Have any of yous guys reloaded 357 mag brass to a 38sp or 38 +p spec. I have some Herco (Alliant) Blue Dot I’d like to experiment with.
357 mag brass is harder to find and doesn’t last as long as 38 special
I’ll trade you two to one 38 special brass for the 357
I do it all the time; works fine. For many years I ONLY loaded .357 brass, whether for magnum or special loads. It was nice only having to keep track of one kind if brass.
That all changer when I added a couple of .38s to the inventory, so now my .357 brass is mostly dedicated to magnum loads
I only have a handful, and really just looking to try downloading to 38sp for kicks. I have a couple ounces of Blue Dot that I’m trying to figure what to do with. If I had more brass, it’d be yerz.
I was about to type… it’s not like u have to chase it and only two… then I thought, man, separating 223 from 5.56 is a pita. so I get it.
When I take my Henry to the range I would be more than happy to gather up my spent .357 brass if it can be used by you reloaders. Just ask. I do not reload.
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I save all my brass and whatever else is laying on the ground. The handful of 357 brass I have is just what I picked up here and there, I don’t even have a 357mag. I’m gonna make the reloads for a range buddy.
I have even gone dumpster diving for STS hulls, like jumped right in that bitch for a carton with a couple hundred STS hulls in it. I also grab any 20, 16, 28 and 410 whenever see 'em.
I figure even if I can’t use it, I’ll eventually run into someone who can.
I have tons of once fired I can process for you guys if you want them. I dont have a .38/.357 anymore so I dont load them.
I don’t need… In fact, this little experiment involves the bit of Blue Dot I got from you when I bought the MEC press off ya.
357 is a worthwhile cartridge to reload for, they ain’t cheap.
Just smell that powder and make sure it is not rancid smelling. If so, fill it with water and sprinkle on the lawn. Makes great fertilizer. I’ll give you fresh stuff. That Blue Dot is OLD but probably still good. Blue dot is very snappy too. I loaded some shotshells with it. It was snappy.
I did, it passed the sniff test, not acrid. You must have kept it stored really well.
I have a ton of 38 special brass but very little .357
If any of you gentlemen are looking to get rid of some 357 cases I’ll be happy to grab them or trade.
Why doesn’t it last as long? Is it because of the greater force at discharge, or is there something intrinsically different about the casing? I have been shooting .357 mag for quite a while, and I have quite a bit of brass saved up. My wife also has a Ruger SP101 in .357 mag but with the 2-1/4" barrel, my take on the ballistics is that a decent .38 Spc load at that length would perform just about as good as .357 with less recoil. I’ve been thinking for some time about getting started in reloading.
Exactly that. The extra pressure weakens the brass faster. You still get a good number of reloads, just not nearly as many as .38 Sp.
I’m not sure I’ve ever worn out a .38 sp case
annealing is common in reloading rifle cartridges… Never hear (read) about it in pistol caliber cartridges. Is annealing something high pressure pistol cartridge reloaders should be thinking about
Maybe in the really big calibers. I’ve never done it for 357
Annealing should only be done on the neck of a case and is much more important on cases that have a shoulder. .357/.38 don’t have a shoulder.
Never anneal the base of a case.
What about the big ones, 454 Casull, 460 S&W, 500…
What about them? Do they have a shoulder? The answer to that tells you if they should be annealed.
While it is true necked cases are most frequently annealed, it is not the neck that creates the condition, but the high pressure and case hardening.
9mm and 38sp can be reloaded dozens of times because the pressure is very low, but even they will eventually succumb to the cumulative effect of case hardening, causing cases to split or case head separation.
The question we need to ask is this; are 357Mag, 44Mag (45,000-50,000psi) and 500 S&W (60,000psi) immune to case hardening, are they immune to the stresses caused by resizing cases?
Does the case neck create a condition for case hardening, or is it the pressure associated with necked cases that makes annealing a recommended procedure.
Annealing bottle neck cases is a rule of thumb, also, NOT annealing 9mm and 38sp is a rule of thumb. 38sp generates a mere 17,500psi max, which is very low compared to 44 magnum.
EDIT: 38-40 Win (bottle necked) can be reloaded up to 30-40 times without ever having to be annealed as it generates only 20,000 psi max. 9mm Mak (23,500psi), one of the very few auto loading bottle neck cases for pistols generally does not require annealing.
The bottom line… If you want to anneal straight walled cases used in high pressure cartridges like 357, 44, 454 Cas, 500 S&W… it will not hurt anything and can only increase case life.
OTOH, 9mm and 38sp are low pressure and can be reloaded scores of times before hardening occurs. So, fuggedaboudit, you likely already have a billion spent cases, or can easily find them at the range, making the squeeze not worth the juice.
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