356-102-1R Problem

[Dickenscpa]

I bought this mold about a week ago and casted about 20 boolits to run a test. Tumble lubed them and sized to .356 to run in my Sig P238, which is a .380.

Last night was my first chance to attempt loading them. At first I couldn't get the boolit in the case so I added a bit more bell. I had my seating die bottomed out but couldn't get the boolit to seat any deeper than an OAL of 1.093.

Now I have no problems seating a Hornady XTP JHP 90g to .956, which is a shorter bullet.

I thought maybe another die station on my Hornady LNL caused it to not bottom out so I moved the die over to my single stage Rockchucker and screwed the die down as far as it would go and then still had the seater knob as far down as it would go. It was crimping and seating at the same time, which I do separately, but still only seated the bullet to an OAL of 1.058.

I was able to pull the boolit by hand and I remeasured all 20. All were either .3555 or .356. All boolits dropped between 101.7g-103.1 so the mold is doing its job. Also, of the two boolits I tried to seat and pulled by hand, there was no stress, scrapes or deformaty of the boolit at all. Looked good and lubed too. If I put it back in general population I wouldn't have been able to tell which had been tried and not.

Any ideas?

Brad

[Four-Sixty]

What brand of dies were you using?

[ku4hx]

What's your powder and charge weight? You may have just run out of case volume if you're using a bulky "slow" powder.

[Dickenscpa]

Using Lee carbide dies and 2.8g of Win231/HP38.

I didn't even think to check about running out of room in the case. 2.8g of Win231 does take up some space in a .380 case.

Brad

[ku4hx]

Using Lee carbide dies and 2.8g of Win231/HP38.

I didn't even think to check about running out of room in the case. 2.8g of Win231 does take up some space in a .380 case.

Brad

Just a thought. I had your problem with a heavily compressed max load of AA#9 with 124 grain JHP in 357 Sig. They shot just fine, but cartridge OAL was all over the place. Reduced the charge a tad and COAL fell right into place.

[Dickenscpa]

Just a thought. I had your problem with a heavily compressed max load of AA#9 with 124 grain JHP in 357 Sig. They shot just fine, but cartridge OAL was all over the place. Reduced the charge a tad and COAL fell right into place.

When I get home tonight I'll test a case with no powder in it and see if it seats.

Thank you for your suggestion, it gives me something viable to check and something I didn't think of. I was using 3.2g for JHP and although the JHP is shorter I figured it was a wash going down to 2.8g. That may not be the case.

If it's a "too much powder" deal, something will have to change. Whether it be powder I choose or forget about this mold for .380 cause at the OAL of 1.05 they don't come close to passing the plunk test nor will they cycle. I'm also working within a .2g range on powder so messing with my charge won't do much either in Win231.

I'd hate to lose this mold. It's my first brand new mold and it casts PERFECTLY. I don't shoot 9mm or 38 super but it does drop around .359 so I could maybe get away with 38spl.

Brad

[ku4hx]

Like I said, just a thought. The whole thing is a process and if it's not this you'll find what it is. I doubt you'll have to give up the mold, just need to work through the process and eliminate what's NOT causing your problem along the way.

[Dickenscpa]

I figured out the problem. I've put off posting this and your probably gonna laugh at me... I got my crimp and seating die swapped on my press. I can't believe I did that first off. Secondly I can't believe I went thru so much troubleshooting and didn't catch it.

First thing I noticed when I sat at the bench this evening. Although in my defense a Lee FCD and seating die do look similar. LOL!

Thanks for walking with me thru my madness!

Brad

[ku4hx]

It's a process with a lot of learning along the way; glad you got it solved.