357sig crimp

[2Asupport]

My first 2 357sig reloads.

How can you tell if there is too much or too little crimp?

[Duluth88]

My first 2 357sig reloads.



How can you tell if there is too much or too little crimp?

Too little, use the bench push test and apply moderate to hard pressure to see if bullets move. Buy the Redding taper die and if you load alot of .357 and 40 cal, buy the redding bulge buster and run SIG brass through it to make reloading easier.

Too much crimp: Look for obvious deformed cases and bullets. Pull a bullet to double check.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[sigstroker]

Looks like roll crimp. Problem with that is I doubt you can get bullets with a crimping groove and you deform the bullets. Taper crimp is usually used in this case.

[Cowboy T]

Agreed, the .357 SIG headspaces on the case mouth, despite being a bottlenecked cartridge. Thus, taper crimp only, just like 9mm and .45 ACP. For me, that means simply flattening out the belling and no more.

From the picture, it looks like you ended up doing a bit of roll crimp. Go ahead and back it off some until the case mouth looks straight and un-crimped. Then try chambering a round as a test (finger off the trigger, of course!). If you can consistently and easily chamber rounds without the round binding up at all, then you got it right.

What matters most here is that you are actually reloading your own, and that's a very good thing.

[2Asupport]

Thanks guys.

Ok...so it's called a roll crimp. I achieved the roll crimp from the FCD. If the tapered crimp is sufficient, is it okay to skip on the FCD?

I was concerned with the stories about the bullet moving or being loose. I did a mild push test (thank you for the advice) and these bullets do not move and are secure.

Cowboy T- thanks!! These first 357sig reloads were a little stressful, but fun. I made my own case lube (lanolin / IsoHeet), polished the inside of the decapper / sizing die and took my time.

I'll go ahead and finish some more reloads without the FCD and compare these with them.

Thanks

[ar15barrels]

the .357 SIG headspaces on the case mouth, despite being a bottlenecked cartridge.

Funny thing about that...

The headspace gauges you can actually buy measure the shoulder length of 357 SIG chambers like a typical bottlenecked rifle (308/30-06) but the SAAMI drawings and headspace gauge dimensions do call for the headspace gauges to be seating at the case mouth like a 9/40/45 does.



So the reamer and gauge makers think that the shoulder location is more important than the end of the chamber where SAAMI says the case should stop.

Various forums also have discussion where people have decided it's better to size the cases to make them headspace on the shoulder than trying to use the end of the case neck to establish headspace.
This is probably because most pistol brass is made very short and creates very long headspace while using the shoulder to headspace allows much better control of headspace and allows you to ignore case length unless it gets too long which is very uncommon in handgun cartridges.

[2Asupport]

Thank you all for the information. Reloading these first 2 357sig rounds was fun.

I read that over crimping can affect the trajectory of the bullet. So I will back off and maybe even skip the FCD.

Since the 357sig round is limited and somewhat hard to find, how much brass should I have on hand? (1,000?? 2,000??) Anyone that has a system with their stockpile, I'm open to the advice.

Appreciate the help....

[Cowboy T]

Ah, you used the FCD? Not needed, generally. I have the FCD as well for all my handgun die sets, and there's only one corner case in which I find it helpful. That corner case involves my home-cast lead bullets and slightly generous chambers with one particular revolver. Other than that, they generally go unused.

Ideally you'd have enough brass to fill up a 5-gallon Home Depot-style bucket. That will come with time, believe me. I'll probably never need to hunt for .38 Special brass again! :-)

@Randall, thanks for that bit of input about headspacing. It would make sense to me to headspace on the shoulder for .357 SIG as well. Not sure why SAAMI made that choice....

[five.five-six]

Too little, use the bench push test and apply moderate to hard pressure to see if bullets move. Buy the Redding taper die and if you load alot of .357 and 40 cal, buy the redding bulge buster and run SIG brass through it to make reloading easier.

Too much crimp: Look for obvious deformed cases and bullets. Pull a bullet to double check.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[2Asupport]

Thank you to everyone who posted.

I will go ahead and start to load some more 357sig. I will post if I run into any issues.

I'll have to admit, being able to load your own rounds does provide a sense of comfort / security that I do not have to worry about searching LGS, lines, increased prices for 1 box, etc.. Especially with trying to find 357sig on shelves.

I appreciate all the help from the Calguns community. I know I will be passing what I have learned from my experience to someone later.

Thank you