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.38spl / .357M reloading for underlever


Guest cookoff013
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Guest cookoff013

Asking for a friend of a friend.

is it easy to do? worth it?

Thinking about normal everyday reloads, nothing silly. just good old traditional normal speed, 125 or 158. 

next "might" be

.44rem version. whats the crack? same as .357? easy, 

just thinking outloud. more than likely end up one or other calibre, 

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Yes. It is easy as these are straight walled cases so you can use tungsten or titanium carbide dies. These mean that you do not need to lube your cases as you would lube rifle cases as rifle dies are steel and will mark and scratch. Carbide dies don't.

Powders can be from Bullseye...I have a canister of that for sale here on P/W at present...say 2.7 grains and upwards or 2400 powder at 12.0 grains and upwards with in between charges of other powders from 5, 6, 7 or 8 grains. Bullseye is good as you get more loads to each canister. As seven thousand grains make one pound in weight you'll get a lot of reloads using Bullseye. 

Clearly your charge must be such that the bullet has enough "oomph" to exit the barrel of your lever action carbine or Ruger bolt action carbine.

.44 Magnum is the same except that you wouldn't really use Bullseye. The different between the two is in simple terms like filling a pint glass with beer and filling a litre glass with beer. Other than the matter of proportion it's the same method for both.

Edited by enfieldspares
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Guest cookoff013

Cheers.

I take it the recipe needs to have some oompf to clear, i know bullseye is the ticket for revolvers in-38s but wondering if its worth it? Given that we can use 357 / 38spl.   Privi plinking ammo, and all. Just wondering what powder / recipe will give no fuss, reloads. Price break might help. Ill right off equipment cost.

The .44 even though the same reload process, was more thinking. I m thinking about availability too. I dont want to end up reloading for a friend, and a friend of a friend. If 44 is really worth it, or i sink the equipment £ in plinking ammo.

 

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I reload .38spl with bullseye powder, for my underlever

158 gr lead semi round nose bullet, 3 gr of bullseye. (I know people who go lower 2.7-2.8 gr of bulseye.)

Without digging out the receipts for the components and taking into account that I use brass that I have already shot, I think it works out around 8-10p a cartridge.

Should add it has been quite a while since I bought components, so presumably the price has gone up.

Edited by Newbie to this
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Well, the rough cost to me per round would be about 16p (a primer is about 4p, powder 3p, lead head 8p, brass say 1p as I get many reloads per case). You can get that down by making your own heads and shopping about.

But you also need to factor in equipment and time, which can be almost any price.

If you shoot a fair bit though it does mean you don't have to keep going to an RFD to buy ammunition as you can hold any amount of parts.

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.38/357 is probably THE easiest to load for and also one of the cheapest, especially if you cast your own bullets - I would guess I load .357 for my Winchester 94ae for around £8-9 a hundred. If you don't over crimp your rounds and use typical "cowboy" loads  the cases will last for ages, dozens of reloads. A tub of Unique powder for £40 will make 1,500 rounds at 4.5 grains each giving around 1,050 fps with a cast lead 158gn bullet. Primers £42.50 per 1,000.

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Guest cookoff013
25 minutes ago, 1066 said:

.38/357 is probably THE easiest to load for and also one of the cheapest, especially if you cast your own bullets - I would guess I load .357 for my Winchester 94ae for around £8-9 a hundred. If you don't over crimp your rounds and use typical "cowboy" loads  the cases will last for ages, dozens of reloads. A tub of Unique powder for £40 will make 1,500 rounds at 4.5 grains each giving around 1,050 fps with a cast lead 158gn bullet. Primers £42.50 per 1,000.

The cost for reloafing both is almost peanuts. Unique was the burnrate i was looking for. Bullseye/ba10 is fast and cheap.

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Just knocked up a couple of hundred 158gn bullets from scrap airgun pellets from our 10m range. These are for my .357 Westlake revolver and my .357 Winchester rifle.

I size the revolver bullets to .356 and the one for the Winchester are shot as cast, just lubed with Alox.

 

20200929_134923a.jpg

Edited by 1066
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Yup, very easy to reload. I use Shellhouse Bullet Co 158gn bullets and have used Lovex DO32 and now use Viht N320, 3.5 grain. Straight wall cases, use carbide dies so don't have to lube and don't have to bother measuring length and trimming. I reckon I make them for £6 per 50 as opposed to £19 retail price.

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Guest cookoff013

Ok. Cheers guys. Thanks for the heads up and info *carbide dies.

Ill read up a little more, get some europe data. Then i will have a mooch, what equipment.

 

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The Lee classic turret press kit is a good place to start, with the lee 4 set dies.

2091490062_Screenshot_20201001-155612_SamsungInternet.jpg.39d666110b3ec641b20d16ff6a682e4e.jpg

I believe it's the .38 special dies that you can do both .38 spl and .357 mag reloads with, but you can't do both with the .357 mag dies.

Edit-

768122847_Screenshot_20201001-160555_SamsungInternet.jpg.8302469f858e384a1a91e39948dee0a8.jpg

I'd invest in a Auto prime as well

681158063_Screenshot_20201001-155716_SamsungInternet.jpg.25d8cde501a2e49ab42060d5f116f0f1.jpg

A good set of digital scales might be a good investment also.

Edited by Newbie to this
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