I planned on loading all my .38 Specials in brass cases and .357 in nickel to save trouble separating them for reloading.
So the other day I deprimed/resized/flared 175 nickel cases and set them aside for priming. As I was flaring the mouths, I used a Lyman die and I had a feeling the flare was a bit overzealous. But I continued to proceed, comforted by a recent thread on TFL that held a comment that much fewer problems have occurred with too much flare than with not enough. I just pictured that bulge from a less than vertical bullet entry into the case removed by the more predictable seat with the larger flare.
I loaded up 25 rounds and tried 5 in my Taurus revolver. Every one got stuck half way into the cylinder. I tried them in the Ruger GP 100 with the same result. The COL was right where it should be, the crimp was acceptable…..what’s the problem?
I extracted the bullet, dumped the powder; took the depriming pin out of the resizer die, and resized 5 cases. All fit. I made less of a flare, loaded the powder and bullet, and everything fits like a glove.
So obviously the excess flare was pushed toward the base of the case during the seating and crimping process.
Now I’m stuck with 150 cases, ready to be primed, with excess flare. Some will be overcome by resizing but the majority won’t even fit into the resizing die. About ½ dozen mouths were damaged enough in the process to be trashed. I do not have a die caliber slightly larger to at least reduce the flare diameter, so I used a pair of pliers and gently crimped the flare enough to have it removed in the resize die. But I’m going to do this to 150 cases????
My option is to trash them all and just skip the idea about nickel and brass case separation, and just start all over with the pile of .357 brass that I have.
Unless someone out there has a suggestion.
So the other day I deprimed/resized/flared 175 nickel cases and set them aside for priming. As I was flaring the mouths, I used a Lyman die and I had a feeling the flare was a bit overzealous. But I continued to proceed, comforted by a recent thread on TFL that held a comment that much fewer problems have occurred with too much flare than with not enough. I just pictured that bulge from a less than vertical bullet entry into the case removed by the more predictable seat with the larger flare.
I loaded up 25 rounds and tried 5 in my Taurus revolver. Every one got stuck half way into the cylinder. I tried them in the Ruger GP 100 with the same result. The COL was right where it should be, the crimp was acceptable…..what’s the problem?
I extracted the bullet, dumped the powder; took the depriming pin out of the resizer die, and resized 5 cases. All fit. I made less of a flare, loaded the powder and bullet, and everything fits like a glove.
So obviously the excess flare was pushed toward the base of the case during the seating and crimping process.
Now I’m stuck with 150 cases, ready to be primed, with excess flare. Some will be overcome by resizing but the majority won’t even fit into the resizing die. About ½ dozen mouths were damaged enough in the process to be trashed. I do not have a die caliber slightly larger to at least reduce the flare diameter, so I used a pair of pliers and gently crimped the flare enough to have it removed in the resize die. But I’m going to do this to 150 cases????
My option is to trash them all and just skip the idea about nickel and brass case separation, and just start all over with the pile of .357 brass that I have.
Unless someone out there has a suggestion.