Please school me on .38 Special wadcutters consumables

[reddog81]

Whatever seating stem you have should work. The Lyman M die is a good recommendation. IMO the normal expander dies are great for jacketed bullets or plated bullets, but using the slightly larger Lyman M die will help expand the case a bit more to accommodate the larger diameter lead bullets. FWIW most of the swaged HBWC bullets I've measured are around .359/.360 in diameter. That is the one extra piece of equipment that might be worth buying before you begin reloading.

I have shot many thousands of .38 Special rounds including thousands of DEWC and HBWC through revolvers and a semi-auto S&W 52, not once have I trimmed a 38 case.

As a new reloader I would just start with getting the press setup and knocking out a few rounds. All the extra stuff is a unnecessary distraction.

 

[.38 Special]

I'm not completely sure of the purpose of the longer funnel. At any rate, I have never used one.

The seating stem may be useful. Regular stems tend to mark the bullet just slightly. I have never found that to be harmful, but would prefer it not happen - although not enough to change out my stem, apparently.

 

[2ndtimer]

Lol. Naw, I've spent too much money to give up...and I just got started.

I found two lbs. of Titegroup in town today and scored another 1000 CCI SPP. No Accurate #2 or Bullseye. You can bet that from now on, I will be hoovering up all SPP and Accurate #2 that I stumble across. I'd like to have five years worth of components on hand for all my "important" calibers. A new hobby is born!

I also think that I'm just about done buying any new gear until I've gone through 1000 reloads or so. As @.38 Special stated, my plan (at first), is to tumble, then size & decap on the press. After that I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing. That would also be a good time to decide if it's easier to clean the press periodically, or decap before loading.

There's no such thing as too much information. I'm an obsessive person that doesn't really like to reinvent the wheel. I'd rather know what successful people are doing, and then do the same thing.

Just a couple observations:
While your zeal to embrace the full complexities of loading your own ammunition is admirable, I believe you need to get basic to start with. And one of those basics is a realistic goal for your hand loads. If you are loading for 2” barrel J-Frame revolvers, (13 oz scandium frame models at that), then slugging barrels and chambers is not really needed. Practical accuracy will be achieved with reasonable bullets at reasonable charges of fast burning powders, Accurate No. 2 will be fine, as would many other options. The most precise accurate loads in the world will still be limited by the short barrel, limited site radius, rudimentary fixed sights and lightweight of the firearm.
Also, your velocity goal of 800 fps with a 148 gr bullet will require a higher pressure load if you are to reach it out of a short barrel. Very few loading manuals show velocities from such short barrels, and realistically, the vaunted Target load of 2.7 gr of Bullseye out of a 2” barrel will barely break 600 fps. Most loading manuals post their .38 Special data from 4” or 6” barrels, some even from a universal receiver with no barrel/cylinder gap.
I would have suggested starting with a simple single stage press, as opposed to a progressive. I am sure the Dillon XL-750 is a fine machine, but starting out speed should be the last concern. I have had a Dillon RL-550B for over 20 years, but still use my RCBS Rockchucker single stage more often. And my original set of dies for .38/.357 (RCBS Carbide) were purchased new in 1982, so I have been at this a while.
One of my more recent changes to my routine has been liquid tumbling of cases. By depriming cases first, one has the option of using stainless steel pins which not only clean the outside of the cases, but insides and primer pockets, too.

 

[9mmepiphany]

And, the tip about the M-profile die is a very good one. It has come up in some literature I've read, but again, it didn't really "click" for me when they were explaining why it was needed.

I started loading jacketed and plated bullets and it wasn't a huge issue balancing bullets atop the case mouth and the mouth of the die...well, unless you don't get your fingers out of the way in time.

When I switched the swaged and polymer coated bullets, I noticed that the case mouths would sometimes shave the bullet as it was being seated...because the bullets weren't aligned with the case mouth. I attacked the issue from 3 directions at once (yes, a little overkill) with a Redding Carbide Dual Ring Sizer, a Lyman Expander, and a Redding Competition Seating die.

The seat in the case mouth helps the bullet stay aligned as it enters the seating die...the sliding collar of the seating die than maintains alignment, between the case and bullet, to meet the seating ram. That ended my bullet shaving issue

The side benefit is that you can place the bullet sooner as the cup will also hold the bullet in the case as it travels between stations...more an issue with the Dillon than the Hornady, due to it's more violent case movement