rhyrlik

You missed a rare opportunity to handload your own primer.

Bullet tumbling, especially with plated bullets, is sometimes caused by overcrimping. Too much crimp causes the case mouth to cut through the plating and for some unknown reason to destabilize the bullet in flight. I don't understand the mechanics of this process. Common sense indicates that it should not matter. The jacket is plated to the core, but it does.

The Lee FCD differs from other crimp dies in that it has a built-in carbide sizing ring just like a sizing die. This ring sizes the case as you crimp. With straightwalled rounds like the 40 S&W or 45 ACP and lead bullets the use of the FCD is detrimental because it swages down the bullet being held inside the case. This reduces the bullet's diameter and lessens case tension. It also induces leading. The 9mm Parabellum, however, is not a straightwalled case. Its base is some .010" greater in diameter than its neck. The carbide ring of the FCD, therefore, does not touch the case neck or the bullet sitting in the case. There are no issues with the FCD and the 9mm.

Did you replace the missing anvil with a used anvil?

Brilliant!

S&W 25-2 had .451" barrel groove diameters and my particular samples had .457" and .455" cylinder throats, which as you can tell, caused severe leading. No, a .452" bullet will never skid over the rifling as was suggested above. That is just not true. Matching a 25-2 barrel with a 625 cylinder will result in an ideal combination, as these cylinders almost always have .453" throats. A better option, however, is to take a 627 barrel and have it rebored. That way the finish will match and you'll retain the original appearance with the underlug and all.

I have five of them. Put them side by side in one place and you have a progressive. They're great for reloading in the living room, motel, in the car waiting for the light to turn green...

I've shot Lasercast 147gr bullets over 3.3 grains of Universal Clays with tons of leading. Bottom line, whatever the bullet, you need it to fit the chamber throat correctly or it will lead. If you use a .355" bullet in a .360" throat, there's not much you can do in terms of hardness, lube, or powder burning rate.

I've shot 124gr Hornady swaged bullets over 3.8 grains of Bullseye at 1000 FPS without any leading. A slow powder won't build pressure quickly enough to obturate an undersized bullet in the throat.

Not. 9mm does just fine with soft lead swaged bullets so long as they are correctly sized and the velocity and lube are appropriate.

I hold the round up against the light to see if the bell is gone. That's all.

That's because most 357's have nice consistent .358" cylinder throats, thus if you use .358" bullets, you won't have any resizing issues. In 44 and 45 calibers, where cylinder throats run as much as .433" and .458", the FCD is a nightmare if you use an appropriately sized bullet.

I'm sorry, but what you say is incorrect. You cannot adjust the FCD that way. You can adjust how much crimp it imparts, just like any other crimp die, but you cannot adjust how much it resizes the case, not in anything other than a 9mmP.

I hear Berrys tumble outa Glocks too. Wonder why? Some people claim the crimp cuths through the thin plating but i don't see how that would induce tumbling.

9mm lead bullets are typically sized to .355" or .356". Bar-Sto told me their 9mm barrel groove diameter is .355" and the freebore diameter is .357". Universal Clays, when used at low pressures, creates a pressure curve that is inadequate to cause a lead bullet to obturate this .357" freebore. Therefore, one must either use a .357" bullet or a faster burning powder to prevent leading.

In my experience, they have been caregorically excellent in my PC 625's which absolutely hate jacketed or plain lead projectiles (they have very shallow/narrow rifling). I kinda stumbled upon this while pulling my hair out when I just couldn't come-up with a load that met my accuracy standard of 1" at 15 yards. I had some pulled Speer 230gr TMJ's that I loaded-up for plinking and to my surprise they cloverleafed on paper. So I bought a sampler pack of these X-treme bullets (cuz they were 3x cheaper than Speer) just to see if the plating was a variable worth anayzing. It sure was. I went from a 3" gun to a 1" gun with just a change of bullet type. I also tried them in my 9mm's with similar results. I don't crimp the crap out of them either. Maybe you should back off your crimp a bit?

Brownells just told me their fixture will not remove material from the barrel rib or the underlug. It looks like I'll need a lathe after all. Maybe one of those mini lathes from Harbor Freight?

That may be true. I like the concept, though. Clymer people told me their reamer cuts a .4525" freebore. The problem is my cylinder throats are .452". Close enought for a match or will honing be necessary?

I will do that.

But does that reamer remove rifling forward of the forcing cone (toward the muzzle)? That lack of rifling and the gentle leade is what allows the bullet to straighten itself out before engaging the rifling. That barrel is a smoothbore for the first inch of bullet travel.

A Taylor Throat is indeed a half-inch long freebore forward of the forcing cone with a gentle leade. In theory, it allows the bullet to somewhat straighten itself out before it engages the rifling, thereby increasing accuracy when the cylinder chambers are misaligned. I have seen it. It is not just a recut forcing cone.

Because it would stretch the barrel extension/shoulder joint? I know it is generally accepted that overtorquing causes a constriction, but if the joint is too thin to begin with? Toolguy, I like the idea of Locktite. When you pulled the barrel, did the barrel extension spring back to eliminate the bulge, or did the bulge remain? The reason I ask is if the bulge remains, there's no point to pulling the barrel.

It's a loose spot. You can see it when you point the muzzle at a light source and look down the forcing cone. The gun shoots poorly with ball ammo, 3-4" groups at 15 yards from a benchrest, but excellent with plated bullets- about an inch. The gun is mechanically sound with perfect timing. The only issue is that loose spot. I wanna shoot cast bullets and this may cause problems. I was also thinking about Taylor Throating it while I have the barrel off. I read the following account: http://journals.aol.com/johnstranahanb/Reb...bench-vise/1010 He got rid of the loose spot just by removing the barrel. I guess the barrel extension/shoulder joint got stretched when they overtorqued it at the factory.

Bob, That's very kind of you. I'm not quite ready yet, but I'll PM you soon. How does that jig work? Ralph

Hi, I need some input from you experts: I have a bulge in my barrel right at the shoulder. I can feel it when I run a tight patch through. I feel resistance all the way through the bore, then no resistance for a quarter inch, then some resistance until the patch is out of the forcing cone. I wanna pull the barrel off my 625 and set the shoulder back by about .002" which will allow the barrel to go back on with less torque and hopefully eliminate the bulge. I noticed Brownells sells a jig with a cutter that allows you to set the shoulder back without a lathe. Has anyone used this thing? Any issues?