your set, it expands the case mouth slightly without belling it, so lead bullets can be used more readily.
Tom

 

[Nero Steptoe]

On the Lee and Dillon systems, the case mouth of bottleneck handgun cases is belled at the powder-drop station. You don't need to bell much. I try to get by without belling at all, when loading .400 Cor-Bon and .40 Super.

 

[Significent]

Belling

YankeeRebel:

As Nero said, you want as little belling on the 357SIG cases as possible. Bullet set back can be a real issue if neck tension is not high. If you really want to find out about the 357SIG, check out Pete Jordon's web page at:

http://www.handguninfo.com/Archive/www.Pete-357.com/

Hope this helps.

 

[Art Eatman]

I just chamfer the inside of the case mouth a little bit, on my rifle cartridge cases. Takes time, but I don't shoot the volume of rifle that I do of pistol. Once done, though, there's no repeat necessary.

Art

 

[CMcDermott]

For bottle-neck rifle cases, the expander button is part of the sizer/decapper die. I'm not famaliar with the 357 Sig, but I would assume that there should be an expander button on it's sizer die. No, it doesn't bell the case mouth at all, but it should be able to control the neck tension.

 

[Significent]

Lee 357SIG Expander Die

Here's what the directions in my die set say:

 

[shu]

Beg pardon, but I gots to ask - naked lead in 357sig? I don't do much naked lead, but I thought velocities were generally kept below 1000 fps to avoid vaporizing the back of the bullet, whilst the object of 357sig was velocities of 1200 fps or better.

But on subject, I have loaded 357sig with Speer 4362 125gr and Rainier 124gr plated flat-points. I use a single stage Rock Chucker press. No, they don't start as well as they would with a bit of bell on the case mouth (or with boat-tail rifle bullets) but I'd rather not work the case mouth back and forth. Good neck tension is important with 357sig.