Lee Loader

Unfortunately the Lee site says it won't work on the cartridges I am having trouble with. I have some 38 S&W caliber (not Special) rounds that fail the "plunk" test.

BTW I have a whole box from Steinel that won't chamber either. Mine - most chamber and fire just fine but a couple don't. Any ideas what to do next?

Any time there is a fit issue, measure. I would measure the brass after each step; sizing, priming, flaring, bullet seating, crimp. Find our when the round goes out of spec. and then it can fixed.

mikld wrote: ↑20 Aug 2023 10:46 Any time there is a fit issue, measure. I would measure the brass after each step; sizing, priming, flaring, bullet seating, crimp. Find our when the round goes out of spec. and then it can fixed.

Good idea. I will measure the ammo from Steinel and see what is wrong with it.

I measured my own reloads and the case diameter is the problem Resizing the case works to fix the brass but then the bullet falls out.

Well I got out my dial calipers and the SAAMI specs. Turns out both my reloads and the box from Steinel was right against the SAAMI spec for case diameter at .386".

Running my rounds through the resize die (decapping pin removed) fixed the brass but turned the bullet loose. I decided to try resizing the ammo from Steinel and it turned out to be a success! The brass resized to .381" and the bullets stayed put. Success!

I ended up tossing my brass (two pieces) because life is too short to fool with stuff that doesn't work. I put the two bullets back in the bag.

The bulge buster is the wrong tool for you.

Just buy another sizing die body (or a whole die, and throw out the decapping pin). That's whyt I do with my 44-40. Works perfectly.

Well I did not "throw out" the decapping pin as it will be needed to decap the rounds that I fired. I shot the whole box of 50 Steinel rounds and they worked pretty good. The Enfield's double action only pull was a problem. It must be close to 20 pounds. I do not have a trigger gauge so I don't know. In any case the Zombie got killed but I wounded the hostage.

I think maybe the tool you wanted was a 9×18 FCD with the guts pulled . The Bulge Buster is for out of round typically ACP family and cousins . The FCD , factory crimp die is specifically for fixing things like crimp bulge on an otherwise finished load .

For the 38 Smith and Wesson I use the 9MM Makarov FCD as it is the right diameter. Lee does not make one otherwise that fits the 38 Smith and Wesson.