Question about overall cartridge length

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cb350racer

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Hi,

I'm a novice reloader and I have a question about minimum overall length.

I'm using a recipe from my Lee manual for .357 magnum. It's a very mild plinking load as I'm using 158gr plated bullets and IMR Trail Boss. The manual calls for a minimum overall length of 1.61. However, the cartridges won't cycle in my lever action rifle because they are too long. I measured some of my 158gr factory ammo and they were a bit shorter. Between 1.556 to 1.570.

It's my understanding that seating the bullet deeper to reduce overall length will increase pressure. Any ideas on how much deeper I can safely seat my bullets (if at all)? Basically, is 1.61 to 1.55 no big deal or is that going to cause a major pressure spike?

Thanks for any help you can offer
 
Because your using trailboss you will be fine seating them deeper. What I would do is make a dummy round with your desired bullet and seat it at the minimum depth. Put a very light crimp so it will fit in the chamber. Then try to cycle it in your lever action. Put it deeper until it cycles fine. Then charge with trailboss and load some up.

For other powders with less bulk to the powder might react differently but if your not near max I doubt there would be issues.

As always watch for signs of pressure.
 
Seating the bullet deeper is a non-issue in this case as long as you aren't actually compressing the powder, since broken Trail Boss kernels may cause excess pressure.

That being said, the crimp groove on the bullet normally dictates OAL for revolver and rifle reloading, since you need to roll crimp. If these are bullets with no crimp groove, Pick a length that works for feeding and crimp lightly into the bullet, taking care not to cut through the plating. This is what Berry's recommends with their plated bullets.
http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq-q14-c1-Why_is_there_no_cannelure_in_your_bullets.aspx
 
Thanks Spawn,

I'm not even at max load with the trail boss so I should be OK. Also, I see all the lead bullet recipes (including the one I'm using) call for a min OAL of 1.61. However, the jacketed bullets have a min OAL of 1.58. I'm using a plated bullet so that should allow me to go closer to 1.58 too.
 
tjhaile said:
Seating the bullet deeper is a non-issue in this case as long as you aren't actually compressing the powder, since broken Trail Boss kernels may cause excess pressure.

That being said, the crimp groove on the bullet normally dictates OAL for revolver and rifle reloading, since you need to roll crimp. If these are bullets with no crimp groove, Pick a length that works for feeding and crimp lightly into the bullet, taking care not to cut through the plating. This is what Berry's recommends with their plated bullets.
http://www.berrysmfg.com/faq-q14-c1-Why_is_there_no_cannelure_in_your_bullets.aspx
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply.

I'm using AIM Projectiles and they don't have a crimp groove either.
 
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