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If your bullets run a bit large and you are using modern thick-walled .38 Special cases which are dimensioned to increase bullet pull when loading lighter-weight, jacketed bullets, your reloads may exceed SAAMI max. cartridge dimensions. The correct answer to both your oversized bullets and the need to perform a consistent crimp with no mouth bulges is to use the Lee Factory Crimp Die.
This will size the bullet, if necessary, by compression inside the case, and it will profile the full length of the loaded round to iron out any bulges causes by mismatch of the interior case wall taper by the bullet base impinging against it. This is both the simple AND correct answer.
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Im not using overly large boolits, they are sized at .358. I am going to try the taper crimp die first and if no joy, try the FCD. Problem is, I am sure I need .358 sized boolits for this pistol and do not want the FCD to swage the boolits down any further. But I am getting ahead of myself. In all actuality, I will prolly try both since both are inexpensive.
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sigep1764,
Have you checked case length, if your cases are too long, a roll crimp die will Bulge the case out and cause hard chambering.
I don't like the FCD, it will actually size down the bullet.
I tried it in .44-40 and it sized the bullets undersized and I got leading in both rifle & revolver.
A light taper crimp can smooth out some case length problems. Light Taper Crimp.
Good Luck.
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If it is a "Official Police" then it is post 1927 - they changed the name that year to OP from Army Special. I have a 6" Army Special - made in 1910. A good shooting revolver with cast - I keep them mild for mine.
Take your serial number - go to ProofHouse (google it) - find the Colt section and look up your serial number it will tell you the DOB. And measure your barrel from the front of the cylinder to the end - that will give y0u the length of the barrel - not from the front of the frame to the end of the barrel.
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Thanks BedBug!! Mine was born in 1948 according to ProofHouse.
Walks, I did not trim the brass. I have never trimmed pistol brass before, all my experience in pistols has been 9mm and 380. I will definitely look at it when I pull the rounds down to resize and reload using the taper crimp die.
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My purely subjective opinion is that after several firings .38 Special brass is more likely to need of trimming than either of the aforementioned 9mm autoloader cases. Or maybe I manage to lose autoloader brass before the issue arises.
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Well, called 5 shops this morning in the area plus Cabelas and Bass Pro and no one has a 38 Special taper crimp die. Resorted to Amazon. Should be here Friday. The RCBS die was on sale so I ordered that one.
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Great revolvers but a bit more hard in double action then the S&W revolvers. I have a Official Police 4 inch barrel made in 1967 and a 3 inch Army Special made in 1922. Both revolver were in like new condition as they were purchase and put away and hardly ever used. When I carry them I use a handload of 200 grain MKI lead bullets back with 2.5 grain of 700X. The bullets do tumble on impact.
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Taper Crimp Die came in and all rounds now chamber! First firing tmro...
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60 rounds, no leading down the barrel. A little lead/lube splatter on the frame to the left of the forcing cone. Pretty accurate soft shooting pistol! It prints to poa with 150ish grain boolit and 3.1 grains of Red Dot. The frame is a little large for my hands. In double action it is difficult to get to the trigger but not impossible. Single action is a dream and breaks very cleanly.