reloading 357 / 38 special worth it?

[tbhupe]

Beyond the time and expense (or savings) are the options reloading gives you. I don’t mean tailoring you loads but being able to have ammo. If the past few decades have taught us anything it’s that you can’t always rely on “store shelves” to have what you need. Without hoarding, I can have several thousand rounds of whatever I need to shoot just sitting in boxes under my workbench waiting to be assembled. Piece of mind like that is hard to put a value on.

 

[Rick]

I received, from my late father, a Lee Loader kit for our hunting rifles but it one of those all in one box kits... If it makes any difference: I usually go out and put about 50 rounds down the barrel when I hit the range, if the wife and kids are with my we may double that amount, and it's usually 38 special because my broken body can't handle too much of the 357 any more.

1. What need would you feel to reload .357 rather than .38 Spl? Something other than making a hole in paper or a piece of steel clang? If no need - don't.
2. Are you sure you'll never want to shoot more than a 100 rounds a trip? And how many trips to the range a year? Sure you won't end up wanting to shoot more?
3. What's your time spent reloading rather than doing something else worth?

I started reloading .38 Spl and .357 on a Rockchucker. Fun at first; quickly became painful. I switched to a Co-Ax to make changing dies way faster - was still painful... especially when I began shooting a lot more because shooting reloads was cheaper than buying at the gunshop. Fast forward: now there's a Dillon XL650 with a case feeder sitting on the bench that has been there for decades - it replaced one of the original Square Deals.

I have four Model 19s. Not one of them has seen a single round of .357 Magnum in over 40 years - I finally figured out I didn't need Magnum performance to poke holes in paper and make steel clang.

No doubt you've had every option under the sun suggested to you after five pages. My take would be to at least look at an entry level progressive press. The difference in cost between a progressive and a single stage or turret press is minimal, spread over months and years and when considering the cost of components that you'll be buying at the same time. And the time saved can be spent on the range, or flyfishing, or playing with your kids, etc.

AND... if for some reason you decide you over-bought in choosing a progressive, you'll get a pretty good chunk of the purchase price back when selling it to move back to your slower Lee Loader. Most reloaders move the other way however - they buy a more productive press to step up from a single stage press.

 

[old303]

If you need something that goes thump harder, get a .45 or a .44.

.38's forte is fun plinking or competitions where you just need a hole in the paper or a ping on the steel. As a first reload caliber it's good because you're probably not trying for the high-power edge and should be leaving comfortable margins, but tricky because it's such a long thin cartridge and it's harder to visually check a reasonable-looking powder charge ahead of placing each bullet.

.357 can be fun for a bit of a change-up exploring the range of what a .38/.357 revolver will do ("poof" ,"pow", "boom", "KABLAMMO!" from consecutive cylinders) but usually isn't necessary. The one corner where it might be interesting ("might" as in I didn't pursue the idea) was in IPSC revolver where the 8-shot wonders have taken over Revolver-Minor but Major power factor is still exclusive to six-gunners and it looked like .357 loaded to major PF could be the ticket.