New caster here, working with Lee TL358-158 SWC. Loading using Lee Turret press, Lee dies.
Earlier in my (short) reloading career, I found my Lee Factory Crimp Dies to be very helpful...all cartridges run through it chambered great, and seemed to shoot great. This was with 30-06 & 45 ACP. At this time however, the FCD was doing a pretty consistent amount of "work" to the cartridge, which I thought was standard operating procedure.
Since then I have been led to believe that excessive action by the FCD is indicative of improper case mouth belling, improperly sized tips, or unusual/inconsistent case wall thickness. Maybe there are more reasons, please chime in if I have missed an important one. It was drilled into me that neck tension was the real issue at hand, and if I was experiencing excessive FCD work, then I did not have proper neck tension.
Therefore I have attempted to reduce the extent of case mouth expansion to the bare minimum to allow straight bullet seating. Of course with jacketed this poses no apparent problems but with plated (Berry's) or straight case it is another story. So far these "problems" have not resulted in any noticeable issues when shooting, so maybe I shouldnt even worry, but I like to think that this forum is a place where people can walk a theoretical path, receive advice from those who have walked the literal path, and help others who may be considering the same path. Here is the long & short:
I am experiencing a little bit of lead shaving on probably 25% of my seatings. I dont mix brass makers, but I also do not keep rigorous track of number of reloads in each case. Since I size all the boolits, I'm thinking maybe that the case wall thickness is different from case to case. On the other hand, I thought the expander die worked from the inside-out, so the expanded ID of the case should be the same from case to case. Then, the Lee FCD would even things out by flattening the outside of the case to a uniform dimension.
For some reason, however, about a quarter of my boolits show small slivers of lead after coming back down out of the seating die. The Lee FCD wipes these clean, so they will never be getting into my guns, but it seems like a bad thing that I am losing lead and maybe over-smoothing the edge of the boolit.
The good news is that the Lee FCD does next to nothing to the cartridges, other than crimping at the full downstroke position. There is no "smoothing" of the case walls like I used to experience, other than the fact that the lead slivers are gone. So I think that the neck tension is appropriate, or at least, it is strong enough.
Further, I have not noticed any bullet creep while shooting my revolvers. I have not yet reached full Magnum loads with my home-cast, but I will on my next shooting session. I have certainly experienced incomplete powder burn with 2400, Lil Gun, & IMR 4227. While using jacketed, an increase in powder charge seemed to solve the powder burn problem. I am hoping that proper attention to neck tension will solve the problem with my cast.
Quick, easy question: do the settings for optimal neck tension for your 357 mag result in case shaving, occasionally?
Next: what level of importance do you place on this level of neck tension? Is it more important than easy boolit seating (i.e, would you scrap boolits/adjust your expander die)?
Third: how dramatic of an effect on complete powder burning should I expect from an adjustment in neck tension?
thanks in advance.