How to assure a die set can do double duty?

[Naphtali]

Several revolver cartridges have essentially identical dimensions, except for case and overall lengths: .38 Special/.357 Magnum; .44 Special/.44 Magnum; .45 Colt/.454 Casull; .480 Ruger/.475 Linebaugh.

Which die set would I buy to be able to load short AND long cartridges?

[NVcurmudgeon]

In .38/.357 and in .44 Special/Magnum, RCBS makes dual purpose dies, and they are even so marked and come with a shim washer. Others may do the same. Back in the olden days this problem was solved by buying a second seat/crimp die or grinding off a bit from the die for the longer cartridge so it would crimp the short case.

[1hole]

As a general rule of thumb (a concept mostly useful for measuring thumbs), you can use the die set for the shorter of the two cartridges to load for the longer. Being "assured" of that is more problematical. I used Lyman's .38 Spec. set for .357 and a .44 Spec set for the Mag for years.

[Pepe Ray]

The last company to sell product that would cause you to have that concern
was RCBS. Don't know the exact date nor whether or not it was lost sales or complaints which caused them to "come around" but they finally changed there design to allow the dual ctg. loading.
As far as I know all other companies have used the design allowing dual purpose loading forever.
It's a simple matter of readjustment.
Pay attention to the cataloging and advertisements. Aren't they ALL
##spl/###mag. ?
Pepe Ray