.357 buldge near case head...

[17+1]

Bulges like that are a combination of a sloppy chamber and hot reloads. I mainly shoot 223 wylde chamber AR rifles and moderate loads these days because of my past experiences. When you’re pushing the envelope like that you have to be more careful at all stages of the reloading process. Bulged cases like that, for a semi auto rifle at least, mean your case’s life will be short and painful.

[pacrat]

Just for giggles, I took the resizing die from the "vintage" RCBS set, and ran one of the bulging cases through, and although it loosened up the bullet crimp, it took the bulge right out, IT IS... ONCE-AGAIN straight-walled!
I had to recrimp the bullet, as it subsequently spun after a resize with the projectile loaded, and the re-crimp was terrible. After this range-trip, maybe I'll take the funny-looking bulging cases and run them through this die, post-lube, as a separate step because the "vintage" die is not carbide.

Hopefully you only resized the "one" loaded round as a test. Because sizing loaded rounds creates a whole different issue. Brass cases have a property called "springback". Lead, being many times softer and more maleable does not.

Your bullet was "loose" because you made it undersized inside the case.

[KahrMan]

It kinda looks like the sizing die is not going all the way down.
The shiny area of the case has been resized, the lower areas not so much.
The area just above the rim is usually not sized, but it looks like there is too much of this.

^What he said

[9mmepiphany]

I had to recrimp the bullet, as it subsequently spun after a resize with the projectile loaded, and the re-crimp was terrible.

Recrimping isn't going to help as you've undersized the bullet inside the case

After this range-trip, maybe I'll take the funny-looking bulging cases and run them through this die

That is just about the worst thing you could do, unless...you pull all the bullets first

[the86d]

Recrimping isn't going to help as you've undersized the bullet inside the case


That is just about the worst thing you could do, unless...you pull all the bullets first

Key words being "after" & "range-trip", so the inference would be to empty the cases in the conventional way, then fully-resize the empty cases with the wonderful die.

It seems that the newer carbide RCBS resizing die will not go low enough on the Dillon XL 650 even though it is touching the shellplate...

[pacrat]

It seems that the newer carbide RCBS resizing die will not go low enough on the Dillon XL 650 even though it is touching the shellplate...

I've over the years acquired 5 RCBS 38/357 die sets. 3 with carbide sizers. Which are the "late" type. That size/deprime in same operation. Unlike the "early" sets that sized in a single operation, and deprimed/expanded/flaired in die #2.

A quick visual peek shows that the carbide sizers have a very large radius at the die mouth leading up to the carbide insert. And the earlier steel dies are near "flat" at the mouth.

If you remove the soft steel die body matl below the carbide insert at the die mouth. It will help alleviate your issue.

Just a thought.