Which dies for 38-55 Marlin???

[August]

Hello.

Obviously, I'm coming to this topic late. I've read much of what's been posted here about the variation in the Marlin chamber and bore dimensions and how that affects chambering and accuracy.

I am getting a new Marlin Cowboy 336 in 38-55.

Please tell me which brand of dies, and which dies in particular if a "set" does not provide the proper dies, I should get for loading this round for the Marlin. I have noted that Hornady does not make dies in this caliber, which is too bad because I'm partial to their seater die with the collete that comes down to hold the bullet.

From what I've read here the RCBS Cowboy dies do not come down far enough for proper crimping. I don't care for RCBS's shoot then aim policies about die sizing anyway.

Is a particular "set" and the LFCD the huckleberry for this round? If so, which set?

Thanks for your help.

[Oneshot]

I use the Lee three die set and they work just fine. If you want just a neck sizing die Lyman is the only one that I know. I also works just fine. What I do is neck size with the Lyman and use the Lee's for the rest. The 375 Winchester dies will also work as there is not that much difference between the two.

Some of my Lee 38-55 dies even says 375 Winchester on them.

[Boomer Mikey]

I have 2 sets of Redding and 3 sets of RCBS (1 regular and 2 cowboy)

The Redding 38-55 dies were too tight for 0.381" boolits but my Redding 375 Winchester set is fine for 0.381" boolits... go figure. Both of the RCBS sets worked fine for me; I like the cowboy set the best, same with my 30-30's. It isn't uncommon to find the need to open up a seater die for oversize boolits as the die makers get flack for making them sloppy for normal size bullets.

The normal "M" die expander plugs don't open cases enough to prevent shaving lead in my over size loads so I make custom size expander plug for them or rework the expander plug that comes with the die set.

Sometimes we need to tweak the undersized dies the die makers sell us to produce ammo small enough to fit all the bore/chamber variations a little to optimize them for cast boolit work and crimp them in a separate die for best results.

Boomer :Fire:

[Buckshot]

.................For my 1893 in 38-55 I use the Lee dies. I adjust the dies 'up' so they only size the casemouths enough to hold a .380" slug.

.................Buckshot

[beagle]

I started off with an old set of Lymans and tehy work well. Then, I bought a set of Hornady .375 Winchester dies. Both sets work equally well for me./beagle

[eka]

I bought a new set of Lyman dies last year and have been happy with them.

Keith

[johnly]

I use Hornady 375 Win dies for loading my Marlin 375. If I'm sizing the brass for cast bullets, I leave about a 3/8" between the end of the die and the shell holder.

John

[runfiverun]

i use the regular 38-55 rcbs dies to load cast for my 375 win [marlin]
have to load it as a 38-55 just don't run the brass into the sizer all the way
yes i use the 38-55 brass at .80 and a 380 diameter boolit.
it shoots 375 win factory ammo fine as that is what it was/is marked on the bbl.
figuring this all out about gave me an anurism.

[mdatlanta]

I'm a big Lee fan, but their .38-55 dies didn't work for my .38-55, so I bought the RCBS "cowboy" dies, and they've worked perfectly for me. As usual, YMMV. A buddy bought the Lyman set with the "M" die, and he really likes them. Other than this thread, I haven't heard about any experiences with the Redding dies for this cartridge.

Good luck!