[spittinfire]

So I picked up a box of 110gr XTPs in 357 on the cheap a while back and decided to give them a try. I loaded everything up, set my press and after priming and charging 25 rounds started seating bullets. Two bullets with no seen problem. 3 comes along and when I go to crimp it the case bulges in the middle.....weird. Recheck my crimp, it's fine. Measure 3 or 4 of the cases I have left, they are all the same. Two bullets later the same thing happens. After that I quit since I didn't have the time to mess with it left in the day.

I'm thinking the case is at fault but I'm not sure. They are nickle marked CBC. I'm not familiar with that name but they looked fine, measured OK and this was a load just to play, it was the minimum load. If I liked it, I would get more serious and move to a dedicated case. Any ideas?

[spittinfire]

I forgot to mention that the bullets that seated and crimped properly were .010-.012" shorter then orginally seated after the crimp. It was like the crimp was pulling the bullet deeper into the cannelure.

[hnealg]

Sounds to me like the die had gone out of adjustment-as if you were trying to crimp for a .38 spl instead of a .357 mag. Basic pushing it down too far, causing the case to bulge. I had the same trouble with a mal-adjusted bullet seating die. (Switching from .38 to .357...duh)

Double check the depth of the die. Hope that is all that it is!

[spittinfire]

That's what I thought at first too so I readjusted it and on the third try it did it again.

[Highpower]

Are you trimming your cases to a uniform length after sizing?

[Kestral]

Have you checked that your bullets are all to the correct diameter

[spittinfire]

Originally Posted by Highpower

Are you trimming your cases to a uniform length after sizing?

I measured all the cases, they were the same.

Originally Posted by Kestral

Have you checked that your bullets are all to the correct diameter

I haven't done this but with such a short bullet I was flaring the mouth slightly more then I do normally and they were all sliding easily into the case. The problem didn't come up until crimping, I would think a diameter problem would show itself when seating the bullet.

[Kestral]

Ive had this happen to me on odd occassions,some of the bullets were slightly oversize,as they fit so tight,its also ( possible ) that the trapped air cannot escape and bulges out.We would have to get one of our really brainy types to figure out whether thats feasable or not.

[Kestral]

Forgot to mention it with the above reply,I use with very satisfying results the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die. It gets rid of the bulges and crimps the bullet as well to the correct overall amount.

[spittinfire]

I was using a Lee 4 hole turret press so that was the crimp die I was using.