Below is a once fired piece of Starline .357 brass. I've resized, belled, and primed. I noticed what looks to be a bulge in every case. Running unfired brass through my dies does not repeat the issue, so I do not think I'm crushing the brass from incorrect set-up. Any ideas of what this might be? I have no memory whatsoever of signs of too much pressure or sticky cases when these were fired.

-10" MGM Encore barrel
-158 XTP
-14.5 of 2400

Any ideas would be appreciated!

P

After another quick inspection under a jewelers loop, this looks to be the deepest point at which the carbide ring of the die gets to. Also, the resized case will plunk in the barrel. Maybe I?m overthinking this, but I?m rather fond of my eyes and hands. LOL

P

Is it really a bulge? Can you measure it with a micrometer or calipers?

.378

Rest of case measures .374.

It?s an Encore ... there?s total support for the case, so I probably shouldn?t have termed this a bulge like a Glock. I?ve loaded tons of .44 and 10mm and have never seen this.

How about trying just sizing the case down to roughly where base of bullet is when seated????

Here's what I think is going on: Lyman says the outer case should be .379. My chamber measures at .378. Fired brass is expanding to the chamber at .378. My die is sizing to .374, but the sizing die only reaches the point where the "bulge" is. Therefore, it really isnt a bulge, but the true chamber size.

KYODE, I'm thinking you are right.

P

Let us know how she looks 😉

I believe you have this figured out now.
I do not remember having a 357 come apart at the base so far anyway.
I have loaded many thousands of rounds of 38 Special at what is now considered to be Plus P. My case failures are always splits length wise in the cases after being reloaded forever.

Something you might consider doing is loading say Five new cases, and keeping them separate, and keep a card in the bag with them to track how many times you load them until they fail.
If you could shoot at your house this could really be speeded up.
You can still do this on Range visits, it will just take a little longer to get results. I believe you will be surprised how many loadings you will get.

Bob R

The sizer die sizes the case to under chamber size. The case is then expanded by the expander so as to ensure good tension with the projectile. The case head area is solid so the dies only goes down so far. The sharp transition between sized body and unsized head creates a 'step'. The problem is that the step can become work hardened and fail eventually. (many years ago I had a .45 ACP fail for that reason). Like Kyode suggested, I now only size to a point a somewhere below the base of the bullet. This allows for a more gentle transition.

The only time I have seen a problem with the resizing die, the decapping pin was down way to low and stopping the case from fully entering the resizer. As long as the die meets the shell holder you are OK.

Am I on the right page?

General consensus seems to be that these are safe to load, but I need to keep an eye on them. I also might try sizing down to past where the bullet seats, but no deeper, to remedy the issue.

P

I think you're over thinking a non existing problem. I have loaded thousands of rounds of 38/357s with no problems. I've noticed the same bulge you are but like Bob Roach commented my cases normally split length wise from normal use. I only remember one time that a case wouldn't chamber in a Uberti Open Top revolver so I handed it to a buddy with a Ruger revolver and it chambered and he shot it with no problem. The case was fine and we continued shooting. That small bottom portion of the case is not resized and that is normal.