.357 Mag only Seating Die

The Cold Lake Kid

The Cold Lake Kid

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Does anyone make a .357 Mag ONLY seating die?
I seem to have problems seating 158 gr lead bullets in .357 cases, bulging them slightly, thus making chambering difficult.
I tried taking the internals out of my RCBS seating die and easing a loaded factory cartridge, with a 158 gr. bullet, into the die and found it still will not go in all the way: i.e. the ram and case holder touching the bottom of the die.
Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Not sure I completely follow you, but if the die is the standard, 38 Sp/357 die, all you need do is put a washer on the die, the proper thickness would be .1", but somewhere close would do.
Bruce
 
Either your bullets are oversize (.358" is typical for lead bullets in .38/357; larger may cause problems) or you are crimping too much. As the instructions indicate, the bottom of the seating die is not meant to contact the shell holder.

http://www.rcbs.com/RCBS/media/RCBSMedia/PDFs/Instructions/English (EN)/ReloadingDieInstructions.pdf

Remember, crimp is adjusted by screwing the die body in or out and seating depth uses the adjustment plug. There is no such thing as a .357 only seating die because the difference is a small adjustment.

Die sets with a washer allow you to use the same bullet and crimp in either .38 or .357 cases without changing the setting of the die; just use the washer if you are loading the longer cases and leave it out for the shorter cases. If you are only using .357 cases, you can just set up the die without the washer, since you don't need the quick change capability.
 
like others said, I suspect over crimp. if your bullet has a cannelure, all you need to do is to "clamp" in there slightly, no need to be extremely firm in.
 
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