Today I turned 21 and promptly went out and purchased a Ruger BlackHawk 6" in .357. I also picked up dies, powder, bullets, brass, and primers.

Reloading Setup:
RCBS RockChucker Supreme
RCBS 1500 Chargemaster
RCBS #4 Shellholder
RCBS 3PC .357 Carbide Dies

Componets I am trying to load:
125gr Speer TMJ's
Winchester Cases
16.5 2400
CCI 500 Primers


I have never done any kind of pistol reloading, but consider myself quite expirenced with rifle reloading. I have loaded for 4 rifle calibers thus far, and have never had to crimp or flare a load, or even tried to.

I have run into both of these today. Out of four tries I have sucessfully made 1 loaded .357 round.

Resizing is a peice of cake as one would expect. I ran into my first problem while flaring the round. I either flare WAY too much, or not enough. I can't seem to find a happy medium. I also can't decipher from the instructions if I should run the case all the way up into the flaring die or not. After taking the die appart it seems I certianly should not. Please confirm/deny this if you would.

My next question is should the expander be nearly all the way screwed in or should it be nearly out of the die. I see pictures of it screwed down to where only about 1/3rd an inch of the expander protrudes from the top of the die, but it does not seem possible to get a consistant flare when the die is set like this. Is flaring an art form or something?

Can cases that have been flared way out of spec be resized with lube? I started with 200 cases, and now at the rate I am going I will have 50 sucessfully loaded rounds. Hopefully I can resize these with gobs of one shot.

Now for crimping.

1.) I can't figure out how to adjust the dies so I can crimp/seat all in the same pull of the handle. Is this possible? The RCBS directions are a little lacking or my brain is a little stupid. Please somone clarify.

BTW for thoes who will certianly chime in to tell me to go find somone locally, I do have a really really good friend here locally who has knowlage about loading just about everything smaller than a 20mm, but it just so happens he is in Canada for a while, and damn it I just got this pistol and want to shoot it now!


I thank you in advance for helping my stupid young ass out!

You failed to mention which 3-piece die set you purchased. RCBS had two different sets. One had the sizer, combination expander/decapper and seater dies, while the other had the sizer/decapper, expander and seater dies.

This is one reason I always buy a 4-die set, when available. Then each operation is done all by it's lonesome.

Okay, as for expanding the case mouth. This is a trial and error thing. You want just enough to open the case mouth so that the base of the bullet sits inside the case, and not on the case mouth at any point.

It makes no difference if your die touches the ram or not...you adjust the expansion by screwing in or out the actual expansion plug.

Take the plug out of the die, run the ram to the top, then screw the plug down until it stops at the case mouth.

Lower the ram, and screw the plug in 1/4 more turn. Run the ram to the top and take a look at your case. If a bullet fits inside the flair, you are adjusted. If too much flair, then back the plug out 1/8 turn.

If you flair the mouth too much, just run the case through the resizing die again (without the decapper).

As for seating and crimping in the same step, I advise that you not do that. First seat, then crimp.

If you lost your instructions, go to:

http://stevespages.com/rcbsom.html

Thanks a lot Ricciardelli!

After typing this I sized all my cases and threw them in the tumbler. After this pizza arrives the moment of truth will be here.

Well... I figured it out, and it's much easier than I previously thought it would be. It seems to be much more time consuimg on a single stage press though. I also don't have my old manual powder thrower right now so it's kind of a chore to weigh each specific charge on the Chargemaster 1500. I guess that just means extra accurate loads though!

Anyone had any luck with 2400 yet? When buying the pistol I was just looking to see what was getting the max velocities and this seemed to be the powder with lower weight bullets. Any comments?

Steve nailed the instructions for you perfectly. The RC is a great rpess but the more pistol rounds you shoot the more you will want a progressive like the Dillon 550B.
AS to components, nothing wrong w/ 2400 & 125gr bullets. H110 will give you a bit higher vel. w/ more flash using a few more grains. A med. burner like Unique or Universal will be a bit slower, less flash & less powder (cheaper). Just depends on what you want but 2400 is great for 125-170gr bullets.

Yes, about halfway through the second batch of 100 I realised I need a progressive press, but that will have to wait as I generally focus on rifle shooting and getting this pistol was for fun rather than actually taking it seriously.

I did just go pop off about 30 rounds at an indoor range. I was quite suprised at how much muzzle blast/flame there is with this 2400. The gun looked a little dirty though, but what do I know this is my first revolver.

I didn't know what to expect in terms of recoil as I hadn't shot a 357 in about 2 years, and the last one I shot was a Colt Python. I found it to be extremly managible and it was not far from top velocity, so I don't think I have much to worry about.

Anyway, sorry for the crappy rant and range report, but hey I had a great time and had to tell somone!

I hope this is preaching to the choir but
If you "decapped and resized" and then tumbled while going to dinner---be sure to really shake out the media from the cartridges---Often a piece of media will stick in the primer flash hole---I insert a toothpick to each flash hole in each case after tumbling---you may already be doing this if you reload for rifles.

i highly sujest getting a dillion 550 or 650. i use a 550 and love it. theres alot of shooters near you,keep lookin on here or ar15.com and some one should beable to help you. if i was closer, id be more than glad to. you can get alot of great help here from askin questions.

you can also use blue dot,unique in most of the 357 loads. they will be alot cleaner for you

I know folks scream about Mike Dillon's stuff, but if you are patient and want to keep everything RCBS, their Piggyback works fine for me. Yes, it is a bit persnickety, but learn it and it will perform flawlessly...

JMHO...

Waffen, I've found that 2400 binds up my wifes GP100 because of the soot build up. Started using 296 and no more binding due obviously to being a cleaner burning powder. Other than that 2400 is a great powder and has shot very well out of my Python and her GP100. Jay

First off, congratulations on taking up such a great hobby at a young age. By the time you're as old as me, you'll be giving advise instead of asking.

I don't like 2400. I used a lot of it when I first started loading for .44 magnum in my Ruger SB, but when I used it in double actions, it's dirty nature caused problems. In a single action it is fine, but there are better powders. The previous posters have mentioned H-110/WW296, and I use both. The real ticket for maximum effort .357 is Hodgdon Lil'Gun. It has all the benefits of H-110/WW296, and none of the load density problems they exhibit.

As to progressive loaders, if you are shooting 300 to 500 rounds a week or more, they are the only answer. For the beginner, I think they are dangerous and unnecessary. I've heard too many horror stories about inexperienced users of these high output machines getting hurt or even destroying an expensive gun.

My recommendation would be to invest in a good turret loader instead, and do everything slowly and deliberately. This includes seating and crimping in two seperate steps.

Thanks the advise guys! I generally only consider myself a beginner with pistol reloading, anything with a shoulder I might be able to teach you about!

I may get a progressive in the future, but for right now I think I can make due with a single stage press. I put my old manual powder dropper back to work for loading pistol cases and that made a huge difference from using the RCBS digital dispenser. It may be less accurate but who cares my BlackHawk is probably more accurate than I will ever be.

It would appear though that I have come down with a conditional case of parkinsons. I seem to shake when I hold onto any pistol and shoot off hand. I don't know what the deal is with this, as I am certian I am strong enough to hold it correctly, maby i'm gripping it too tight, who knows!

I did put the blackhawk on a rest and was able to stack some rounds. The 2400 does create quite a bit of muzzle flash, I guess that makes shooting it more fun :-) I did pick up some WW231 and some 125gr Hornady XTP's. Hopefully I can make something happen with them. If not I will pick up some H110 which I am sure will work well.

Any tips on how to clean the cylinder? I got back today after shooting 180 rounds and this thing is as dirty as can be. I took a Dewey rod and nylon brush with hoppes too it, but there still seems to be a slight ring. I don't think it's lead residue either becasue I only shot jacketed bullets. I also put some wipeout in the barrel because thats the only thing I have next to CR10 for cleaning barrels. Should I be using something different or what?

Thanks for the help guys!

Nylon brushes are useless. Use a bronze brush and clean the cylinder the same as you clean your barrel...many passes and lots of elbow grease.

Waffen, I would stick with a slower burning powder like Lil Gun or H110/296 due to the fact if you get a double charge(by mistake, of course) of a powder like 231 or unique you'll blow up your revolver. But if you must use 231, make certain all cases (fill) to the same level, and your charge is correct.

Just a warning to you of the dangers of using "fast" burning powders. Jay