help reloading for .35 Remington!!

[lance1586]

I have loaded without any problem 200 gn Sierras for my Marlin 336 to use in silhouette lever gun matches.  I decided to load up some pistol (.357 158 g Hornady HP/XTP) bullets to use at the 50 yard range since the 200 full power load was overkill.
 
The problem I am having is that my manuals call for an OAL of 2.295 which puts the crimp about .055? below the cannelure.  And when I chamber them the bullet gets shoved back to the cannelure/ crimp. (2.225 oal) If I try to crimp it any more it rolls that little neck creating a ridge which results in difficulty in chambering the round and it still wont hold the bullet even after I use a Lee collet die to try to get the bullet to stay put.  I'm kind of stuck here since if I run them out to the reccomended length they just get shoved back further anyway.  I don't understand why they are doing that because I know the bullet isn't getting jammed into the lands and this handgun bullet is .357 not the .358 that the 200 gn rifle bullets are, which should make a little less resistance on chambering?  I would think anyway . . .  Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be the culprit or should I just run them down to the cannelure and crimp them well with the collet die and not worry about the oal being so much shorter than Sierra reccomends - I am a little worried about increasing pressure by seating it so far back.  I am putting this bullet over 31 grains of RL7 in Rem brass using Rem 9 1/2 primers.

Thanks in advance, Lance

[jpsmith1]

I fooled around with .357 Mag pistol bullets in my T/C contender.  I seated the bullets to the cannelure and used a light to moderate crimp. 

My loads were as follows:  110gr Remington HP bullet, Remington Brass, CCI Primer (Standard)

25, 26, and 27 grains of Reloader7, 32 grains of 4064 and 25 grains of WC-820 (This is a MilSurp powder that is roughly equivalent to H-110)

My listed OAL was 2.185.

I know that a SSP is far less critical on OAL than a lever-action rifle is.  Maybe put together a couple of 'dummy' rounds.  Seat the to cannelure and cycle them through the action a few times.  Measure them each time.  Is the action of the gun forcing the bullet back into the casing?  Maybe recoil.

I neglected to make range notes on accuracy, but I do remember opening a few cans of pop with these loads and the results were spectacular.

[lance1586]

JP, Thanks for your input it's I know I'm not the first person to run pistol bullets through a rifle in .35 Rem but I am chartering in unkown territory and it's nice to hear from someone whos been there.

Forgive my ignorance but what is "SSP"?

[jpsmith1]

SSP is a Single Shot Pistol.  The T/C contender is a break-barrel pistol that chambers a large variety of calibers from .22 to 45-70.

Since there is no feed mechanism, there is no concern of OAL beyond keeping the bullet from preventing the action from closing or jamming so far into the rifling that it over pressures the gun.  With a Lever action, sometimes OAL and even bullet nose configuration can cause feeding difficulties.  Compound this with possible problems with the tubular magazine and pointy bullets and lever actions can be a serious pain in the a$$. 

[hicard]

I've crimped in the crimp groove and found they feed better than if I run them out further.  Try it and see if they will feed crimped that way.  You might be surprised.

[jager]

Lance - You didn't say what kind of die set you have. If it is the standard RCBS, Lyman, Hornady, etc. I would suggest you purchase a Lee Factory Crimp (LFC) die, it will solve your problem because you won't have to worry about the "crimping groove".  I've loaded alot of .357 bullets in the .35 Rem (as well as other .35's) and found bullets of 140gr and over seem to work the best. The problem with using the standard "crimper" on the seating die is that unless you trim every case the same length you have a chance of "bulging" the neck (too long) or not getting enough crimp (too short). Plus, if you seat the bullet beyond the crimping grove the standard crimping/seating die cannot crimp the case neck to the bullet; it needs the "groove" where the Lee does not. Unless you are loading near max, pushing the bullets into the case will not cause a tremendous increase in pressure, as a pistol case might with its limited powder space, but it sure won't help accuracy. I'd also feed every round you load through the magazine until you get it right before you go to the range. .357 bullets in any of the .35's are great fun to shoot and inexpensive! Good luck. Jager