357 cartridge too long for lever

[Mr.Rigpig]

Not so lucky. I must have loaded them for a revolver, so they have a nice crimp. Have to pull them, bell the mouth a bit, then reseat the bullet. Should give them a bit of a crimp as well.

Probably be easier to just single/top load them. More fun too!

 

[kjohn]

interesting post his sloppy unchecked reloading ability's on a public form
step by step info in loading manuals so this does not happen
lucky the young ladd didn't send another round down the spout

Read the posts again. I am NOT a sloppy reloader. Too bad you weren't there to supervise the shoot. You've never made a mistake?

 

[bearhunter]

It was a nice day, so I took my Rossi 38/357 lever and my Chiappa 44 lever out for a shoot today. Turns out a box of 50 home rollies were too long, cartridges wouldn't lift as the lead RN was catching. BLEEP!!!!

So, I dig out the 44, fire off about ten rounds of handloads. One of the young fellas that own the land comes along. We chat for a while. He fires one shot, then I load four more and tell him to shoot them off. One goes bang, second one a soft poof. No powder! Now that rifles is T U. BLEEP!!

Now I have to shorten the box of 357, and get the bullet out of the 44 barrel. Plus I skinned my hand a bit, so blood all over. I probably should have stayed at home!

Don't fret too much, we all have days like that.

My question is about the cartridge length, as I've heard others having issues with the Rossi 38/357 lever actions having the same issues with some factory ammo.

I haven't run into this issue in my Chiappa 38/357 lever action, but I'm shooting the same ammo through it that I do through my 357 S&W revolvers

When I was playing with hot rodding the 30-30Win, I used to load only two cartridges into the mag tube. I did this because I was using "ponty" bullets, and I was concerned about detonation issues. They were soft lead points, and chances were slim on a Kaboom.

In my zealousness for better accuracy and velocity, I tried loading the bullets out as far as possible, which, on the first attempt, was "too far."

As mentioned, it became a single shot, but that was at the range, and the results weren't spectacular enough to follow up on after the fact, so I stayed with round nose and flat nose bullets.

When loaded, the pointy bullets, I didn't turn down the seating stem. The stem had been set to allow maximum length with flat nose and round nose bullets, but the pointy bullet tips went further into the cup, just enough to catch on the lip of the tube as they were pushed back onto the elevator.

Of course, there just had to be a couple of other fellows on the benches beside me. I got a bit of good humored ribbing from them.

 

[kjohn]

Probably be easier to just single/top load them. More fun too!

I think that is exactly what I'll do!!