I'm not wise by any means

by Catoosa, Thursday, December 08, 2011, 21:52 (4682 days ago) @ Charles

But I can learn from my mistakes. When loading for high-pressure autopistol rounds like 9mm and .38 Super, I now back off the expander plug so that the first step will only enter the case mouth as deeply as the bullet base will seat, and the belling step does not even touch. Then I use a Lee universal belling die to flare the case in a separate step. After loading, the round gets run into a Lee factory crimp die to remove the case flare and give it a good taper crimp. This gives each loaded round a distinct "wasp waist" appearance and insures that it takes LOTS of pressure to push a bullet back in the case during the feed cycle.

OK, I'm paranoid about bullet setback, but after almost blowing a 9mm case in my treasured LW Commander years ago due to setback, I'm convinced that being anal about it is the way to go.

From Charles' photo, it looks like the bottleneck .357 Sig case has nothing except neck friction to keep the bullet from setting back, and there's not a whole lot of neck there....