Reloading 38 spl

[Jal5]

Did my first batch yesterday. Mixed brass, sm. pistol primer Winchester, 158 gr jacketed bullet, Unique powder.  The bullet by Hornady has the cannelure but when seating according to Hornady manual COL of 1.550 the bullet does not go into the case up to the cannelure just a little above it- does that make any difference? I could post a pic later if that would help.

I got as far as the crimp stage then I got confused.  Here is what I think I need to do next:  run them through the seater die again but retract the seater stem all the way up so it does not seat the bullet any deeper, put a cartridge in the holder and run it up, adjust the die body down to just feel the cartridge then move the ram down and adjust the die body down 1/4 turn more and run the ram up again, see if the crimping is enough if not repeat the adjustment to the die body and run it through again.  This would make a roll crimp?  I don't know the make of the die its unmarked except for the caliber number. Is the method generally the same regardless of the die manufacturer? How do I tell if its enough crimp or too much? Anyone have a pic of the difference?

Thanks.

Joe

[bilmac]

You pretty well have it Jal. I don't think I would turn your crimp die a 1/4 turn though, The threads on the die body are fairly course, and crimping is a delicate process. I think I would adjust just a 1/16 or so at a time. How much is enough? I usually try for the minimum. For light loads you don't need much, you just want to make sure the bullet won't move when your gun recoils, unless you are putting them in a tube magazine rifle. For a jacketed bullet you pretty much have to seat in the cannelure. I usually try to seat at the top edge , because it makes prettier ammo to hide the cannelure in my mind. The only thing that is real critical, for moderate loads is that the loaded round is short enough that it won't be longer than the cylinder of your gun.

Don't expect perfection. If you are using mixed brass you will probably have a variation in the lengths of the cases which will cause the crimp to look different with different cases. The only way you will be able to have perfect looking crimps all the time is to trim all your cases. I almost never do this. They would look better if you would sort your cases and keep them that way. I almost never do this either. The idea for handguns is to shoot lots and have fun.

[Savage]

Jal, crimp the jacketed bullets in the cannelure. Adjust the crimp until you can see a noticeable roll crimp into the cannelure. Your dies are roll crimp. You've got the crimp adjustment process down. Just run the seating punch all the way up and adjust the die body to crimp a little at a time. Don't worry about case length on straight wall pistol cases. I haven't trimmed one in 45 years of loading them.
Savage

[Badnews Bob]

Easist way to get a proper crimp I've found is to get a Lee crimp die, I love mine. Otherwise I'd go ahead and seat those bullets to the crimp grooves and do just as you stated but sneak up on that crimp till its good Do you have any factory loaded rounds you could compare with? If not next time your out see if someone would let you look at a factory loaded round to compare.

[Jal5]

Thanks for the clarification on the crimping process. But maybe I am confused about the listed COL then: right now the COL is 1.550 on these reloads with the bullet not seated to the cannelure. Is the listed COL the maximum over all length then? When that bullet is seated to the cannelure and crimped the over all length will be much shorter than 1.550. These will be reloads for my S&W Model 66.

Joe

[cwlongshot]

Yes, set the bullet to the cannalure if you want to crimp.

 You have it right for how to do it, just listen to bilmac, 1/4 may prove correct, but get there 1/16 at a time. 

The biggest helper, or suggestion I will offer, make dummy rounds!!! Make one for EACH bullet you will be loading. Keep it in the die box and use it to properly and identically set up your dies each time.

 Good luck,
 CW

[Badnews Bob]

Those OALs are just guides and can be adjusted somewhat, But if a bullet has a cannalure that is usally the best place to load it to.
For instance look at full wad cutters they are usally loaded completely inside the case, depending on the type.

I think .38s and .357s are good starters to reloading as they are pretty easy to do and have so many options you can learn alot from them.

[Jal5]

Thanks I will re-seat these to the cannelure and then crimp. I definitely am going to make up a dummy round too for future reference.

I found an excellent article by Chuck Hawks on the topic of adjusting dies to crimp-
http://www.chuckhawks.com/adjust_reloading_dies.htm

 
Joe

[Jal5]

thanks guys, I reseated them and crimped tonite and it worked out fine. I also made the dummy round for future reference. Now to find a decent afternoon to get out and shoot this load workup and see how they do.