OAL for Berry's 158 grain in .38 special?

Scone · August 24, 2007, 01:20 PM

Any suggestions on how deep I should seat a Berry's 158 grain, copper washed, round nose projectile into a .38spl case?

I started out too long, now I might have gone to short. My crimp (Dillon SD) is on the tapered section of the bullet.

Actually while I am at it. The fired brass (9.64mm .379") gets resized by the first stage to 9.50mm .374", after seating the projectile and crimping the diameter at the case mouth reads 9.54mm. My overall length is 36.98mm (1.45").

If I crank the crimping screw up another full turn then the diameter at the case mouth goes down to 9.23mm .363" and creates visible signs of crimp on the pulled bullets. A dented ring, and the case mouth cuts in the bullet plating which I assume is bad thing.

These Berry's projectiles read about 9.05mm .356" diam before seating.

[forgive me if I have not converted my metric readings to inches correctly]

straight-shooter · August 27, 2007, 07:30 PM

The standard OAL on a 38 special RN bullet is 1.480" but I've never loaded the berry's bullets before so use your own discretion. With FP semi jacketed I use a OAL of 1.445" but these have a canalure to guage by.

If your cutting into the plating then yes that is a bad thing. You don't want to drag the chipped plating down the barrel. Just back it off a half turn it would sound like from your description and retest.

JoeHatley · August 28, 2007, 11:39 AM

I use 1.480"

Quote:

A dented ring, and the case mouth cuts in the bullet plating which I assume is bad thing.

A "ring" on plated bullets is pretty normal. As long as the crimp isn't cutting through the thin plating, (or getting close to cutting through) you should be okay. The speed you drive them is going to determine how much of a crimp ring you can get away with.

Good Luck...

Joe

August 24, 2007, 01:20 PM	#1
Scone Junior Member Join Date: September 25, 2005 Posts: 7	OAL for Berry's 158 grain in .38 special? Any suggestions on how deep I should seat a Berry's 158 grain, copper washed, round nose projectile into a .38spl case? I started out too long, now I might have gone to short. My crimp (Dillon SD) is on the tapered section of the bullet. Actually while I am at it. The fired brass (9.64mm .379") gets resized by the first stage to 9.50mm .374", after seating the projectile and crimping the diameter at the case mouth reads 9.54mm. My overall length is 36.98mm (1.45"). If I crank the crimping screw up another full turn then the diameter at the case mouth goes down to 9.23mm .363" and creates visible signs of crimp on the pulled bullets. A dented ring, and the case mouth cuts in the bullet plating which I assume is bad thing. These Berry's projectiles read about 9.05mm .356" diam before seating. [forgive me if I have not converted my metric readings to inches correctly]

August 27, 2007, 07:30 PM	#2
straight-shooter Senior Member Join Date: June 12, 2007 Location: North Central Indiana Posts: 436	The standard OAL on a 38 special RN bullet is 1.480" but I've never loaded the berry's bullets before so use your own discretion. With FP semi jacketed I use a OAL of 1.445" but these have a canalure to guage by. If your cutting into the plating then yes that is a bad thing. You don't want to drag the chipped plating down the barrel. Just back it off a half turn it would sound like from your description and retest.