.357 Mag loads gone awry

[J.J.]

One of the problems you are encountering is you are trying to crimp a bullet without a crimp groove. Berry's #84525, the bullet you are loading does not have a cannelure, or crimp groove that you need to keep the bullet from jumping in a .357 mag. load without ruining the bullet or cracking the plating. With a crimp groove you can put a pretty heavy crimp on a .357 case without much trouble. I believe Berry,s #72843 is the same as #84525, but with a crimp groove.

[Major Tom]

I've had .357 cases go 'wavy' too but not as severe as yours. They would chamber in my revolver, all went 'bang' with no issues and the waves were ironed out OK. I use the Lee factory crimp dies and in other reloadings I use the slightest roll crimp possible.

[fguffey]

Do you have a clue why someone decided crimping while seating was a bad habit?

If you do not know the answer and or if you do not understand the questions just ask someone for help.

You started out by asking me if I understood there was no shoulder on the 357 Mag case. I thought that was rude but I have grown used to that kind of behavior.

do you realize you are arguing with yourself?

Start over; wavy cases, the answer to that questions is answered by explaining the absence of a die with case body support.

F. Guffey

[fguffey]

I use the slightest roll crimp possible.

If i use a crimp I only use a hint of a crimp. I am the one that uses all of the bullet hold I can get.

As I said in the old days crimping was considered to be a bad habit. It was possible to loosen bullet hold with too much crimp. And then there is that problem with crimping the bullet to the case while the bullet is being seated (moving whole crimping). The waves?/wrinkles/ ugly cases are created when the case digs into the bullet; in the perfect world the seating operation must stop before waves are created (wait for it, here it comes) unless a seating die with case body support is used.

And then one day I gave some of this stuff a little consideration, I made a seater, it had no die body, I used the seater in a bottle top press, I was impressed, I sent one to the most admired reloader on the Internet.

F. Guffey