38 special question

[230gr]

I had a fellow reloader ask me a question about reloading that I had not come across before. He reloaded some .38 special using Rcbs dies. He decapped and full lenght sized, primed, poured powder and seated the bullet. Ok, nothing new. When he brought the reloads to the range, the same lot of reloads all fit into his S&W snubbie, but they only fit about half way into the cylinder of his Taurus. I don't know that much about revolvers, but aren't all .38 special cylinders the same? Thanks in advance. I can quit scratching my head

 

[Gator 45/70]

I had a fellow reloader ask me a question about reloading that I had not come across before. He reloaded some .38 special using Rcbs dies. He decapped and full lenght sized, primed, poured powder and seated the bullet. Ok, nothing new. When he brought the reloads to the range, the same lot of reloads all fit into his S&W snubbie, but they only fit about half way into the cylinder of his Taurus. I don't know that much about revolvers, but aren't all .38 special cylinders the same? Thanks in advance. I can quit scratching my head:conf

A 38/357 case is soft as crap, Easy round to reload you simple do not slam it home, Pull your de-capping pin out of the sizing die and run a round or 2 or 10 thru it, You'll find bulges, Slow down Take your time.

 

[230gr]

Still wondering about it. I don't know what press he was using or how fast he seated his bullets, but I reload a a pretty quick pace on my Dillon 550, and my rounds fit in both his revolvers. His rounds fit in my Ruger. Are you saying that maybe he did't bell his casings enough and caused enough bulge not to fit in his Taurus? Do some revolvers have slightly larger chambers?

 

[hunter5567]

Taurus-- sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. The Taurus might have undersize cylinder holes. The decapping pin on the RCBS dies might need to be adjusted up in the die so that the cases are sized all the way down as close to the rim as possible. Gator was saying to take the decapping pin out of the sizing die and run the cases in there so that they are resized all the way down. Does he have the sizing die all the way down so that it contacts the shell holder ? I usually adjust a bit more down so that there is some cam over at the top of the stroke. If he wasn't belling the cases enough it would probably crumple the case mouth upon seating the bullet. It could be just a problem with Tar-ass as it seems to be hit or miss whether you got a good one . On a side note it could be the resizing die that is not sizing enough and tolerances are off spec.
Maybe try your dies in his press or maybe you load a few on his press and see if they work.

 

[Bayou52]

First off, make sure the cases are being full length sized and not just partially sized. Run up the ram on the sizing dir all the way up. Screw in the sizing die until it contacts the shellholder in the ram and lock in the die. It's now set to size the entire case body.

Now, it's also entirely possible that the cylinder on the Taurus is out of spec, but this is not likely if factory rounds fit well. If factory rounds fit well, and the reloads don't, it's a reload problem.

Bayou52

 

[230gr]

Thanks everyone, I'll pass the info along to him.

 

[CATS]

Did he try it in his case gauge?

 

[4thMiss]

One more suggestion is the use of Lee's factory crimp die. Smooths out the case and is rid of any bulges that could be the problem.

 

[noylj]

The solution to chambering problems is always the same--find the cause:
Take the barrel out of the gun or open the cylinder. Drop rounds in until you find one that won't chamber. Take that round and "paint" the bullet and case black with Magic Marker or other marker. Drop round in barrel (or cylinder or gage) and rotate it back-and-forth a few times.
Remove and inspect the round:
1) Scratches in the ink on bullet--COL is too long
2) Scratches in the ink on edge of the case mouth--insufficient crimp
3) Scratches in the ink just below the case mouth--too much crimp, you're crushing the case
4) Scratches in the ink on case at base of bullet--bullet seated crooked due to insufficient case expansion (not case mouth flare) or improper seating stem fit
5) Scratches in the ink on case just above extractor groove--case bulge not removed during sizing. May need a bulge buster.

No, all chambers are NOT the same. I believe that SAAMI has a +/- 0.003" tolerance on chamber and case dimensions. Tolerance stack can always be an issue, besides having an out-of-spec chamber (or case).
Not fully sizing the cases can be a cause.