sniper
10-16-2013, 11:03 PM
I'm TIRED! 8-)
I was taking a break from painitng grandkids' Christmas presents (11 of 'em) and I made the mistake of looking up a load, using my Lee dipper set, and discovered the new slide I bought has a "new" dipper data added. The dipper is sold separately, per a pleasant young lady at Lee.
THEN, I started to wonder...hmmmm...how much 357 brass do I have, anyway? See where this is heading? Do I need more? :roll: OBOY! I started adding up all I could find..."That's not quite right", sez I.
Then I remembered the several hundred fired and unprocessed cases in a yogurt tub on my loading bench!
Soooo....I spent several hours depriming, tumbling, trimming, chamfering and belling them, plus resizing and belling some previously over-expanded brass,(how'd that happen?:oops:) then sorting the whole mess by headstamp.
I did find one interesting, and rather frightening thing...in one case, there was a small centerfire cartridge case. I say centerfire, because it had a hole in the center of the case, but otherwise, it looked much like .22 Long Rifle brass. I don't have a .25 caliber handgun, and have never had .25 caliber brass on my bench, so how it got there, I'll never know! I got my dental pick out, and finally dislodged it, and it was really misshapen from the pressure. One side was torn about 1/8" wide, and about half of the cartridge length. It was below the bullet seating depth, so I could load and fire the 357 with it inside! I can't even guess what the pressure might have been! :holysheep THANK YOU strong Winchester brass and Smith & Wesson handgun!
How necessary is sorting by headstamp from the same manufacturer, anyhow?...I can see not allowing Remington and Winchester brass to fraternize irresponsibly...you never know what the progeny of such activities would look like! :mrgreen: If it's not necessary, I won't do that again! I learn slow, but I learn good!
WHY, you may ask? Wellll...I found two separate Winchester headstamps...one saying "WW Super 357 Magnum", and the other saying "Winchester 357 Mag". They both look like garden-variety 357 Magnum brass to me, and the dimensions are the same. I purchased the brass new, although at varying times, so I figure, maybe a marketing thing? So, unless somebody knows something I don't, I'll just consider them one headstamp, mix and match and go from there.
With my 2400 Unique and Universal loads included, it appears I have enough brass for several Zombie or Barbarian onslaughts.
THEN, in the True Spirit of Never Leaving Well-Enough Alone, and having, in the meanwhile, read some ad copy about the Lee Carbide Factory crimp die, and how it will do everything except make a properly soft-boiled egg, I started to think about my loaded rounds...Ahhh, yeeesss... have I bulged a case, so they won't fit? 45 minutes later, and just a little while ago....THEY ALL FIT! They make that satisfying "plunk" when dropped into the cylinder. :bigsmyl2:
What experience have any of you had with the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for 38/357 Maggie? Worth the money? It seems like that if a person is careful with reloading, it might not be necessary.
So, I'm tired, but it is a good tired! :-)
I was taking a break from painitng grandkids' Christmas presents (11 of 'em) and I made the mistake of looking up a load, using my Lee dipper set, and discovered the new slide I bought has a "new" dipper data added. The dipper is sold separately, per a pleasant young lady at Lee.
THEN, I started to wonder...hmmmm...how much 357 brass do I have, anyway? See where this is heading? Do I need more? :roll: OBOY! I started adding up all I could find..."That's not quite right", sez I.
Then I remembered the several hundred fired and unprocessed cases in a yogurt tub on my loading bench!
Soooo....I spent several hours depriming, tumbling, trimming, chamfering and belling them, plus resizing and belling some previously over-expanded brass,(how'd that happen?:oops:) then sorting the whole mess by headstamp.
I did find one interesting, and rather frightening thing...in one case, there was a small centerfire cartridge case. I say centerfire, because it had a hole in the center of the case, but otherwise, it looked much like .22 Long Rifle brass. I don't have a .25 caliber handgun, and have never had .25 caliber brass on my bench, so how it got there, I'll never know! I got my dental pick out, and finally dislodged it, and it was really misshapen from the pressure. One side was torn about 1/8" wide, and about half of the cartridge length. It was below the bullet seating depth, so I could load and fire the 357 with it inside! I can't even guess what the pressure might have been! :holysheep THANK YOU strong Winchester brass and Smith & Wesson handgun!
How necessary is sorting by headstamp from the same manufacturer, anyhow?...I can see not allowing Remington and Winchester brass to fraternize irresponsibly...you never know what the progeny of such activities would look like! :mrgreen: If it's not necessary, I won't do that again! I learn slow, but I learn good!
WHY, you may ask? Wellll...I found two separate Winchester headstamps...one saying "WW Super 357 Magnum", and the other saying "Winchester 357 Mag". They both look like garden-variety 357 Magnum brass to me, and the dimensions are the same. I purchased the brass new, although at varying times, so I figure, maybe a marketing thing? So, unless somebody knows something I don't, I'll just consider them one headstamp, mix and match and go from there.
With my 2400 Unique and Universal loads included, it appears I have enough brass for several Zombie or Barbarian onslaughts.
THEN, in the True Spirit of Never Leaving Well-Enough Alone, and having, in the meanwhile, read some ad copy about the Lee Carbide Factory crimp die, and how it will do everything except make a properly soft-boiled egg, I started to think about my loaded rounds...Ahhh, yeeesss... have I bulged a case, so they won't fit? 45 minutes later, and just a little while ago....THEY ALL FIT! They make that satisfying "plunk" when dropped into the cylinder. :bigsmyl2:
What experience have any of you had with the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for 38/357 Maggie? Worth the money? It seems like that if a person is careful with reloading, it might not be necessary.
So, I'm tired, but it is a good tired! :-)