357 &38 oal question

[roberts1]

I've been loading some lee 158 tc boolits for 38 & 357 which shoot great but when I seat them the top groove is still about .075 above the case mouth. I would like to seat them lower but my reloading book says the min oal for the 38 should be 1.475 and 1.61 for the 357 so doing so would put them lower than called for. There is plenty of space in the cases for powder (clays) without compressing it but I didnt want to create a dangerous situation. They chamber fine and shoot fine, just look kinda weird I think the top groove is for crimping but it is too far out to use for that. Is it unsafe to drop them down the last .075 to make them "look" right? Or should I just be happy with them the way they are?

[454PB]

You can seat deeper as long as the powder charge is reduced to accommodate the reduce case capacity.

[engineer401]

If the cartridge shoots well, I would live with weird looking.

[rockshooter]

I always figured that they put the crimp groove there for a reason. You may need to slightly adjust your powder charge but unless it's a load too close to max, probably not. I've sometimes had to crimp beyond the crimp groove, but never below it.
Loren

[GP100man]

PIC , pic so we can see exactly what we think we`re talkin `bout .

But if they chamber & you have loads that work why fix what ain`t broke ??

The last TL esign I use is the TL wadcutter & I crimp a little in the 1st groove also .

[roberts1]

yeah that was my first thought, who cares how they look? It just seemed kinda weird that the first groove wasnt where it would seat. They are starting loads with very mild recoil so I suppose I could lower them a bit at a time. Again point taken why fix what aint broken?

[mroliver77]

I like my boolits to be out in the throat of the cylinder myself. I sometimes crimp in a lube groove to accomplish it. Lee molds are a kinda "one size fits all" situation so you do what you gotta do. Just remember that the case is not straight on the inside but thickens toward the case head.