Problem with loaded rounds

[Geraldo]

He's the drill. I was digging around in my ammo and found some .38 Special ammo I loaded years ago. I used commercially cast WCs and it appears that when seating the bullets some of the cases got just enough of a bulge that they will not chamber. I'd rather not pull them, so just to see what would happen I took the decapping pin out and ran one through the sizing die. It worked, but am I creating a dangerous situation by trying this? Inquiring minds want to know.

It's not a lot of cartridges, so I could take the time to pull them or jut chuck them and do a better job with QA on my next batch.

[Heavy lead]

Lee factory crimp die will cure all your ailments with that ammunition

[KYCaster]

This problem has been discussed here before, but it's been a long time.

38 brass is not all created equal. Internal dimensions vary with manufacturer and application. Deep seated wadcutters can get into the thicker part of some cases and cause the bulge you've encountered.

To eliminate the problem look for cases with two cannalures...like these:
9928

They were made for wadcutter loads.

BTW...I haven't tried any of the Lee Factory Crimp dies for pistol cartridges so this is purely a biased opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it...but it seems to me that if your loaded rounds don't fit the chamber they're intended for then there is a problem with the reloading process that needs to be addressed and corrected. I think sizing the loaded round to minimum dimensions is a catch-all solution to a variety of issues and can cause some problems of its own.

I know there a lot of guys here who use them with good results...just seems counter-productive to me. Again, just my opinion...please don't take it as criticism, that's not how it's intended.

Jerry

[boommer]

Geraldo I've done that before and so long they are not hot loads in a weak gun ,you have sharp crimp so your just rounding it a bit. I have a38-55 thats finicky on the crimp because of big bore and tighter chamber and I just pull the decap rod and just bump the crimp a little and WHA-LA.

[shotman]

I done the same thing with some non sized boolits the FL die deal worked BUT what happend was that makes the boolit loose in the case. {the lead will compress and stay the brass will expand some} I had several pop out under recoil and lock cylinder. I slite roll crimp would work but I just unloaded them and redone them.

[Geraldo]

Thanks for all the replies. I did a bit of more checking last night, including reading my log pages from back when I loaded them, and I think the chamber of my TC barrel is contributing to the problem.

I loaded a good number of these particular rounds, and I don't have that many left, which indicates to me that I shoot them in my S&W 586 before I traded it. There are no notes of problems in that pistol. Second, I tried some other loads in my TC, and it's very picky. .357s that I know worked fine in other guns are tight in this barrel, as are factory Blazers. It has no problem with factory RP Gold Sabers.

So the problem may be slightly out of spec rounds and a tight chamber combined, which leads to a new set of issues.

[eka]

I know you are dealing with already loaded cartridges, but Heavylead and KYCaster were dead on. I wouldn't load .38 Special using mixed headstamp without a Lee Factory Crimp Die. Same goes for the .45 ACP and curing feeding issues. And no, I don't think you are creating any particularly dangerous situation as long as the bullets are still tight.

Keith

[oneokie]

Only problem I can see from sizing the loaded rounds down enough to chamber in a single shot would be a chance of leading............ Undersized boolit..............

[S.R.Custom]

I don't know if such a solution exists for the .38, but consider this for the .45 ACP:

Because of the groove diameters involved, I load some pretty fat boolits in the .45 ACP. And every now and then, because of the wall thickness of the case, I'll get a round too fat to chamber. I've found that an empty seating die for the .308 Winchester --in this case made by Pacific-- makes the perfect "factory crimp" die. The inside of the die is tapered, so I can adjust it to give only the amount of post-sizing necessary to assure reliable feeding. Indeed, when I load .45 ACP, that .308 die occupies the 5th station on my progressive...

[leadeye]

+1 on the Lee factory crimp. A friend of mine showed me that trick on some 357 magnum WCs that I had the same problem with. Took care of it.