crimp and coal 38 special

[col_jp]

First off I will say hi since I'm a first time poster. I'm also new to reloading.
Now the dilema. I bought some cast swc 158g bullets off of Ebay back when you could. My Lyman manual didn't have one that matched what i have. So I got to looking online and Hodgon reference a swc 158g at a oal of 1.475. So I made some dummy rounds. The problem is that it doesnt crimp very far into the crimping groove. One of my first attempts turned out at 1.450 and crimps down nice and looks like my purchased reloads. Except the HSM brand reloads are 1.475. The last band on my cast bullets are approximately .025 shorter that the HSM ones.
So do I shorten the oal to 1.45? Do I still use the starting load of 3.1g of w231
per Hodgon website? I forgot to say that the 1.475 dummy round won't collapse when pushing hard against the bench. But putting a straightedge against it shows that there is no roll at all.
How do you learn to adjust for variances like this?
Just for reference I only have the ABC's of reloading and the Lyman manual.
OK that hopefully covers it. Go easy on me I'm new.LOL I forgot to say that I have been reading and searching this and another website for about a day and a half.


Thanks
JP

[Ben]

col_jp:

Welcome on board, all of us started out just like you today, new to the concept of reloading ammo. WELCOME ! ! ! !

With the 38 special with mid range loads a mild crimp is all that is necessary. A hard crimp into the crimp ring will shorten the life of your brass and encourage split necks. Some say that the hard crimp improves ignition, for me I've never found that to be a critical issue in loading revolver rounds like the 38 Spec. In general , the 38 Special is a very forgiving cartridge to load for.

Some others may disagree with what I'm about to say , but I personally don't feel that the COAL is a critical item with the 38 Special as long as you don't " deep seat " a bullet and decrease the case capacity of the round. Obviously you don't want the tip of a bullet to extend from the mouth of the cylinder and lock up your revolver.

Loading for all the auto pistol cartridges is another completely different issue.

Many auto loaders are very picky about the COAL of the rounds that they will feed reliably from their magazines.

Some auto pistols can be rendered EXTREMELY DANGEROUS with a round that is too long in the COAL dept., causing the pistol to possibly fire " out of battery".

Ben

[col_jp]

What about my next step, when I reload it for 357?

[runfiverun]

set your crimp in that groove .005 isn't gonna raise your 38 or 357 pressures that much
if you were using a full load of h-110 you still would want enough crimp to keep the boolits from walking forward in a revolver.
if you are using these in a lever action rifle you want that crimp to keep the boolits from going into the case deeper.
a firm crimp is enough don't get carried away.
i have developed some loads for target shooting with no crimp. but you gotta test them.
the best way to do this is to load up a cylinder shoot all but one load up again shoot those
five and measure the one that rode around.
if it barely moves you are good to go.

[Sprue]

Yup, what they said.

For 38's I always lightly crimp at the crimp grove, or cannelure on jacketed.

Myself I don't see the need to load cast lead in .357 . I dedicate these cases to full house jacketed. And I don't want to get into the gas check thing.

COAL isn't that critical on revolvers BUT as said above Auto Loaders is another story.

[Ricochet]

A couple of weeks ago I had a squib round with no powder in a .38 Special with a medium crimp into the crimping groove of a #358432. All I heard was a click. The bullet did not move. The standard small pistol primer functioned normally and left a very heavy black sooty deposit on the base of the boolit and case interior. Crimp held it tight.

Roll crimping very much when the case mouth isn't over a groove will bulge the end of the case behind the crimp so it won't chamber. I have a bunch of .44 Specials like that that I'm going to have to run through a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die to fix.

[runfiverun]

sprue
a p/b lead boolit will hit some impressive velocities.
i shoot a p/b 250 gr at 1550 in my colt rifle.
and am nearing this in my 357 rifle with 20" bbl.
i think i could get more but this is plenty good, and either will hit a ram silhouette at 200
yds.
accurately enough to use for deer, or coyotes.