Here I go again.

[sicero]

I am not in the habit of buying a lot of loading dies.

I root around and see if I have something that will work

and I make some to do the job.

I shot my 357 Max some last fall for deer season.

I put it back together a few days ago and I got some deer hunting

accuracy but not spectacular.

I had been crimping all loads and the bullet was in contact with the

powder.

I discovered the neck had no tension on the bullet without the crimp.

Dummie me, I was using a 357 Mag full length die.

Guess what, the 357 Max case is about 0.003" less OD than the 357Mag.

I made a die to give it a little tension and when it quits raining I will

see if that helps.

I am kind of hoping with neck tension, the crimping may not be needed

for the bolt action single shot. Kenny

[dungheap]

That comes as a surprise! I shot a lot of .357 Maximum back in the 80's, all loaded with .357 mag dies, mostly with cast bullets, in a single shot pistol and several revolvers. Never had such an issue back then.

Now, considering you're working with a bolt action single shot, why don't you just put a bit of taper crimp on the loaded rounds with a 9mm sizer or maybe a .38 Super sizer? Or, if you can't drop a bullet into a sized case, perhaps using a Lee universal expander to bell your case mouth may leave you enough neck tension to do the job, combined with a taper crimp.

This is probably a non-issue, but just wanted to chime in.

[killntime]

Well I'm not an expert on straitwall crimping but I shoot with a couple of old timer pistol silhouette shooters who are. Some of these guys are incredible wheel gun shooters. I'm talking 5 inch groups or less at 200 yards. Truly some of the best in the world. Open sights to boot, you have to see this to believe it. All of these guys use a firm roll crimp. I have been told by a couple of these guys that they only size down to the bullets depth and do not full length size.

[dungheap]

Back in the silhouette days, I had a fellow competitor who shot a TC Contender chambered in .357 Magnum. He used .38 Special cases loaded right to the top with W-296, and literally used the crimp to hold his bullets in the cases. Worked for him, never tried it myself, although I used a 10" .357 Mag for years, also using a firm roll crimp.

My comment on this thread was/is simply a suggestion for an issue with a single shot rifle.

[sicero]

Thanks for the replys.

This may well be a non issue.

I have made a die to tighten the neck some and hope to shoot a few today.

Looking at some info on die sets, at least some have the same dies for

38sp, 357 Mag & 357 Max with no thought to different brass thickness.

It's not like I have not tried to fix a problem that don't exist. LOL Kenny

[sicero]

No full length after firing.

Neck size reduced with "my" die.

CCI 450 primer, & 27gr AA 1680 with no crimp

Sierra 158gr Jacketed bullet with flat lead tip. Target bullet around 1" group @ 100yd

Same load for 158gr Remington Jacketed bullet with HP. .400" group.

I have read before about shooting groups better than the rifle will shoot.

Well, I think I did it. A 0.400" group @ 100yd with a 9X scope is better than I can shoot.

I will shoot this tomorrow to "prove" and if all is well, load a few to take to
a 200 & 300yd range. Kenny