351 wsl

[JRLesan]

I am making plans to order dies from Corbin for .351 cal bullets but have a few questions on jackets. I am not new to swageing, having bought a CSP-1 press and dies back in the '90's.

I am trying to decide whether to buy a supply of .357 jackets and a draw die to arrive at usable jackets for the .351 or to go ahead and get the necessary dies to make copper tubing jackets. I am in the plumbing business and have been for a number of years so type L tubing in the appropriate size is not an issue. I have a lathe, so cutting to correct length will not be an issue. I'm guessing that I would need a jacket trim die for both the copper tube jackets (holding trim length to exact tolerances in a lathe could be tedious and time consuming) and full length .357 factory jackets (unless I was willing to use the length that the drawn jacket happened to come out at).

I am not trying to economize on the project and I doubt I would ever make a thousand bullets in the rest of my lifetime. However, once retired, I doubt I'd be able to justify the start up cost of rolling my own. I like to experiment, or at least plan on experimenting in my spare time.

Comments on jacket drawing stock jackets vs copper tubing jackets would be appreciated and maybe I could proceed with my winters project. Thanks. all...

[MIBULLETS]

JR,
I have done both for various calibers and drawing jackets is by far easier and less time consuming. There are also different lengths of .357 jackets out there to try. Now on the other side making you own jackets from tubing is rewarding, but much more time consuming.

What do you intend the bullets to do? Just target shooting, hunting, or something else? The drawn jackets will normally be much thinner than the tubing and will expand more at the velocity you can fire them in the .351 wsl.

[Reload3006]

personally I wold get a draw pinch trim set. one die to draw down the jackets from .357 then the pinch trim set to trim them to any length you want them to be. I made my own copper tubing jacket making set for my Walnut hill I use 3/8 od tubing because its the easiest to get. So I can tell you with experience a trim draw set will be easier and much cheaper.

[MIBULLETS]

Yes, draw pinch trim die, that would work well!

[bullet maker 57]

I use a 40cal jacket at .65 long. I draw this jacket to .349. No need to trim as it makes apx a 175 gr bullet with a round nose very similar to a factory head.

[firefly1957]

Glad to see another shooting the Winchester 1907 I size .357 bullets to load mine i have used lighter bullets as well as 180 gr. bullets with good luck. one problem i have had is the .2" seating depth of the bullets i have found the Lee factory crimp die very helpful with this as i do not need to chanalure my bullets. I have a OLD set of rcbs dies to load this round and discovered that it expands to much of the case in the mouth leading to lack of bullet tension the last batch loaded i used the Lee universal belling die to get better neck tension on my bullets. Another note and i have not been working on this much but i have been using .223 /5.56mm cases trimmed to length with good success the extractor holds the case for good ignition (along with headspacing on the case mouth)and i have fired the same cases 11 times now. These are minimum loads just enough to properly function the action so far they have worked fine i have not loaded full pressure loads yet but intend to. According to Winchester the maximum working pressure of the .351 WSL cartridge is 48,200 cup which is a pretty stiff load in that day if i remember right the 30-03 was only 43000 cup back then.

[firefly1957]

I forgot to mention the Russian 5.45 X 39 should be a perfect case if you can get brass boxer primed cases to fireform. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45%C3%9739mm

[Del-Ray]

I've got an NOE mould for this caliber at work. I'll get the numbers for you tomorrow if you want. A customer traded it in, and we haven't found a person that needed it in years.

Just a thought.

[SOFMatchstaff]

I notice the OP hasnt been back for a month, but I'll answer with some info anyway. Grafs has 351WSL 180gr bullets in stock for around .15 ea. They are from Berrys, and plated heavy for the specific use in the Win. they were a special run for Grafs. I saw them being packaged prior to shipping. good bullets.

Seems a lot of expense in swage tooling, I know, thats not the point, but it is a rather special niche.

[firefly1957]

Another good source for jackets could be 9mm Luger casings .