Basic "new guy to reloading" question....

[Eightball]

Greetings all. Just ordered some carbide 3-die RCBS .38 Special dies, and was generally curious--will these dies restrict me to loading certian types of bullets? I have an older set of .38 dies (came with my setup, long story) that are the old "lube every round" type of dies, but those are speficially setup to load WC only--which is fine, I have several hundred WC bullets that also came with my setup. My query is, will these incoming Carbide Dies limit me to LRN only, WC only, HP only, or is it more of an "anything goes"? And, after getting the hang of solo-loading my own rounds, would it be inadvisable to switch to the old "lube die" set that includes the seater for WC after doing the other steps with my carbide dies, or would I still need to lube the round, or.....?

Sorry, it's a lot of questions, but it's all good stuff to know.

 

[nitesite]

Ooops

 

[Otto]

Greetings all. Just ordered some carbide 3-die RCBS .38 Special dies, and was generally curious--will these dies restrict me to loading certian types of bullets?

That depends. RCBS makes two carbide die sets for the .38 Special.
The 18212 for roll crimps and the 18215 for TC.
Which did you order?

 

[Sunray]

"...limit me to..." Nope. They should come with a seating plug for WC's and one for RN's. HP's will be seated with the WC plug. If they don't come with the plugs, the seater plug from the old dies will work in the new dies with no fuss. In any case, the only die that is carbide is the sizer die and that's just a carbide insert. You could have bought it by itself. Mind you, the difference in price between a set and just the sizer die is $3 at Midway.

 

[Eightball]

Well, I just bought this stuff from Midway, and figured I may as well get the "whole kit and kaboodle" for the price difference.

So, if the FWC seating die/insert screws out far enough, that is what I want to use to load HPs and JHPs?

 

[bill larry]

Eightball...

My dad got me into reloading a couple years ago in a single stage press...loading .38 specials with a RCBS press and dies.

You can adjust the bullet seater to seat any bullet correctly just by rotational adjustment. Its funny, i've probably reloaded 30 to 40k of .38's, mostly wadcutters; but some hot defesive ammo as well and switching back and forth between bullets has never takin me long or made me hunt for another doodad thats supposed to be in the dies for this bullet or that bullet.

I think, once you have the dies adjusted, you'll be golden. Go slow, get an OLD Speer reloading manual (like from the 70's, they have REAL loads in there), and never be in a hurry.

 

[Sunray]

"...seating die/insert screws out far enough..." The seating plug should be able to come out altogether. You should be able to change it. The end of it is machined for either WC/SWC's or RN's.
Since most HP's are flattish, use the WC seating plug. It won't damage anything if you use the RN plug on HP's though. If you use the RN plug on WC's, you might get some bullets going into the case a bit crooked and get some odd looking rings on an HP/JHP, but that won't bother accuracy.
"...for the price difference..." Doesn't make a lot of sense does it?

 

[Eightball]

Oh, FWIW, I have a Speer reloading book from '79.

For the "screws out far enough", I didn't know if it would screw out far enough so far as OAL goes in relation to the screws for the dies; I know it comes out all the way, but having not reloaded one round on my own press yet, forgive my ignorance.

And to answer Otto, I think they're "roll crimp", not TC.

 

[Otto]

If you paid $36.99 @ Midway then you got the roll crimp.

If memory serves me, the older RCBS die sets included three seater punches...RN, SWC and WC. And keep in mind that RCBS will grind down a punch for you to match any specific Speer bullet.

 

[Walkalong]

I have extra seater plugs for RCBS .38 dies. If yours did not come with what you need PM me. I can make it fit your bullet if needed as well.