I was out trying to make brass for my Uberti .357 Mag, since the stuff seems hard to find. I bought the cheapest .357 Mag ammo I could find, and yes, many of you are saying right now, "well THERE is your problem, idiot!" I get that, but the whole point of the exercise was getting some reloadable brass AND having a wee bit of fun at the same time.
Except there was very little fun involved. First group was this;
Waitaminnit, that don' look right. I fired a few more at the cardboard.
WHOA! What IS this baleful brand of keyholing?
You get what you pay for. But I saved two rounds to dismantle later. I told you, I just wanted the brass, so I did the Danny Devito thing, and just started blasting.
Note, flat point, not HP. Could NOT get the camera to focus correctly...
So here we are...
Hmm...
Powder for both measured very close to 9.7 grains on my 5-0-5, looked a lot like Accurate powder, but a buddy I sent photos to said it looked like HS 7. Doesn't matter - that pulled powder goes to the dump.
The BULLETS, on the other hand...first, call it what you want - that's a plated bullet.
Both measured exactly the same.
I know that Ruger, among some others, sells .357 Mag revolvers with 9mm cylinders so .356/.355 bullets SHOULD work, but in a jacketed format - plated and lead I have always been told should be an extra thou over that. Now here comes the fun part - .356
IS a thou over normal for 9mm; I load cast and powder coated lead at .356 all day long in my 9mm pistols with no issues whatsoever. But, in .38 Special, I always size cast powder coated at .358.
It's NOT the gun - I was able to make some groups with it on earlier day that at least showed ROUND holes.
It has shot both cast and jacketed, (XTP), just fine. So, either my revolver is REALLY finicky, or is .356 is just too small for a plated .357 magnum?
BTW, did I mention I have NEVER loaded for .357 before, but 38 Special for many years?
Thank you for your time and helpful replies.