Lee C358-200-RF in my Rem 141

[Paul D. Heppner]

I finally got around to playing with the Lee C358-200-RF in my 141 35 Remington. Being the wise retired engineer that I supposedly am I just made up a dummy round to see how well it cycled thru my gun. Well,,, it don't. It jams into the rifling pretty hard. It does go into battery but it takes an inordinately amount of force to do so and extract that dummy round. Anyone else run into this problem with the Lee boolit and the 141?

[Three44s]

I run into the same issue with my waffle top Marlin with the RCBS 200 gr boolit sized to .359”

Seated a bit deeper I got around it.

Three44s

[45-70 Chevroner]

I had a Lyman 200gr. RN mold and it cycled perfectly in my Marlin 35 Rem. I later had that rifle rebuilt to 38-55 by Marlin. At the time I had it done it cost $180.00 + shipping.

[RickinTN]

That bullet is the gold standard for the 35 Remington cartridge. As I see it you have three options. 1) shoot it as is, I think you will find accuracy to be excellent! 2) Seat the bullet a bit deeper and ignore the crimp groove. A Lee factory crimp die should work well for this. 3) Trim the cases just a bit in order to lessen the amount the bullet engages the lands while still using the crimp groove.
Good Luck!
Rick

[Paul D. Heppner]

Well I figured it out. I have recently upgraded my RCBS Jr press to a Rockchucker. As such I had to reset my dies so I was playing around there. I was setting up a dummy round so I just grabbed a case out of the bin. It didn't have a primer in it so it had to be all prepped and ready to go right? First mistake, didn't check the length and seated to the crimp groove, second mistake. I didn't check the col, bolt face to meplate, with the ogive touching the rifling, third mistake. So, I took it apart. Case was a little over .015 long (Federal range pick up, don't normally use Fed brass). Trimmed the case to the proper length and seated boolit to .015 under the calculated length and surprise, the case mouth and crimp groove coincided, crimped properly and cycled thru the gun as it should.

Moral of the story is don't try to set up a process in a hurry, late in the evening, and after a huge Thanksgiving dinner, and no I don't drink. Always work carefully with a clear mind, take your time, and pay attention to detail.

I feel like such a rookie. I've only been reloading for over 56 years. It's embarrassing.

[rking22]

Glad you got it solved, my 14 and both 141s eat those like candy! I don’t know how familiar you are with those rifles, but a too long cartridge causes a really nasty tie up. Like take the gun apart to clear, kinda tie up. Stay at or under factory max length and never a concern. Your rifle may like around 26 grains ( check your manual, should be well under max) of RL7 with that bullet. Only my newest vintage 141 doesn't shoot it well. Need pictures, we like those old pumpguns!