Belling .357 mag. brass

[gamestalker]

Since I started loading for .357 mag. I have always had issues getting a decent crimp that is tight enough to prevent bullet jumping. I load full magnum stuff all the time, but never did the right thing and bought a roll crimp die to solve my occasional problem. Today I decided to try belling the mouths to see if it would change the characteristic of the taper crimp. To my surprise, it worked quite well. The crimp had more of a 90 degree position into the canelure which produced a much better position into the canelure. I'm guessing that because belling produced a little more brass due to the stretching, it gave me more to work with. It allowed the mouth to fold in to the canelure with a better angle.
Even after all these years we can still learn something new that works better for us, if we are willing to let the old dog learn new tricks!

 

[Walkalong]

I load full magnum stuff all the time, but never did the right thing and bought a roll crimp die to solve my occasional problem. Today I decided to try belling the mouths to see if it would change the characteristic of the taper crimp.

Roll crimp in one sentence and taper crimp in the next. Which are you doing? Belling should have nothing to do with how the crimp turns out. Sounds like you just got the crimp set up better this time.

 

[GP100man]

The way I read it he taper crimps first ,then roll crimps in a seperate step ????

Should`nt the seater have a roll crimp step ???

I`ve always used just a roll crimp on my revolver loads , sometimes I seperate the seating & crimping to save the bullets nose profile.

& to get consistent roll crimps ya need to trimm ya cases ,but the belling & crimping will not make it grow , I usually only trimm it once in it`s life !

 

[nofishbob]

I talked to a guy at Hornady last week about this in relation to S&W 500 crimps.

He told me that to get the deepest roll crimp, I was to start the crimp with the seating die, then follow up with the taper crimp die to "drive the roll crimp into the canelure".

I have not tried this yet, maybe it will help you.

Bob

 

[gamestalker]

No guys, I don't taper crimp and then roll crimp. I don't know how you interpreted that. It would make absolutely no sense to do both. What I said is, I've been loading without the use of a roll crimp die for ever and ever, and it has been frustrating because I load full house magnum loads, so bullet jump has been difficult to control as a result.
So after many years of dealing with this sucessfully, just more frustrating than I would like, I tried belling the mouths, a step I have never used with this particular cartridge, and it appeared to produce a better crimp angle into the canelure. There, was that a little easier to understand. I tend to have problems expressing myself in writting and appologize for that.
And no, I didn't finally get my crimp right. I've been doing this for almost 30 years, and have tried everything short of just buying a roll crimp die, or factory crimp die, and still have to cope with the occasional collapsed case from putting too much crimp on them.
Anyway, my crimp now looks better in regard to the angle, which is putting almost a 90 degree into the canelure without such excessive pressure that causes case collapse, crumpled walls, I think you know what I'm saying.
You guys just love to get my goat, don't ya! That's OK, I'm getting used to it now, and realize it's purpose is just to get me worked up.

 

[gamestalker]

All of my brass is trimmed to the same exact length, for this cartridge and every cartridge I reload for, Gotcha!
The issue isn't something new to those who relaod for revolver's, especially high pressure magnums, and you know it, just as I know a roll crimp die would solve this long time crimping issue once and for all. It is so much of a potential issue, that it is commonly addressed in the hand loading books. But if I wasn't so stuborn, and set in my old man ways, I would have just picked up a roll crimp die or factory crimp die long ago and been done with it.
On a more serious point. One response was that Hornady said something about seating and crimping in two different steps. I'm doing this in addition to belling the mouths, and it appears to be a good method, though it takes a bit more time at the bench. But time isn't an issue for someone who enjoys reloading as a hobby. My only concern is I don't want belling to cause my brass to expire quicker than would be, which is one of the reason's why I haven't belled them in the past.
Sincerely,
Reloader from the past

 

[Funshooter45]

As long as you don't overdo the belling, it won't cause the brass to expire any quicker. When I bell my brass, you can barely even see it, you can just barely feel it. It really helps getting the bullet started though. I initially started seating and then crimping separately using my seating die for both operations. Eventually I started seating and crimping in the same step because I was lazy. That worked OK for most things until I had a couple problems with .454 Casull and .480 Ruger. Nowdays I went to a factory crimp die on the turret press. But my seating die always had a roll crimp die built into them.

 

[GP100man]

Yeah , my seater has a roll crimp built in also !!

To check yours run the seater to the top after seating the bullet then screw the die body down until it bumps the case then 1/4 turn more =/- until degree of crimp is reached .