comments:
To those of you that reload - is 38spl a caliber that makes sense as a starting point for reloading? Sure.You might beat the price of factory rounds by a few cents per bang. I love to shoot my 38spl snub nose. I'm comfortable enough with it that it is in my carry rotation so I try to put some rounds through it once a month, maybe about 30-50 or so per outing to stay fresh. My problem is 38spl has been going up in price and tougher to find regularly, so I'm trying to be mindful of my inventory. Reloading is great for range rounds.Despite having a 100% goes-bang rate in .357mag / .38spl I would not use my reloads for carry / defensive rounds. Ive been looking at reloading and considering something like the Lee Hand Press since I don't have the space for a bench setup, $3.50 worth of free advice: Get a regular single-stage press so when you decide to reload for something else like an expensive rifle caliber you're already there press-wise. One of the modern ones with a bushing system to quick-change dies that are pre set-up (I use a Hornady press with their Lock-N-Load bushings but other press manufacturers have their own systems that work just as well and save you having to thread the die in to a specific depth every time). Bolt your press to a 12x12 sheet of plywood (you want the 1" deep plywood so the bolts are in the wood and you still have enough wood thickness to hold the press securely), then get yourself some long C-clamps and clamp that sucker to a table. Works great for a temporary setup, you just need a little closet space to store the press mounted to the board. I realize the initial cost to get into reloading just this one caliber (based on the price of the hand press and components for 1000rds) is probably going to be close to the cost of an entire case of manufactured ammo. Maybe two cases. But hit up eBay and buy used!(If you want a quick-change bushing set they make conversion bushings) You will need: Press (and mounting hardware/wood board like I mentioned) A reloading manual of your choice .358/.38 dies(One die set is as good as another really) Powder scale & powder thrower(Or electronic powder measure - expensive but worth it IMHO). Brass(Save your factory brass, it's good for many reloads.) Primers(Just get regular small pistol primers, even for .357 you don't need the "magnum" primer for most modern powders, they ignite and burn just fine with "regular" primers.) Powder(Everyone and their dead grandmother has a favorite powder, r/reloading will have opinions, as will your reloading manual.) Bullets(Buy factory bullets until / unless you're ready to mess about with lead casting, that's its own world!) Most die kits have a de-priming tool as part of the sizing die and you can prime on the press in most cases.I prefer hand-depriming (Frankford Arsenal makes a nice tool, I have 3D printable collets for it for when you inevitably lose the ones it came with.), and hand-priming (every press manufacturer has a hand priming tool, they're all about the same, get an inexpensive one). You probably also want a brass cleaner (dry or wet tumbler, I prefer wet because the lead-contaminated waste is a liquid rather than dust in my air) because IME .38spl gets a little dirty around the case mouth. There are dedicated brass tumblers, but a medium-size rock tumbler with some chip media does the same thing, and again: eBay, used, cheap! :) You should have a set of calipers to measure brass length and overall length, you may eventually need to trim brass (I don't think I've ever had .38spl grow enough to warrant trimming but you'll need it for other calibers - FWIW I like the Lee QuickTrim system, it's expensive to buy the trim dies for each caliber, but OMG SO MUCH FASTER than every other solution I've used!) Reloading isn't rocket surgery - follow the manual instructions, Start low and work your way up. Pay attention to what you're doing (especially with powders like Titegroup where you can put four or five charges into a case - that would be Bad Times!) If you're reasonably competent and responsible with what you're doing it's safe and some of us even find it fun!