I can’t say that I ever paid any attention to case size in handguns, especially revolvers. I’ve been shooting a Ruger GP-100 .38/.357 for at least 25 years now, but not really as often as my other calibers. I have not had any problems with target shooting using 17.0gr of 2400 (Lyman max 17.7gr) with either a Remington or Winchester 125gr JHP seated to a COL of 1.590.”
For whatever reason, I can’t explain, I decided to double-check the recommended COL and now I really opened a can of worms.
The 5th Ed of Lyman uses a Hornady 125gr JHP, and lists the COL at 1.590.” Fine. I should have quit at that point, but I happened to see their “trim to” measurement being 1.285”.
My Hodgdon manual says the .357 case shoud be 1.290” max; “trim” 1.285” (I assume, trim TO). They use the Hornady 125gr XTP and their COL is also 1.590.”
The Hornady manual says to max case length is 1.290”, but the trim to length is 1.280.”
No matter what weight bullet they list, the COL is always 1.590.”
The Speer Manual also lists 1.290 as max and 1.280 as trim to. But their COL listing is 1.575” for the 125gr JSP, JHP and TMJ styles, and 1.580” for the GD-HP bullet.
Speer lists 1.590” for their 140gr bullet, but for their 158gr bullet their COL is 1.570” for the JSP, JHP and TMJ, and 1.575” for the GD-HP.
I don’t have any COL data for the bullet I currently use – the Winchester 125gr JHP. I assume since I haven’t injured or killed myself, 1.590” is satisfactory.
But getting the cartridge COL to an exact 1.590” is another story. I decided to make a dummy with the case measuring in the middle (1.285”) of the max 1.290” and trim to 1.280.” I belled the mouth just enough to accept the bullet to be seated, and seated it to 1.590.”
All the remaining cases are somewhere between 1.280” and 1.290,” what appears to be an acceptable spread. But the bell for any case less than 1.285” is a bit tighter, while the bell for those beyond 1.285 is larger. As a result, if I seat and crimp simultaneously, I cannot get a consistent COL of 1.590.” The problem most often is with the cases approaching 1.290” – the bell is large, and I think the crimp starts to engage before the bullet is fully seated. So I usually find the COL to be 1.594” or 1.596.” The opposite occurs with the smaller cases and often the COL is 1.588 or less.
I think I can solve it by seating first, then crimping, but do I really have to use an extra step or is the seated COL of 1.588” to 1.594” (or so) any problem?
Now, one may suggest trimming all cases to the same size to start. Here's the problem. If I trim to 1.280" and set the dies to bell, seat and crimp at that size, I've found the cases grow as much as 0.006" after resizing the fired case, so I'd have a bunch that measure 1.286," and ALL would require trimming again.
For whatever reason, I can’t explain, I decided to double-check the recommended COL and now I really opened a can of worms.
The 5th Ed of Lyman uses a Hornady 125gr JHP, and lists the COL at 1.590.” Fine. I should have quit at that point, but I happened to see their “trim to” measurement being 1.285”.
My Hodgdon manual says the .357 case shoud be 1.290” max; “trim” 1.285” (I assume, trim TO). They use the Hornady 125gr XTP and their COL is also 1.590.”
The Hornady manual says to max case length is 1.290”, but the trim to length is 1.280.”
No matter what weight bullet they list, the COL is always 1.590.”
The Speer Manual also lists 1.290 as max and 1.280 as trim to. But their COL listing is 1.575” for the 125gr JSP, JHP and TMJ styles, and 1.580” for the GD-HP bullet.
Speer lists 1.590” for their 140gr bullet, but for their 158gr bullet their COL is 1.570” for the JSP, JHP and TMJ, and 1.575” for the GD-HP.
I don’t have any COL data for the bullet I currently use – the Winchester 125gr JHP. I assume since I haven’t injured or killed myself, 1.590” is satisfactory.
But getting the cartridge COL to an exact 1.590” is another story. I decided to make a dummy with the case measuring in the middle (1.285”) of the max 1.290” and trim to 1.280.” I belled the mouth just enough to accept the bullet to be seated, and seated it to 1.590.”
All the remaining cases are somewhere between 1.280” and 1.290,” what appears to be an acceptable spread. But the bell for any case less than 1.285” is a bit tighter, while the bell for those beyond 1.285 is larger. As a result, if I seat and crimp simultaneously, I cannot get a consistent COL of 1.590.” The problem most often is with the cases approaching 1.290” – the bell is large, and I think the crimp starts to engage before the bullet is fully seated. So I usually find the COL to be 1.594” or 1.596.” The opposite occurs with the smaller cases and often the COL is 1.588 or less.
I think I can solve it by seating first, then crimping, but do I really have to use an extra step or is the seated COL of 1.588” to 1.594” (or so) any problem?
Now, one may suggest trimming all cases to the same size to start. Here's the problem. If I trim to 1.280" and set the dies to bell, seat and crimp at that size, I've found the cases grow as much as 0.006" after resizing the fired case, so I'd have a bunch that measure 1.286," and ALL would require trimming again.