38 and 357 lee loader

[Oklahoma Rebel]

can you use the 38spl lee loader to load 357 mag? also I am wondering out of these powders, which would work best with 38spl, because I want to find one that I can use with 38 and 44 mag. h110,win 296,imr4227? thanks for the help, Travis

[DerekP Houston]

well, h110 and win 296 are the same; so it's that vs imr4227. Personally i chose h110 but I rarely load magnum power rounds.

copied from the smith & wesson forum after a brief google:

"Okay, I had the opportunity to buy a used Lee Loaderin either .38 Special or .357 Magnum not too long ago. (I wanted it to throw in my "bug out" bag.) I had the same concerns as you, wanting to be able to load both rounds.
I called Lee. They don't have a toll-free number (that I could find), but they have a nice customer service department. I waited on hold for a while.
The lady couldn't help me, so I waited on hold some more while she went and got a tech. He told me that the difference between the .357 and .38 Special Lee Loaders was nothing more than the size of the dipper included in the kit. So, I got the .357 one to throw in my BOB, since I have a couple extra of the .38 Special sized dippers floating around."

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I know they are the same, but the loads often are not, so figured I would differentiate between them. and thank you for the info about the loaders, was about to kick myself for not getting the 357 incase I needed to load them too

[runfiverun]

if I were only gonna use H-110 I'd weigh out the amount in both cases, mark it/them to the height, then grind it down to that length.
your more concerned with the H-110 being 100% full than with the exact [perfect weight] amount used.
if you get 22 grs in instead of 21 your still gonna be fine.
getting 18 instead of 21 is a different story.

[243winxb]

Alliants Unique

[Fishman]

Agree with Unique. None of the powders you list are suitable for .38 special. .357 yes, but not .38.

[Nicholas]

OP, there are plenty of published data for both 38 and 357 and that is the way you should arrive at your answer. If you follow the casual comment on 20 or 21 grains of H110 and try that in a 38 special case and revolver, if it could fit, you may need to replace a firearm and maybe some body parts after you touch it off.

As to the lee loader, I would prefer to have the lee hand press and carbide dies for a portable reloading setup. A spacer washer will let you switch from 38 to 357 once the dies are set up for 38. As to powders, study up on Unique and you will soon appreciate how versatile it is. You might also want to consider powder consumption rates as a pound of Unique will load a lot of 38 rounds or for that matter, a lot of cast bullet loads in 30-30.

[bangerjim]

H110 in a SPL.......I think NOOOOOOT!

Stick to standard pistol/shotgun powders for SPL loads. I ONLY use H110 at 100% load for 44MAG and 357MAG. You do NOT want to reduce the H110 loads, per the manufacturer.

I made a spacer for my 38 4-dies to load 357's but got tired of messing with it and resetting everything, so I bought another 4 die set strictly set for 357 loading. They are not THAT expensive!!! Just buy one. Forget the spacer.

banger

banger

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Accurate #5, Universal, Unique, Power Pistol, HS-6 will work better for most purposes. H110/296 are really only for MAXIMUM loads in high pressure cartridges. The 38 Special Lee Loader will work for the .357 BUT bullet seating/crimping will require a spacer.

[gwpercle]

KIDD ,
Buy , or make , two different sized powder dippers .
For instance...lets say your boolits are 158 grain cast lead , for both.
You can make a dipper to dip 5.0 grains of Unique for the 38 special and another to dip 7.5 grains of Unique for the 357 magnum load.
Can't help you with powder selection as Unique is the only one I know of that could be used in the 38 special , 357 magnum and 44 magnum you mention.
Buy , beg , borrow or steal some Unique and you can cover a lot of reloading territory with it.
I think Universal might also work for them , in place of Unique .
Gary

[bangerjim]

ETR7 workes in every cal I shoot....subsonic. Great powder, cleanest I have ever used.

Unique is very dirty and fouling. Got rid of all of it I had. Never looked back!

Hot powders like H110 are what I use in full MAG loads for 357 and 44. Subsonic loads are perfect with ETR7.

[RogerDat]

Titegroup will work for both .38 and .357 mag, loads tend to be small amount of powder since the powder has lot of power per grain. Means the visual difference between proper load and double load is not obvious. The difference between starting and max can be pretty small, on the order of .5 grains. Max load for 158 gr. LSWC .357 magnum is listed as 5.0 grain and that is not much powder so a pound does go a long way. Velocity will only be around 1,000+ fps. which might matter to some.

If using a dipper and a Lee loader I would think the concentrated nature of the powder would be less of an issue than some find it on a turret or progressive. I like it but it does force one to pay attention because it will never overflow the case with double load.

Unique works too. Have used both.

[drac0nic]

Another vote for Unique. It dips very consistently and is an excellent powder in terms of flexibility. H110 falls short on this. Downside is that it has always ran dirty for me.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I got bullseye, and it is a sticky pain in the you know what, just thinking about it makes me mad. I asked about it in the powders section, and everyone said static. I am on a concrete floor with rubber soles, I wiped the container and dipper with dryer sheets, nothing works,i get no load uniformity, I have to hold the case up to the dipper, turn it over, then flick it to get most of the powder out, but quite a bit of it sticks all over the dipper and my fingers, and the inside and outside of the case. it isn't a cleanliness issue I don't know!!!! Travis

[DocSavage]

Try Universal Clays,it's the equivalent of Unique and burns much cleaner.

[DerekP Houston]

I got bullseye, and it is a sticky pain in the you know what, just thinking about it makes me mad. I asked about it in the powders section, and everyone said static. I am on a concrete floor with rubber soles, I wiped the container and dipper with dryer sheets, nothing works,i get no load uniformity, I have to hold the case up to the dipper, turn it over, then flick it to get most of the powder out, but quite a bit of it sticks all over the dipper and my fingers, and the inside and outside of the case. it isn't a cleanliness issue I don't know!!!! Travis

Might be humidity? The only things that *DONT* stick to my powder measures are stick powders. Everything else is invert and dump, tap tap tap.

[StratsMan]

KIDD... to your original question, all the powders you mention in the first post are for Magnum loads; none of them are suitable for 38 Spec... if you want a powder that will work for both, you should focus on loads for 38 Spec, as that is the "weak link" in this particular chain. Faster powders will give you your answer, but you will not achieve maximum performance for the 357 with the faster powders (Bullseye, W231, RedDot, etc...) I'm looking at Richard Lee's book "Modern Reloading" (Second Edition), and I see many 357 recipes with fast powders. Some of the loads also tell you which dipper to use...

[mdi]

I started reloading with a .38 Special Lee Loader many years (and I'm thankful I did).My first powder was Bullseye and I can't think of a reason or solution for your "sticky" problem. My plastic dippers would hold a couple flakes, but a light tap would clean the dipper. You say it also sticks to your fingers? I've not heard of that much static in the air...

Since then I've reloaded many, many .38 Specials with only one powder slower than Unique and that was an experiment in about '88 or so. I tried some W296. It was like shooting a sand blaster with all the powder spewed out of the muzzle. Definately a poor choice...;)