.357 lee loader problem

[aakicker]

Hi!! I reloaded 20 .357 rounds with the Lee classic hand loader and ran into a little problem. Almost half of the cases I reloaded will not fit all way into the cylinder of my revolver. I followed all directions!! The cases I'm reloading are once fired. CAN ANYONE HELP??? I dont know if its the crimp or what. BTW I'm using 125 gr XTP bullets. Any help would sure be appreciated!! THANKS

[Dave Bulla]

You may already be on the right track as my first thought as I was reading your post was improper crimp. I use Lee Loaders a lot. On some of them like my 35 Remington, I sometimes have trouble with the crimps. On cast lead bullets with a deep crimp groove they work fine but on jacketed, I struggled a bit. Eventually, I found that seating the bullet until the crimp groove was ALMOST completely covered helped along with a slight champher of the case mouth.

Basically what happens is that when you overdo the crimp, the case neck starts to bulge a bit. I've gotten to where a single fairly firm tap is usually enough. Just be sure to look close at the case as it doesn't take a lot of crimp.

Lastly, when you had a round that didn't fit the cylinder well, did you try it in other chambers? It's not impossible for a revolver to have cylinders where the chambers are not all the same spec.

[0verkill]

I think Dave Bulla hit the nail on the head. You can try a resized case, if it fits in all chambers you can bet it's the crimp.

[725]

I'm in the same camp. It doesn't take much to attempt a crimp only to have the case bulge instead of just a crimp fashioned. It can be minor enough that's it's hard to see. Got calipers?
Pull 'em and resize them. Then put a mild crimp on. I'd further test the resized empty cases to see if they fit the charge holes in the cylinder before loading. If there is a problem before you even load the cases, you'll have to look elsewhere for the solution. Just part of the learning curve we've all experienced.

[mdi]

Get a micrometer or dial vernier calipers. MEASURE!. Measure the OD before and after each step (fired/ready to reload, before and after sizing, after flaring, after crimping). This will tell you when your cases get/are buldged and you'll know what to correct. To troubleshoot, you need facts, everything else is just guessing.

[aakicker]

Thank you all for the help!!! I am going to reload some this weekend and I will pull out the calipers and go step by step. I will also ease up on the crimp. THANKS AGAIN!!!

[singleshot]

I have used Lee Loaders for 45 acp and 44 Mag and had this same problem with 45 acp. A factory crimp die fixed the problem with that particular boolit.

I guess I'm saying, I've had this problem with the crimp.

[Dave Bulla]

I kinda hesitate to post this next comment and purposely avoided it in my first post but I'll give you a little tip with the disclaimer that you kinda think about what I'm gonna say, look at your Lee Loader and a loaded round and make sure you feel comfortable doing it before you start.

The issue with overcrimped brass in the lee loader is that it causes the case below the crimp to bulge if you whack it too hard. Kinda like crushing a beer can. That's where the difficult chambering comes in. With cast lead boolits that have a nice deep crimp groove, I generally have little trouble but on jacketed bullets, you have to get the case mouth located just right on the cannelure ring. If it has no where to go, it tries to crush rather than crimp. Putting a nice bevel on the leading edge with a champher tool helps a lot.

I've fixed over crimped ammo in my Lee Loader by putting it back inside the sizing die as if just sizing the empty brass and used the decapping chamber to protect the primer and give the loaded round a couple gentle taps into the die. Don't try to drive it in flush like when sizing the empty brass, just slide it in by hand till it hangs up then tap it a little farther. Realize fully that I'm talking about a LOADED ROUND! I gave this process a good bit of thought before I did it and I feel that I (emphasis on ME, MYSELF AND I) can do this safely with a little care and common sense.

Think about it.

When you seat a bullet in the die, you are dealing with a live primer and a full powder charge and still whack it with a hammer. It is safe because the decapping chamber has a hole through it so there is no way to contact the primer and set it off.

You may be able to tap the round into the die far enough with the cupped end of the decapper over the round or you may have to flip it over and use the flat side. If so, USE CARE TO KEEP IT CENTERED OVER THE BASE OF THE ROUND. Stand the die up so the round is nose down inside it so you can clearly see how the decapper is positioned. Just a few taps after you feel resistance is enough usually. You will have to use the priming rod to tap the round out from the other side. Give it a simple inspection to see if the case bulge is gone. If not, repeat going a little deeper.

Be gentle, think about what you are doing and don't do anything you are not comfortable doing.

[Skipper]

I do it all the time, Dave. With a straight wall round, it's the easiest way to "taper crimp" :mrgreen:

[Dave Bulla]

Skipper, glad to hear someone else is doing it safely. Thanks.

FYI, here is a link to a post about an adapter I had made by a machinist friend at work recently.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=146306&page=3

Go to post #45 to see the pic's.

Having the die just the right height allows you to set the "gap" between the decapper and the bushing so that every round is crimped exactly the same amount and you can NOT over crimp. The very last pic shows a correct gap. In that case I believe it was about .025"

[MT Chambers]

How do you ensure that all the crimps are the same if you are hammerin' away on it?

[Dave Bulla]

How do you ensure that all the crimps are the same if you are hammerin' away on it?

Good question. Mostly it is a "feel thing". It's actually a lot easier than you would think if you are not too heavy handed. You can feel the rim of the case mouth come into contact with the taper in the die and it lets you square it up. The next problem is, at the instant of contact, is the face of the mallet square to the stack or canted? If the mallet face is crooked, it'll drive the case crooked too. Nailpounding 101... Medium to soft taps with a mallet that actually has a little weight to it works best. Same number of taps each round, going for same amount of force and inspect each round closely when done. After about a dozen rounds you can get pretty danged consistent if you are careful. I made a tool to hold the round perfectly centered and control the amount of crimp.

To see what I'm talking about go to the link in my last post. The little tool I made also controls the amount of crimp. You could use baby taps or whack it with lots of power and you'd get the same crimp every time.

[0verkill]

With me it was with a light "tap tap", same as in a press -as long as my brass was all the same thickness they got the same crimp.

Dave Bulla has 2 great ideas there, one to fix a bad crimp and one to ensure you don't get a bad crimp in the first place.

[Skipper]

I also use the same method in regular dies by removing the decapping pin and then running the loaded rounds up into the sizing die about 1/8 - 3/16"

[marlinman80]

I taper crimp with my Lee loader for 30-30 all the time. Just seat the the bullet and put it back in again after it is loaded. The neck sizer is smaller than thenewly loaded shell.put the decapper base down over the primer and tap lightly with a rubber hammer and walla taper crimped cartridge. I now have 4 fitted 1/2 washers i have sanded and epoxied together that provide a perfect 1/4 taper crimp everytime on my lee loader they cost me about 25 cents plus the glue.

[ROGER4314]

I loaded thousands of rounds on .357 and .45acp Lee Loaders. It was in the 1960's and it was then that I adopted my "Zero Bell" crimp style. Crimping got me into so much grief that I got totally away from it. I put bell (about .010" total or .005" on a side) seat the bullet then simply restore the cartridge to its normal dimension ....zero bell crimping. I do that to this day on my twin Dillons and Rock Chucker.

Occasionally, I noted a small amount of bullet protruding but it has occurred so seldom and with very little movement that the technique has worked well for me.

Flash