I'm going to be reloading for my brothers 357 mag. I havn't reloaded for pistols before so help me out. I understand that the pistol can shoot 38special cartridges out of the pistol also. Is this true? O.K. next question is can a die reload for both pistol cartridges or do I have to buy a die for both 38 special and 357 magnum. And what reloading die would be the best to get. I usually use RCBS or Redding. What Brand would you think is the best one to get /

If it is a .357 Magnum revolver, then yes you may shoot .38 Special in it as well. The die set for .38 Special is the same as .357 Magnum.

One of the amazing things about die brands is they all work quite well.

Lyman has the best expander design for handgun dies. Redding has copied it.

I load for both cartridges and use RCBS dies and can't find any fault with them at all. I bought and extra seating die so that I don't have to re-set the one seating die back and forth when I switch cartridges.

Whichever die set you get, get carbide dies.

That way you will not have to resize using lube.

I have used RCBS, Dillon, and Redding. Can't say that I think any one is "better" quality wise, but I like the dillon because you have a separate crimp die. Full house .357's usually need a fair amount of crimp to keep the bullets from migrating and possibly binding the cylinder.

Most makes offer a separate crimp die now, but when I started it was dillon or lee, and I had some bad experiences with other lee products back then, so I went with big blue. Haven't changed anything since for the .357/.38

As others have said, you can shoot .38's in a .357 gun, but sometimes doing that puts a bunch of carbon and lead in the cylinder and can be an issue during a shooting session.

You can use one set of dies to reload both cartridges, however, you will have to adjust the die for the different case lengths. Some die sets come with a spacer ring that accounts for the different case length.

Also,I agree 100% with crbutler on using carbide dies for handgun reloading. Most of the dies I have are Lee products and they have served me well for 20+ years.

You can also shoot 9mm out of a 357 as well depending on the tolerances.

quote:

You can also shoot 9mm out of a 357 as well depending on the tolerances.

If you're lucky you have a revolver with multiple cylinders for 357 and 9mm, like I USED to have with a convertible NM Blackhawk.

Dies sold as 38 Spl or 38/357 can be used to load both but some dies labled only as .357 cannot be used to load .38 spls.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by crbutler:
Whichever die set you get, get carbide dies.
QUOTE]

I use the carbide 38/357 RCBS dies and made a spacer. The die is set for the 38 and the spacer is used with the expander and seater dies only. I made my own spacer because I like to keep my dies trimmed to maximum length. Trim length will determine the thickness of the spacer. It should be the exact difference in the lengths of the 38 and 357 brass.

Thanks alot guys.I havn't read to much on these rounds, just what I have in my magazines. Is there a specific weight of bullet to use with these 2 rounds. Or what bullet weight would you recommend using. Will be used for mainly just plinkin around with.

For self defense against two legged varmints I load 125gr JHPs in both.

For targets I load 158gr LSWCs or 148gr WCs in both.

I shoot 98 percent 38spl out of my 357s for practice.

quote:

Originally posted by kennedy:
Thanks alot guys.I havn't read to much on these rounds, just what I have in my magazines. Is there a specific weight of bullet to use with these 2 rounds. Or what bullet weight would you recommend using. Will be used for mainly just plinkin around with.

My experience with the 357 is that bullet weights between 125 and 158 are the best "all around" use rounds you can have. The lighter bullets travel fast but don't penetrate as well and they don't hold their velocity well. The heavier bullets penetrate well but don't have enough velocity to keep a good trajectory. I settled on the 140 grain Sierra and Speer bullets in my revolver. They are clocked at 1464 fps from a 4" barrel and shoot accurately out to 100 yards. I use hollow points because I worked the load up for Hunter's Pistol silhouette and it transfers more momentum to the target than soft point bullets. In my tests they expand well out to 50 yards in soft tissue (fackler box tests) and penetrate 13 to 15 inches from 10 to 40 yards.
Your load will depend on the type of gun you are loading for. My Ruger Security-Six shoots accurately with both 18.0 grains and 19.1 grains of H110 but the higher loading is too hot for the Smith and Taurus revolvers. Colt is an unknown for me - never loaded for one but I suspect they are not built to handle the higher loads either. My TC likes the 19.1 grain load too but with the 14" barrel there is more velocity.

A good, in-between bullet for both cartridges is the 140 gr JHP driven to 900 - 1100 fps. In a K or L frame it's a sweet load.

Steve