New to reloading for: Marlin 1894CS .357 and Uberti El Patron .357

[sealow]

Hi everyone: Well I did some dummy rounds to see how they cycled on my Marlin 1894, not to well: Factory ammo cycle good: Did use Bear Creek 125gr lead molly coated with a .38 case, the OAL by Lyman 49th is 1.147, did 1.146, 1.445, did four dummies; cycle good between four full cycle, then I get a JAM, I do really cycle the rifle hard, the way to go with Marlin: I did read online that the Marlin 1894 is very special with the OAL of the cartridges; I have the Lee deluxe pistol die set (four dies): These bullets does not have cannelure, how to apply the crimp? Crimped or uncrimped. Do I need to have the same OAL for both the revolver and the rifle ( I am new to CAS ) These reloads are going to use on an Uberti 357 as wells in the Marlin . Any advice?
Thank you
Be safe
Sealow

[williamwaco]

You need a better understanding of OAL.
This is not part of the recipe.
Nobody will slap your hand if you ignore it.

As long as it doesn't tie up the cylinder in the revolver, it TOTALLY doesn't matter how long it is.
If there is a crimp groove, use it to determine OAL for the revolver.

Now for the rifle:

Disregard every published OAL in every manual.

Since you are loading for a .357 magnum length action with .38 Special cases, you might need to seat the bullets significantly longer than normal for the .38 Special - - - Or maybe not.

Since factory ammo works fine, start with that length. If it doesn't work lengthen it by .010 and try again. Repeat until it gets better - or worse. If it gets worse, try the same thing in reverse. Shorten it by .010 and try again. If you just can't make it work, it is time to try a different bullet.

For quick die settings, one eighth of a turn into the press will shorten you OAL by .009. Note that this one eighth turn of the die body, not the seating stem.

If you can't make it work with the .38 special cases, use the magnum cases. The cost is about the same.

Here is the rule:

The "Correct" oal is the oal that will work in your rifle.

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