.357 Factory Reloads.

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gunneyrabbit
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by gunneyrabbit »

I ran into something that I don't quite understand, I purchased five hundred rounds of .357 factory reloads and when I shoot them in my Ruger Black Hawk they work just fine. When I shoot them in my S&W 340PD the bullet in the fifth cartridge is dislodged enough to stop the cylinder from turning. My guess is that it has something to do with the weight of the pistol and recoil. The other two things that I noticed are the cartridges are not crimped and the powder is not smokeless, more like cowboy action loads. The factory states 900 feet per second and 341 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy. Any body got a clue as to what is going on with the ammunition?
G.R.
Last edited by gunneyrabbit on February 23rd, 2008, 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
trent
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by trent »

who makes it? (not that I'll know anything but It might help others)
gunneyrabbit
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by gunneyrabbit »

Trent, I failed to ask who the manufacturer is. They were purchased from the Outdoor Marksman, OMC, at their NW out let store. I've purchased products from them in the past and have never been disappointed. The 45acp FMJ and 38 LRN have always been top notch with no problems. This stuff smokes as much as my Buffalo Bore 44sp. cowboy action rounds and that I can live with, the part that bothers me is the bullet dislodging, looks like I will have to crimp them all.
G.R.
barnett3006
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by barnett3006 »

I have read that bullet dislodging is a fairly common issue with ultra lightweight .357s. I have also never seen any "real" .357 loads that were not crimped. Not being crimped is probably the biggest factor in this situation, it could also be the cause of the cowboy style smoke (incomplete powder burn). I would try crimping the cases, but I would start with a very light crimp and work up from there to see what happens. Not knowing the load data on this ammo, it may be a safe load to shoot uncrimped but with a crimp could cause a sever overpressure (thats why I would start with a light crimp). I would also try the crimped rounds in the Ruger first before trying them in the S&W.
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by kempin »

+1

They are either not crimped or inadequately crimped. (That is the precise reason FOR crimping a revolver round.)

If you have loading equipment, you could put a crimp on them . . . but then again, if you have loading equipment, you might as well load your own.

I would ask for my money back, unless you don't mind shooting them one at a time.

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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by nbender »

gunney, I've purchased .45 acp reloaded ammo. It's labeled Ultramax and comes in a blue box. It was the only loaded .45 with a round nose lead bullet I could find. I've shot only 10 rounds so far through my Ruger Blackhawk, and they did work Ok for me. But I see they have no visible crimp. Semi-autos don't need the crimp like revolvers do - you're witnessing the reason why revolver bullets need that crimp - the bullet will jump forward from the case under recoil.

Anyway, that's as as kempin and barnett already wrote. I would be somewhat careful to start working up the correct crimp because it affects the pressure of the round, but I'd be pretty condident that a Ruger could handle it. Take it back if you don't have reloading equipment.
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by nbender »

Frank! Where ya been?
gunneyrabbit
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Post by gunneyrabbit »

Spent part of the afternoon shooting the 340PD and found out that if I use a tighter grip the problem disappears and the ammunition doesn't smoke near as much. Now back to the problem at hand, I got rid of the original grips and replaced with the round butt grips to tame down the recoil and decrease the weight. If I have to grab the pistol that tight I may as well stick with the originals. So here is my next question, does any one have a S&W with their Dymondwood grips, if so how do you like them? They are still lighter than the rubber grips and have the added efficiency of the finger grooves. Thanks in advance for your input and advise.
G.R.
Last edited by gunneyrabbit on February 27th, 2008, 12:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
normsutton
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by normsutton »

I ran into something that I don't quite understand, I purchased five hundred rounds of .357 factory reloads and when I shoot them in my Ruger Black Hawk they work just fine. When I shoot them in my S&W 340PD the bullet in the fifth cartridge is dislodged enough to stop the cylinder from turning. My guess is that it has something to do with the weight of the pistol and recoil. The other two things that I noticed are the cartridges are not crimped and the powder is not smokeless, more like cowboy action loads. The factory states 900 feet per second and 341 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy. Any body got a clue as to what is going on with the ammunition?
G.R.
so called factory reloads , they use the cheapest powder that can get there hands , the cheapest bullets that can get there hands, and there really is no such thing as a factory reload, unless you want to call someone on a progressive reloader a factory. all you need is an FFL and a progressive reloader and you can become a factory. the bullets weren't loaded right with out being crimped or at a less a tapered crimp witch you don't do on a revolver, these guy give reloading a bad name

just my 2 cents

NORM
NORMSUTTON@AOL.COM
N.R.A. LIFE MEMBER 1976

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papabear
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.357 Factory Reloads.

Post by papabear »

gunneyrabbit,

First a question, have you had an issues with sparks from the firing pin when dry firing or when shooting with your 340PD .357. I had somewhat of a interest in that pistol but because of the lightweight of it and in combination with the .357 round I had my doubts, I realize it is a PD handgun and not meant as a range gun or a plinker, but still I had my doubts, I researched the 340PD and found several that had issues with it because of the sparking when firing it with either the .38 special or .357 rounds. They all called S&W and were informed that this was not normal and were sent a Fedex packing slip to return it to them for repair. Several that mentioned this opted to go ahead and fire the weapon and all said that after a few hundred rounds the problem went away, did you experience anything like that?

To answer your question I'm not sure about your description of the grips you are asking about. "Does any one have a S&W with their diamond wood grips, if so how do you like them? They are still lighter than the rubber grips and have the added efficiency of the finger grooves." I have a few S&W with the original "diamond centered grips" but they don't have the finger groves in them, or might you be talking about the checkered grips, some call them the diamond grips. In either case I have found that on my .357 model 13-3 that the rubber finger grips were much better than the wood K frame checkered round butt grips, however, what made shooting it even better was a set of original S&W "Combat Grips". The combat grips have the finger groves, they negate having to grip the weapon so tight and aid greatly in the comfort of shooting a full load .357 round in a 3" bbl and I am sure they would do the same with a 2" bbl in a light weight handgun.


Image
Diamond center checkered grips on top
Checkered grips on the bottom



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These are the Combat grips I have on my M13-3


Side Note: According to S&W's SCSW Edition's I, II and III, S&W calls them 'Stocks". Their catalogs persistently and specifically uses the term stocks instead of "Grips", however, the reasons are not clear, but S&W has been calling them stocks for over a hundred years. I usually call them stocks also, but that is the way I was raised, but usually when I reply to someone's post I refer to them as does the original poster, it no big deal, several of my friends like to give me a hard time over it, but to use a pun, I stick to my guns on this one with them....... ;D




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gunneyrabbit
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Post by gunneyrabbit »

I've done some background work and DymondWood is a proprietary name owned by the Rutland Plywood Corporation for a variety of high density wood and acrylic compound resin laminates that are used for stocks/grips and are available on some S&W pistole's. Their selection of wood laminates are beautiful and are 'suitable for hand gun grips/stocks' according to the company.
G.R.
P.S.
I modified the post to correct the spelling to DymondWood in my post on the 24th..
G.R.
Last edited by gunneyrabbit on February 27th, 2008, 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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papabear
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Post by papabear »

gunneyrabbit,

Ah, we are talking different grips, those DymondWood grips are beautiful, I see what you are talking about now, I was thinking of the older S&W stock grips in your original post about the grips, thanks for up the update, again those are beautiful grips, but I don't have any experience with them, sorry.


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