357 mags will not chamber.....Help

[Bounty Hunter]

I've got several boxes of 357 mags that I reloaded that will not chamber.  The cases are mostly Winchester with some Starline cases.  When the cartridge enters the chamber it gets tight when the cartridge is about half way chambered and the harder I push it the tighter it gets.  These cases were full length sized using RCBS carbide dies and Rock Chunker single stage press.  This is the first or second load for all these cases.

Can someone please tell me what I could have done wrong because I don't want to have to chamber test every round I reload in the future.

Also, any idea what I should do with the rounds I have now that will not chamber?  Many thanks for all ideas!
Hole Shooter

[stimpylu32]

Sounds to me like you may have buldged the case while crimping the bullet , what you may want to try is removing the de-capping pin from the sizing die and run the rounds that will not fit back into the die just enough to smooth out the case .

Try this with 1 or 2 and see if it helps , if not we'll try some other things . 

stimpy

[adirondacker]

double check your crimp,if you case mouth expanded,and didn't resize the flare it will give you fits,been there done that,i had a thousand 38's that i had to re-run with a tighter crimp to remove the flare,my wife shoots them and couldnt understand at first why only some would chamber,case length plays a big part in the expanding crimping process,you may have some longer than the case you set up with,good luck,adker

[mjbgalt]

does a .38 special fit? or a factory .357? i don't mean to be simplistic but sometimes it's the dumb stuff that causes these...i shoot .38's in my .357 and i find that enough .38's causes that crud ring and if you shoot enough of them it gets cruddy enough that i can't get a .357 all the way in...could it be that the chambers need brushed?

-Matt

[tn_junk]

Cast bullets or store bought jacketed bullets?
I have found that if I load cast bullets that are .359 dia in my .357 Cases they will load in my Handi and my Encore but not my Ruger GP100, unless I do as suggested and resize them again, which is a real pain as some of them get stuck in the sizing die and take beaucoup pressure to extract.
If you can, get a set of micrometers or a good dial caliper and check the diameter of the loaded case. Even looking at them close you should be able to see if they are swelled out due to a too big bullet or bell mouthed too much.
Good luck, it's a real pain having to pull bullets and redo.

alan

[Luckyducker]

You have the crimp set too tight on your seating die.  The hard/over crimp is swelling the case body out of spec for the chamber and the fix is to loosen the locking ring on the die and unscrew it a little, maybe a half turn then put on of your loaded cartridges in the press and run it up into the die all the way and then turn the seating stem down against the bullet.  This will reset your COAL.  You might have to try loading one and then see if the crimp is satisfactory and also test to see if it fits the chambers, if not readjust until it does.  Once you have it adjusted be sure to retighten the locking ring set screw.

[GREYGHOSTt]

+1 on the 38's clean the chamber..

[dave375hh]

When I've had cases bulged by the crimp, I put them between two pieces of steel and roll them flat. You only roll the crimp end of the case, and you need to put a fair amount of pressure on the bars. This works quick and easy but then I've only had to do 2 or 3 at a time. I always chamber check the first 5 rounds of any shells I've crimped, it cuts down on mistakes quicker. Once they're fired they'll be fine to reload again.

[Castaway]

As posted previously, clean the cylinder with a bronze brush and elbow grease,  If that doesn't work and to save what you've got, remove the decapping pin on your resizing die and run the loaded cartridge through again.

[coyotejoe]

I agree with those who suspect it is the crimp. I'd suggest you get a Lee "factory crimp die". Those have a carbide insert like a sizing die which smooths out any crimp bulge as the case is withdrawn from the die. You can safely run your loaded ammo into the Lee crimp die and that should salvage your ammo. Next time check your reloads in the gun before you load up "several boxes".
I cannot agree with the suggestion to run the loaded ammo back into the sizer die. It is most likely a carbide die and those have very little taper, the first 1/4" of the die reduces the case to minimum spec and you can't do that with a bullet already seated.

[Coyote Hunter]

If it turns out to be the crimp you may want to re-evaluate how often you trim your brass.  On cases that I crimp I'm a fanatic about keeping the case lengths within a few thou - more than 4 variance over minimum and I generally trim the lot.  This leads to very consistent crimps and I've never had a problem with them per se. 

[Bounty Hunter]

Based on all the test I’ve done and more importantly based on the excellent advice all you good people were so kind to offer, I think I must have bulged the case in the crimping process.  However, some of the cartridges that will not chamber well in my new SP101 will chamber just fine in my old Security Six….go figure.

Throughout this process I have learned a very important lesson………..I will be ordering a Lee carbide factory crimp die on my next Midway order in both .357/.38 and .44 special/magnum calibers.  And I will test-chamber random rounds before loading up several boxes of ammo.

Anyway I plan to shoot as many of the cartridges as I can through the Security Six and either try running the remaining rounds into the Lee carbide factory crimp die to correct or start pulling bullets. 

Either way guess I’ll just have to spend some more time at the range and/or bench.

Many thanks to all of you who responded.  I really value your advice!