Buldges on virgin brass after reloading.

[gac009]

Tonight I loaded my first .357 Magnum handloads. I used a lee turret press combo with .38 special/ .357 dies. After I seat the bullet there is a bulge about a third of the way down where the base of the bullet is making an impression. Its kind of difficult to see and but I can feel it with my fingers when I fun them over the length of the shell. The bulge dose not wrap completely around the shell, only about half They dont prevent the round from chambering. Is this normal? Any ideas?

 

[Hal]

Is this normal? Any ideas?

Yes - it's "Lee" Normal....

My ancient Lee turret press and Lee carbide dies have churned out thousands of half bulged cases just like you describe.

 

[gac009]

are they safe to shoot, well I guess they must be if you made thousands

thanks

 

[amamnn]

LEE normal????????

At the risk of starting an argument, I have to report that I've been loading both .38 spec and .357 magnum rounds, along with many other handgun rounds, for many years using Lee dies and presses and have never noticed the bulges you describe. I have 2 separate die sets on 2 turrets for the 2 loads mentioned. Neither had produced bulges. I just now went and checked a couple of boxes I had loaded some time ago to be sure I had not missed feeling some slight bulge and there were none.
It sounds as if your bullet is expanding the case during the seating process. This could be caused by not expanding the case mouth sufficiently before seating or trying to get a heavy crimp using a seating die although that is less likely than the expander being out of adjustment. You might want to review the setup procedures that came with the Lee die sets.

 

[gac009]

My turret came with the dies "factory ajusted", however they did require a bit of fine tunning. I will try to flare the case mouth some more and see if the bullet still expands the case head.

 

[azredhawk44]

I use Lee or RCBS dies for my .357 loads. I would get case bulges and minor deforming of the case walls if I was crimping too tightly with my bullet seating die.

Back off the crimp a bit, then re-adjust the seating depth. See if the bulges remain.

If you really need a tight crimp, consider using a Lee Factory Crimp Die. This will protect your brass from the bulge situation a bit better.

 

[gac009]

I have tried ajusting the expander die, the seating depth, the crimp(which is light) and all three at once but none of this gets rid of the bulges. I believe that because I am using virgin brass and because my bullets are the supposedly super hard Oregon Trail Laser Cast .358 bullets that the bullets being .001 too big and perhaps too hard to squeeze into the brass so they push on the brass?

I am using about as light a crimp as I can, and it looks and feels like the bulges are right where the bullets are the thickest.


Any thougths?

Is it safe to shoot them like this out of a GP100?

 

[tINY]

This is normal for all kinds of dies. You can see where the bullet is because it pushes the case walls out slightly. If it didn't, the only thing holding the bullet in the brass would be the crimp.

You could get a resizing die with changable sizing inserts (Redding might make something like this), but I wouldn't bother. The good news is that if the cartridge will fit into the chamber, it will fire. The 357 headspaces on the rim and the brass will expand when you fire it. (then you can size it back down and squeeze another bullet into it).



-tINY

 

[kingudaroad]

I can see the impression of the bullet on all my 44 mag reloads. I chalk it up to healthy neck tension.

I have also bulged the case by having my crimp die screwed in too far.

One of these two would be your cause I would guess.

 

[gac009]

well it bulges even without the crimp, so Im guessing its the bullets pushing on the brass. These are my first reloads so.......you know how it is

 

[MrGee]

would triming the cases to proper lenght help ?.. mic them case make sure they aren't to long, new or other wise.. if the case is to long the die may not be supporting the body of the case.. back off the bullet setting rod an push an empty case up into the die untill cushes the case slightly, then back off die an try it.. bringing the bullet in by re-adjusting the rod.. .. as a note over belling the mouth will later lead to case spliting especially in nickle cases

 

[Derf00]

I don't have any experience with the Lee press, but it has been my experience with my RCBS press and dies that the bulging or wrinkling can be caused by an improper adjustment of the seating/crimping die. You may be applying the crimp before the bullet is fully seated which will cause the case to bulge or wrinkle.

 

[gac009]

Even without the crimp the case will bulge when the bullet is seated.

 

[ledavatar]

Yea the bulge seems normal on mine, and I'm using Lee dies w/ the factory crimp. You can tell the bulge after running the round thru the factory crimp die - there's shiny marks near the top of the case when the die forces them back to spec.