Short 357 brass. Any potential problems?

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I recently trimmed back 10 pieces of 357 brass to a length of 1.214” instead of the normal 1.280”. Now when I seat a Lyman 358429 boolit to crimp groove, the C.O.L is 1.590”. I had much better results with the shorter brass then with normal brass and the boolit crimped over the driving band. I have heard that loading hot 38 specials in 357 chambers will cause erosion and lead to problems ejecting 357 brass, could I potentially have the same problem with slightly short 357 brass?

[Wally]

I use slighty shorter .357 mag Brass cases in my Model 27 with no problems...just scrub out the gunk every so often...I have used them for years w/o any barrel erosion.

[dragonrider]

With regular cleaning of you cylinder you should have no problems. If it is working for you and you are not having pressure problems, go with it.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Wally,

Do you ever use normal length brass for 357 loads?

[Maven]

2ndAN, Several years ago Brian Pearce (Handloader magazine) recommended trimming .357mag. brass to 1.25" when using #358429 Doing so not only allows you to seat to and crimp it in the crimp groove, but the slightly shorter OAL fits most, if not all cylinders. It works perfectly! Now I no longer have to separate the 1.28" brass and -429 reloads for my Ruger BH from the shorter rounds for my Dan Wesson: Both are roll crimped [in the crimp groove]. Since reading Pearce's article, I routinely trim all .357mag. brass to 1.25" and have experienced no problems whatsoever.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Thanks guys! Very helpful.

Maven,
Do you trim all your 357 brass to 1.250” regardless of boolit/bullet, or only your 358429 loads?

[Maven]

2ndAN, I trim all of my .357mag. brass to 1.25" since I also cast and load a 180gr. gc'd LBT bullet that's a bit too long for the Dan Wesson's cylinder. By trimming them "short," I can roll crimp rather than taper crimp and get a slight edge in accuracy to boot.