The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 38 S&W... can I use my lee .38 special dies?

benedict1 · March 27, 2007, 10:41 PM

Lee sells the .38 S&W dies--you can get them a lot of places; I got mine at

http://www.kempfgunshop.com/products...istoldies.html

for $22 + a few dollars for shipping. Whole thing came to about $25 total. They work great.

I wouldn't think you would get great results from .38 Special dies. My K-frame S&W, ca. 1941 keyholes with .357" bullets badly; shoots great with .359" At some point you're going to be shaving lead with .38 Special dies, especially if your gun slugs at the nominal bore diameter which is supposed to be .361". Many of the guns are a tad tighter than that though.

I load 146 gr SWC, lead, .359" diam and 2.2 gr Win 231. A pal of mine casts them for me. He can actually cast them at .360" and sizes them down .001" for me.

You can also get new brass from the Kempf link above. New ammo is pretty expensive; I know Winchester and Magtech still supply it. I bought 500 new cases from Kempf's and probably have enough to shoot the rest of my life with this revolver.

Even though the bore is rough, at 7 yds I can put 50 rounds into a 6" circle with heavy concentration toward the center.

If you have a nice old revolver the dies are worth the investment to treat it to some good ammo.

March 27, 2007, 10:41 PM	#3
benedict1 Senior Member Join Date: July 26, 2006 Location: Southern California Posts: 245	Lee sells the .38 S&W dies--you can get them a lot of places; I got mine at http://www.kempfgunshop.com/products...istoldies.html for $22 + a few dollars for shipping. Whole thing came to about $25 total. They work great. I wouldn't think you would get great results from .38 Special dies. My K-frame S&W, ca. 1941 keyholes with .357" bullets badly; shoots great with .359" At some point you're going to be shaving lead with .38 Special dies, especially if your gun slugs at the nominal bore diameter which is supposed to be .361". Many of the guns are a tad tighter than that though. I load 146 gr SWC, lead, .359" diam and 2.2 gr Win 231. A pal of mine casts them for me. He can actually cast them at .360" and sizes them down .001" for me. You can also get new brass from the Kempf link above. New ammo is pretty expensive; I know Winchester and Magtech still supply it. I bought 500 new cases from Kempf's and probably have enough to shoot the rest of my life with this revolver. Even though the bore is rough, at 7 yds I can put 50 rounds into a 6" circle with heavy concentration toward the center. If you have a nice old revolver the dies are worth the investment to treat it to some good ammo.