Normal case buldge?

[Salmon-boy]

I ran off a thou or so boolits from a Lee 358-148-WC mold a couple of weekends ago, and loaded a box of .38 spcl cases for a test run in a Ruger Security Six.

The load was done on a Lee Pro 1000 progressive press using a size 30 powder disk and CCI small pistol primers. The loads hovered in the 2.8 to 2.9 grain range, using Bullseye.

After firing, I noticed a slight bulge in all of the cases, just forward of the rim (about 3/16 to 1/4 inch up the case)..

Been a VERY long time since I shot .38spcl, so I can't remember if this is normal or the added .1 to .2gr of Bullseye is causing it..

It's slight enough to be removed when relsizing, but how much will this shorten case life?

Please help a relative noob(at reloading) out. :mrgreen:
Thanks!
Chuck.

[leftiye]

Revolters (a lot of them ) have fairly loose chambers, and even those small loads will bulge the cases. Also, you should use a caliper, and measure the bulge. Even, .002" per side (.004" total) is visible, and looks much worse than it is. The sharpness of the start of the bulge also says a lot about how much pressure there was. If the bulge isn't too sharp it is in line with what 38 special brass and pressures should look like.

[454PB]

That's a very light load you're using, and the Security Six is a very tough revolver. Do these bulges appear with other ammo? As leftiye said, a small bulge is normal, but the amount is critical. With such a light load, the gun is suspect.

If the process is repeated (bulging and resizing), it will cause case failure in fairly short order.

[IcerUSA]

What size did you size the boolits ? What does the cylinder measure ? What does the bore slug ? If you know these dimensions you know what size to size the boolits and you might not have to FL resize the brass . Which brand of brass it is might have an effect also . So many things to check out but in the end it is all you .

Your boolits, your load , your great target . :)

FWIW

Keith

[Buckshot]

..............You can check your chambers with a caliper and get within a thou of what they actually are, if you're curious. I take it you've never seen this before? It's pretty common with fresh unfired brass, and full length sized brass. Dies are made so that your 38 Specials will fit every 38 Special revolter in the known universe.

Check a few of your remaining cartridges. Chances are they'll be hourglass shaped. Big where the seated boolit is, then narrow in the body and widening out again at the solid head where the sizer didn't reach.

For target and plinker loads you don't need a death grip on the boolit. I only partially resize my own pistol ammo. This pretty much leaves the back half as fired. This may or may not help accuracy. If the case expanded unevenly the partially sized case will tend to point the boolit off axis to some degree.

If you have a peestol accurate enough to see such things, it's something to watch for. But the one big plus is that you're no longer overworking the brass. I even tried this when reloading the 38 S&W. The case is so short there almost isn't enough there to have a top half and bottom half :-) A singular looking deal. Looks like it's lunch fell down around it's ankles, as the chambers in the Victory model a kind of 'military' loose.

................Buckshot

[44man]

The bulge is common and I actually make use of it. I neck size revolver brass and the little bulge centers the back of the case in the chambers. After a lot of hot loads they do get hard to chamber so I will full size every now and then.
I have never lost a case with it and some of my .44 brass has been shot over 40X.
Make use of it or ignore it.

[Salmon-boy]

Gentlemen, Oh, and you guys too! :-)

Wow! So much good info. Without taking a calipers to the casings (will when I get a chance) I'm going to guess that the whole bulge is maybe about a thou, by feel, it looked more impressive since it was nice and shiny and the rest was covered in residue. I did size the boolits to .358, lube with Lee Liq Alox.

No I didn't slug the barrel, in my naievity I thought manufacturing tolerances on the barrel would be reasonable (WHAT was I thinking?) Without slugging, will a calipers groove to groove be reasonably accurate?

I have run some .357Mag factory loads through this puppy already, and I didn't notice any bulges then, but then again, I wasn't paying attention like I was developing a load for it either!

Interesting info on resizing, If I just screw out the sizing die a couple 3 or 4 turns will that be high enough, or should I only resize the first 1/4 to 1/2 in of the case?

Thanks folks!

[felix]

Size pistol cases only that necessary to hold the boolit, plus an eighth inch past the end of the boolit when crimped in proper location. Before doing so, make sure a number of the same cases will slip back into the gun without ANY hangup anywhere. If there is a slight hangup on any one, the odds are good that one or two in the batch won't make it without quite a bit of force. That will make you lose confidence, so fully resize all those cases in the batch. This happens when some cases are from different lots, some lots of which are quite stiff. This is most important for automatic guns, and all of those cases destined for them MUST be resized totally every time. We don't want any hangups for these, no matter what. ... felix

[44man]

Most cases have a slight taper so you want to use a carbide or titanium nitride die to neck size. Backing out a regular die can reduce neck tension.

[44man]

Most cases have a slight taper so you want to use a carbide or titanium nitride die to neck size. Backing out a regular die can reduce neck tension. It will work if

[44man]

Most cases have a slight taper so you want to use a carbide or titanium nitride die to neck size. Backing out a regular die can reduce neck tension. It will work if the expander works properly.

[jb12k]

44man-I think you're stuttering!--HaHa

[44man]

Naw, it's this goofy site. [smilie=1: I don't know what happens. Sometimes nothing happens at all yet stuff gets posted, other times it goes to the moon. :mrgreen: