Wanting to get into reloading 38 SPL.

[rwsmith]

You can use the scoop......

Thank you everyone for the great advice. Right now I got it in my head that the basic Lee Loader is the best for me to start out with. A couple more questions.

Some have mentioned it would be good to get a scale. If I had the little spoon that comes with the kit, what would the scale be for?

Also I use 158gr, lead semi-wadcutter's as my carry ammo. I'd like to also use these same bullets for my reloads. Does anyone have any advise on bullets, primer's and powder to buy?

With proper technique to level the scoop, yes you can use it and it will throw just a tad conservatively that what the chart says, so it is safe. I started with Lee Hand tools and confirmed the throw of Bullseye powder on a laboratory scale that I had access too. As long as I was shooting just .38 light target loads the tools and scoop worked just fine. When I started branching out, I got a scale.

 

[Wise_A]

Lee maintained that the dippers were actually pretty safe, because of the relationship between their width and their depth. Even if you deliberately tried to heap the powder up and create and overcharge, the most you could ever go over by was 16% or thereabouts.

Personally--I did it once, to be able to say I've done it. It's slow, it's clumsy.

Yeah I hear ya. I didn't fully realize that box of 38 spl fmj is about $20. It would've been nice if it was $5 or $10 like other ammos. but it's still $20 a box. Not really worth reloading to save maybe $10 (assuming you can save 50%).

.38 Special is actually quite economical to load for. Let's take the cheapest per-round ammunition I can find on Midway--it's some junk remanufactured ammo, using a 125-grain lead bullet.

That stuff is .32 cents a round, or $16/50. Not factoring in shipping, or whatever it actually costs to get locally. And presuming we're fine with shooting terrible ammunition.

Now let's take my favorite target/match load--a 148-grain wadcutter over 2.8 grains of Alliant Bullseye. Let's say I only buy my bullets 1000 at a time online (which is a huge waste), so my cost per 500 bullets is $41.50. Let's just go ahead and say that that a pound of powder is $27 (it's not, but that'll cover gas and time to get it), and primers are $35/1000.

Plugging it into my Bullet Beancounter spreadsheet:

Bullet - 8.3 cents
Powder - 1 cent
Primer - 3.5 cents

That's a hair under $0.13/round, or only $6.43/50. So in other words, I can shoot some pretty high-quality ammunition for 40% of the price of utter garbage.

Now, that's a pretty huge savings, but I will concede that it's not as much as you can save with, say, .44 Magnum.

The cheapest I'm seeing for that cartridge (not in a case) is $.66/round, or $33/50.

The price of my full-house, teensy-groups .44 Mag load is $.18/round, or $9.34/50.

Cartridges that aren't as economical to load for are very light-bullet, small-case cartridges like 9mm and .40 S&W. The most expensive component is the brass case, followed up by the bullet. The primer and powder are almost negligible until you get into Magnum loads with very slow powders:

2.8 grains of Bullseye in .38 Spl is $.01
11.4 grains of Unique in .44 Magnum is $.04
22 grains of 2400 in .44 Magnum is $.08

If we spend $500 on reloading equipment, at an average savings of 60% off the price of cheap factory (which I've established is a little conservative depending on caliber), then our initial investment on the reloading gear is paid off after we shoot the equivalent of $833 in factory ammo. Assuming my napkin-math is right.

And that assumes that we pretend the press and dies and such have no value at all once we use them. At 50% depreciation on the gear it only takes $416 in ammunition to break even. So 26 boxes of awful .38, or just 12 boxes of .44 Mag!

...

Reloading accounts for most of the math I've done in my adult life.

 

[GA_Sheepdog]

Ok guys, I have an update on my journey to reloading .38 Spl. Yesterday I loaded up 99 cartages, with Federal spent brass, CCI pistol primers, CFE powder and Hornady 158gr LSWC Frontier lead(knurled base). Setting up the Lee auto drum and getting the right powder throw was a little pain. I managed to get a consistent powder throw though.


If you're asking yourself, why only 99. That's because the first round I actually attempted to seat the bullet with the factory crimp die, instead of the bullet seat die. While I was doing this I was wondering why the bullet wasn't seating even though I had the adjustment screw all the way down. After I realized what I was doing, I change the die out for the correct one. Btw I was unable to pull the bullet out of the super crimped case. I figured I'd leave it on my bench to serve as a reminder to use the correct die. I will admit the factory crimp die and the bullet seating die do look quite similar to an untrained eye.


Using the CFE powder I loaded 4.4gr into each shell. Some of the loads got to 4.5. but I don't think that's a big deal, 5.0 is the max. I set the bullets to have an OAL of 1.490. When I crimped the bullets I didn't really notice a visible crimp. So I set die in between a light and heavy crimp.


One thing that I did not like was that the lead bullet was "Smearing" around the case after seating the bullet. Is this normal or do I need to expand the bullets a little more. The expansion was fine, the bullet just fit enough to say in the case.


What do you guys think? Any advise on what I could have done better?


Also, I'd like to say thank you to everyone for giving me advice and helping on my journey.

 

[arjay]

A bit of a smear can happen when you seat and crimp with the same die in one step.I don't worry about it

 

[Wise_A]

99 out of 100 ain't bad. I seem to recall getting a lower yield when I started. And what you've made doesn't look bad. Expect about a .1-grain variation with most loads.

Hitting the mark when it comes to the correct powder dispenser setting will get easier with time. Gradually, you'll get a bit of a dusting inside it from the powder running through. That dusting has a bit of an anti-static quality to it, and lets the powder run and fill more consistently. You'll also get a little tuned-in yourself--for instance, I generally have to run a little higher setting to throw the intended powder charge, and a little more still in the summer than in the winter.

Try throwing a dozen or so charges and pouring them back into the hopper when you start next time. The early ones will always be off. Practice maintaining a consistent lever-throw on the charging step, as well.

A little bit of lead smear, as stated, can happen on combined seating and crimping dies. If you're using separate dies for those two steps, then I would say that that's a pretty clear sign you're not expanding enough.

I try to adjust expansion to give as little "trumpeting" as possible (when you see it, you'll know), but enough that it's easy and fast to place the bullet in the case mouth. In other words, I should be able to work the press pretty fast without worry that the bullet will topple out.

How much expansion is necessary depends on the bullet. A bevel-based bullet requires less expansion than one that is not.

In general, something a little like the case on the right, and sometimes slightly more:

 

[pittpa]

A bit of a smear can happen when you seat and crimp with the same die in one step.I don't worry about it

I get the smear on my soft 38 HBWC. I widened the bell a bit but ultimately I just wipe take cases off


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[august1410]

How do you like it? I know there's more expensive and more convenient kits but is this kit good to start off with?

I've used it for six years. Thought I'd like another press.....stayed with this one.

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