[another okie]

My brother-in-law and I share a set of Lee dies in .38 special. Do we need a whole new set to load .357, or can we just buy one or two of the set?

[MarineTech]

While I've been reloading rifle ammo for a while, I will admit that I'm new to loading pistol ammo, but as far as I know, .38SPL dies ARE .357 Magnum dies. You just back them out a bit in your press to account for the slightly longer case length. You really need to make sure that you get a good roll crimp on the .357 cases though or you could run into trouble.

Unless you're talking about one of those Lee Loader setups. Somebody told me once that they're not interchangeable.

[P95Carry]

Indeed ........ one die set does both....... it is only a case of backing off that tenth of an inch or so for the .357, to accomodate the case length difference.

When you set up .. it is worth remembering once you have bullet seat depth to your liking .... it's useful to add a touch more crimp than needed on .38 .... make sure bullet retention is adequate at least.

if you can .... try what I do now .. have a spare die set in .38/357 and a spare turret .... set each up to suit and then it's only a matter of a turret change.

Other thing I did way back when only the one die set ... use permanent marker for your ideal settings (line on die body and line on lock nut) and note the number of turns needed between each etc .. it is possible this way to also change from one to other quite quick.

[Brian Williams]

38 spec dies will load 38 and 357, rcbs has a spacer that you put in when you expand the case and seat bullets and crimp. 357 dies will resize 38 spec but most likely will not do the expansion and will not seat bullets correctly or crimp 38special.

If you are using 38 sepcial dies for 357 you just have to remember to set the dies about 1\10" above the 38spec settings.

[HankB]

I've been using a set of RCBS .38 Special dies to load both .357's and .38's for decades. My father made up a steel shim equal in thickness to the difference between .38's and .357's, so when I load Magnums, I just slip this in under the lock ring. As long as I'm loading the same bullet, I'm good to go.

I *think* the difference in case lengths is 0.135" . . .

[MrPhil]

Hank B has it right. 38 Special case is 1.155". 357 Mag case is 1.290". Difference is 0.135".

[another okie]

Thanks for the replies, all.

Sounds like we can get by with the .38 dies, but that it might be more convenient to buy a set for .357, especially since our Lee .38 dies do not have locking rings. (Believe me, all the dies I've bought since that first set do have locking rings.)

[Brian Williams]

I called RCBS and I told them that a friend had an old set of 38 spec dies and I was wondering if RCBS sold the ring like I have in my 38/357 set. They said give me your friends address and we(RCBS) will send him one. BUT I did not have my "friends" address I said. So give me yours RCBS said and we will send it to you and you give it to him. SSSSOoooooo, PM or Email your Snail mail address and I will send it to you when I get it!!!!!


I called RCBS earlier this week and I told them I bent the decapper pin holder for my set of 357 dies and they are sending me a new one along with some small decapper pins.

[Standing Wolf]

So give me yours RCBS said and we will send it to you and you give it to him.

That's R.C.B.S. for you! Tops in customer service.

[P95Carry]

It's a pity Lyman never latched on to that sorta service ........ they're the losers.

[Nanook]

Or, you can be lazy like me and buy another set of dies. One for .38 and one for .357. To me it beats constantly messing about with a tenth-inch.
:D

[another okie]

Thanks, Pefesser, I'll call RCBS.

I finally actually red the instructions on the Lee dies and it says just back the expanding and bullet seating dies out two full turns. Did that and the bullets seated exactly right.