Dies for .38 Special?

[ChuckB]

Hi, Folks. I have a lot of experience loading 9mm and .45acp. I now have a S&W .38, and want to start loading for it. My question: Some of the commercial ammo I've purchased has a taper crimp, others a roll crimp. If I want a roll crimp on my reloads, how do I know if the dies I purchase will give me that? I've been using Lee carbide dies in the other calibers, so may well get their .38 set. Does a roll crimp improve fast reloads with a speedloader, or is there another reason for it? Thanks for any info you can share.

Chuck, who just like shooting a revolver!

 

[W.E.G.]

Pretty sure all the .38 special dies will apply a ROLL crimp.

Taper crimp is what you will find in dies for autopistol cartridges.

A light roll crimp has served well in all my .38 and .357 loads.

 

[ConcernedCitizen]

Is your firearm a .38 Special or a .38 S&W?

The two are NOT interchangeable.

 

[cfullgraf]

I bought some RCBS 38 special dies recently and if I remember it was listed on the box that it was a taper crimp. I specifically wanted the taper crimp, by the way.

A quick look at Midway, they show two RCBS 38 Spl./357 Mag die sets. One makes no mention of the crimp while the other specifically says taper crimp. So I suspect the "no name" dies set has a roll crimp.

 

[evan price]

Lee dies can do both taper and roll crimp, depending on how you setup the seat/crimp die. Turn down a little, taper crimp. Turn down more, roll crimp.

 

[rcmodel]

In my experiance all revolver dies can be adjusted to crimp from nothing, to a light taper, to a full blown heavy roll crimp.

Well, maybe not all dies, because RCBS and possibly others do make a taper crimp die for use in .38 Spl auto pistols or with target wad-cutter bullets. But the die will be marked as such.

rc

 

[Walkalong]

The standard .38 Spl/.357 die sets (unless they specifically say "taper") roll crimp. Lee, Redding, and perhaps others, make taper crimp dies for .38 Spl/.357. They are nice for crimping plated bullets.

 

[Walkalong]

Looks like RCBS and Lyman make separate taper crimp dies as well.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/Bro...eywordDisplay=taper&refineSearchKeyword=taper

 

[rcmodel]

I just saw a "Top 25 Dies - 2009" sold by RCBS in Handloader a while back.
.223 came in #1
.357/.38 Roll Crimp came in at #7.
.223 SM Base came in #15.
.357/.38 Taper Crimp came in at #24.

I got to wonder how many of those Taper crimp & Small base dies were bought by new reloaders who didn't know any better?

rc

 

[ChuckB]

Thanks, everyone. I'll go ahead with the Lee set.

Chuck

 

[ranger335v]

Crimping a .38 Spec load rarely requires a crimp at all, the recoil is normally too light to pull bullets. And, even a crimp it's needed, taper or roll really won't matter.

 

[Walkalong]

I crimp most of my .38 loads to some degree. I have experimented with taper crimps on jacketed bullets, and I agree with ranger335v, both roll and taper crimps work equally well. You just have to figure out how much for any given powder charge/bullet.