.357 case stretch?

[6079Winston]

I've seen one or two separated pistol cases at the range over the last 30 years so it is rare but possible. Suggested causes range from heavy crimp and bullet pull in extra large magnum cartridges to rough chambers and stretchy actions in lever guns. Probably something we should pay some attention to since realistically most of us are just making educated guesses as to what actually happens between primer and muzzle. Props to the op for catching it.

[6079Winston]

From another forum: I was reading my Speer #12 reloading manual. In the 357 mag rifle section it states;
"All lever-action 357 magnum rifles have a bolt which lock at the rear.This allows the bolt to spring slightly during firing,Stretching the case.Use only new or once-fired cases for Maximum loads"

Has anyone had a case head separation in their 357 mag lever-gun?
Do you really have to only use once fires or new brass for max loads?
What happens with 38 brass in these rifles?

Any information would be greatly appreciated,
MickeyJr.

[pennstater]

Never had case head separation in any of my lever rifles. A bit of case stretching in the 30-30 is expected being a bottle neck cartridge.
I don't load max for .357 or .45 Colt. Only mid loads. So, all brass has behaved, except those few Federal cases.
Nothing bad happens using .38's in lever guns; you just need to get the chamber clean from carbon build-up from the slightly shorter case. No biggie with regular cleaning. Was never really concerned with the .357 lever bolt lock up and slight spring back. I'll be keeping an eye on things a little closer so as to stay on top of things.

[pennstater]

Well, I believe I've narrowed this all down to the Federal brass. In my garage, I found 80 PPU cases I got from someone in .357. I've deprimed, resized and flared. Measured ALL of them. All are 1.280"! Found some Speer cases with the PPU's. Same story; all came in at 1.280". Every Federal case, sized or not, came in at 1.285[first 5-6], found 18 more; 1.290".[Fed.]. Unacceptable!
I'll load that Fed stuff 1-2 times and into the recycle pail it goes. I am not trimming pistol brass. I have a load of .38 and .357 cases. I'm still going to look at rounds fired thru my rifle to be sure. Time will tell.

[golfish]

Tom, I have a hand full of 357 brass, all twice fired. The Federal is longer than the other brands that I have, nothing over 1.285 tho.

[pennstater]

Ok Mark, good to know. Did I get that PPU brass from you? That is some good brass.

[golfish]

Yeah, I'm sure I was shooting PPU the first time we went, seems like good brass.
There might be some Geco, R-P and Fed in there too.

[KahrMan]

Not to be a wise *** but did you measure the case length both before and after firing? If it is just Federal cases and they are factory loads pull the bullets from a few and measure them.

[pennstater]

Hmm, yes. Working at that dang soon. I'll let you know.

[sigstroker]

When I first started loading metallic cartridges I read about case stretching, so I measured cases all the time. After a few hundred of never finding an overlong case, I quit measuring.

[pennstater]

Not to be a wise *** but did you measure the case length both before and after firing? If it is just Federal cases and they are factory loads pull the bullets from a few and measure them.

Factory Federal American Eagle .357 cases right out of the box: 1.288"-1.290".
Those cases are at or damn close to being max case length, unfired. WTH!
Like I said, I 'll keep an eye on things and see where this goes.
I may just load those Fed cases up with .38 spl loads and see what that does.
Good call KM.

[golfish]

Tom, I'm looking at 50 or so pieces of 357 brass from our trip on Wednesday. 20 are PPU, 20 are Federal and the others are Geco and R&P
The PPU are all right at 1.268. The Fed are 1.282 and the others measure in between those.

[pennstater]

Damn! All my other cases are fine. Only the Federal are doing this. Well, I'm gonna call Henry on Mon. Now, the .45 Colt, absolutely as it should be. Perfect. All Starline brass. I'm trying to believe it's the Fed brass, but, they're good in your's. Hmm. Well......
Thanks Mark.

[golfish]

All my Fed is longer, it's just not out of spec. About the only thing you can do is give me all your Fed brass

[pennstater]

All my Fed is longer, it's just not out of spec. About the only thing you can do is give me all your Fed brass

That can certainly happen! Federal for PPU, nooo problem. Or whatever else you may have. Driving me nuts. Damn Dodger's ain't helping either.