Decap and load without resizing ?

I

IKE

New member
Using a Lee decapping die can a person just deprime
.38 special and .357 mag cases, without running them through a FL die, and then reload them ?......they will be refired in the same gun that the brass was initially fired in.
 
It can work. I think the most likely problem will be the brass isnt tight enough that a new bullet will just fall into the case.

Your neck tension won't be as good as with resized but using a roll crimp during seating should prevent the bullet from moving.

I did this with some 38 S&W rounds before buying the correct dies. It worked OK assuming you were using the same gun.
 
Maybe
Would still have to flare, and crimp so whatsone more step?
Why though, 38 sp cases last forever(ish) with the stress from going thru the dies
 
Really need to resize to get the case tight enough to hold the bullet.
And as far as guy said you have to bell them. Not really rifle cartridges don't get belled
 
you can flare bottle necked cases for easyer loading of flat base bullets
Anyway these are straight walled pistol cartterages we are talking about
 
You won't need to worry about a thing. Let go of the bullet to seat it and it will fall into the case before you can seat it. Where did you think this up?
 
The thing is since I've retired I've been doing quite a bit of shooting and have fallen behind on my .38 Special fired cases prep and got to pondering about a shortcut.

I think just decapping and loading would have worked fine for straight wall pistol cases but I decided against it........I've got 550 cases in the tumbler now after doing it the right way by FL sizing.

Thanks for the replies fellas.
 
I know I'm getting old BUT, how do you de-prime a case and not resize it at the same time.:rolleyes: IKE needs to read some reloading books and get a grip;)
 
Doubt it will work well on jacketed loads. I never resize for my PP loads in .357Max,.44 Mag, and .445SM, just put on a very slight taper crimp using the sizing die, the PP boolit already fits finger tight in the fired case. For depriming I have an old Lee depriming punch and base. Yeah, I got a lot of time and not shooting hundreds of rounds at a time, only shoot single shot rifles. GW
 
I've got a cheap lee press set up with uni decap die. I like it- it's always set up just have to switch shell holders. It works better than my rock chucker and that stupid primer catch tray. The lee throws mostprimers through the frame and I have a catch can mounted under the hole in the bench. I remove decap pins from my sizing dies.
 
I decap on a single stage press then clean the brass. It keeps the dirt off of the other presses. But not resizing pistol brass cant save that much time. If it does I just don't see it. If you're that far behind may I suggest a progressive press? Maybe that's what you're using not clear on that.
 
Being old, I remember that it was well-known that one could take a fired case, decap, prime, put powder in the case, and place a cast lead bullet with crimping groove in the mouth of the case and then roll the mouth of the case into the crimping groove to hold the bullet using a dull butter knife blade. In short, one could make rudimentary cartridges without any dies at all. I did such with a .45-70 while waiting for my mail-order die set could be delivered.
 
Depending on the powder your use and how much the case has expanded from previous firing you are running the risk of sticking a bullet in the bore of the revolver, and then blowing the gun up when you fire the next round.

Resizing not only hold s the bullet tight in the case but also makes sure the pressure is high enough to burn all of the powder and propel the bullet out of the barrel at a desirable velocity.

It also prevents the bullet in an unfired round from backing out of the case when you fire other rounds and tieing up the gun.

You really need to get a good reloading manual and read the entire manual, I would recommend Lyman' latest manual.:)
 
I use a single stage for all metallic, so I do cases like 38 or 9mm in batches. I deprime and resize and reprime in one step on the press (RCBS), then do the flare step. I go through all my cases in one big session that way. When I am ready to load, it is charge and then seat/crimp and done. No, it isn't as fast as a progressive, but it works well enough for me. If I was shooting 100s a week, that would be a different story.
 
Not a good idea. I have some resized brass that doesn't hold the bullets if .357 dia. Just crimping doesn't do the job.
 
Rather than speculate, I just went out and tried it. Using fired Federal .38 Special match cases and cast wadcutters sized to .358 and with a slight bevel, the bullets would not even begin to fit in the case, let alone drop in with hardly any resistance. The cases would have to be flared to seat the bullets without shaving lead. So just depriming using the above components, and then priming, flaring, powder charging, bullet seating and removing the flare or crimping would work and perhaps work very well. Providing that the rounds would chamber properly without resizing. However, there are no shortcuts since it takes just as much time to just deprime as running the case through the sizing die to begin with. But a consideration would be whether unsized cases would chamber easily. My fired cases show some expansion near the base that need sizing. Good concept however, depending on the proper match between the components.

I haven't checked the score here but it seems we're about tied as to whether it can or can't be done successfully.
 
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