Webley No.5
CGN Regular
- Location
- Rural Alberta/Calgary
When I got my 1907 I did some researching on reloading 351wsl. There is a lot of info out there but I found I had to get info from a lot of different sites to come up with a complete plan so I thought I’d share what i found and how I choose to do reload.
Dies
I’ve heard of a few manufacturers that make or made 351wsl dies but was unable to find any up here. As well I’ve heard of some that appeared to just be 38special/357 remarked. Which brings me to my choice. I used Lee 38/357 dies. I find it works, neck tension is minimal but I can make it work with a bit of crimping, I’m not expecting sub MOA from a 1907 anyway.
Brass
Again true brass can be had. Bertram brass makes true 351wsl. The downside I found was that it was $85/20 or $4.25/1 which is expensive for any brass not to mention for a blowback semi auto that I will likely use to shoot varmints at some point. So I decide to adapt existing brass. There are a few options, most common was 357 Remington maximum brass about $84/100 which is significantly cheaper than the Bertram. The other option I found although less commonly mentioned is 360 DW brass (between 357mag and 357 Rem Max) and just slightly longer than a 351wsl and the plus side, star line makes it and I found it for 43/100. I’ve read 357mag brass will work as the case head spaces on the rim so the short length isn’t a big issue and you can get to overall length for proper mag functioning by protruding the bullet more than a standard 357mag. 357 mag brass is slightly cheaper and more abundant than 360 but I went with 360 DW because if I was going to put in the effort to modify i might as well have true specs.
Modifying the brass requires the rim diameter reduced to 0.407in. I did this on a lathe but could be done on a drill press with a file and a pair of calipers. You then need to trim brass length to 1.375in. In theory you need to cut an extractor groove deeper but I didn’t and have had no problems with extraction.
Projectiles
The 351wsl uses 0.351in jacketed projectiles and 0.352in cast. Common 0.357/0.358in would be slightly oversized. TCJ-RN 180gr projectiles are available by a few suppliers (I believe they are Graf bullets but a brand is not often listed). In the neighborhood of $30/100 but not always easily found or in large supply. I ordered 100 but at the time they were back ordered so be prepared to wait. This brings us to option 2, cast bullets. Ideally you could get the correct mould and sizing die i believe you could get a custom sizing die from Lee and there are various mould makers. I unfortunately do not cast bullets. As of now I buy 160gr 0.358in 16-22BNH and size them down. Various sources told me this would ruin the bullets but the bullet shape is fine, the lube groove has not collapsed on any of the 100ish I’ve done so far. The bearing surface elongates a bit but they are cast and I’m not loading for maximum velocity so I can see this causing over pressure.
Sizing die
I made my own sizing die on the lathe. Using a 7/8-14 (NF) bolt, I drilled a hole and then used an adjustable blade reamer to size. I don’t own an inside micrometer so I got close and then just slugged it with a bullet and measured the bullet, slow but it worked. My die sizes the bullets to 0.3525in as that’s what my bore slugged to.
Loads
Before I write my loads I feel I should say, reload at your own risk, these are loads I believe to be safe in my gun but do your own research, work up reloads and decide for yourself.
180gr TCJ-RN, 1.890in overall length, 19.0gr of IMR 4227, velocity 1591fps (5 shot average). This is not my load but one found in an older article.
160gr cast RN, 1.855in overall length, 19.0gr of IMR 4226, velocity 1754fps (1 shot)
Neither of these loads are really pushing the envelope in my opinion.
Dies
I’ve heard of a few manufacturers that make or made 351wsl dies but was unable to find any up here. As well I’ve heard of some that appeared to just be 38special/357 remarked. Which brings me to my choice. I used Lee 38/357 dies. I find it works, neck tension is minimal but I can make it work with a bit of crimping, I’m not expecting sub MOA from a 1907 anyway.
Brass
Again true brass can be had. Bertram brass makes true 351wsl. The downside I found was that it was $85/20 or $4.25/1 which is expensive for any brass not to mention for a blowback semi auto that I will likely use to shoot varmints at some point. So I decide to adapt existing brass. There are a few options, most common was 357 Remington maximum brass about $84/100 which is significantly cheaper than the Bertram. The other option I found although less commonly mentioned is 360 DW brass (between 357mag and 357 Rem Max) and just slightly longer than a 351wsl and the plus side, star line makes it and I found it for 43/100. I’ve read 357mag brass will work as the case head spaces on the rim so the short length isn’t a big issue and you can get to overall length for proper mag functioning by protruding the bullet more than a standard 357mag. 357 mag brass is slightly cheaper and more abundant than 360 but I went with 360 DW because if I was going to put in the effort to modify i might as well have true specs.
Modifying the brass requires the rim diameter reduced to 0.407in. I did this on a lathe but could be done on a drill press with a file and a pair of calipers. You then need to trim brass length to 1.375in. In theory you need to cut an extractor groove deeper but I didn’t and have had no problems with extraction.
Projectiles
The 351wsl uses 0.351in jacketed projectiles and 0.352in cast. Common 0.357/0.358in would be slightly oversized. TCJ-RN 180gr projectiles are available by a few suppliers (I believe they are Graf bullets but a brand is not often listed). In the neighborhood of $30/100 but not always easily found or in large supply. I ordered 100 but at the time they were back ordered so be prepared to wait. This brings us to option 2, cast bullets. Ideally you could get the correct mould and sizing die i believe you could get a custom sizing die from Lee and there are various mould makers. I unfortunately do not cast bullets. As of now I buy 160gr 0.358in 16-22BNH and size them down. Various sources told me this would ruin the bullets but the bullet shape is fine, the lube groove has not collapsed on any of the 100ish I’ve done so far. The bearing surface elongates a bit but they are cast and I’m not loading for maximum velocity so I can see this causing over pressure.
Sizing die
I made my own sizing die on the lathe. Using a 7/8-14 (NF) bolt, I drilled a hole and then used an adjustable blade reamer to size. I don’t own an inside micrometer so I got close and then just slugged it with a bullet and measured the bullet, slow but it worked. My die sizes the bullets to 0.3525in as that’s what my bore slugged to.
Loads
Before I write my loads I feel I should say, reload at your own risk, these are loads I believe to be safe in my gun but do your own research, work up reloads and decide for yourself.
180gr TCJ-RN, 1.890in overall length, 19.0gr of IMR 4227, velocity 1591fps (5 shot average). This is not my load but one found in an older article.
160gr cast RN, 1.855in overall length, 19.0gr of IMR 4226, velocity 1754fps (1 shot)
Neither of these loads are really pushing the envelope in my opinion.
