Is there enough of a difference between a 38spl dies set (Lee) and a 38s&w dies set (Lee) to make it necessary to have both? In other words, can I load 38spl with a 38s&w die set and vice versa...I'm presuming not...but thought I would ask. I have a set of Lee 38s&w dies and a ton of 38spl brass...
You can't load Special with S&W dies. They won't compress the brass enough to go back into the Special chambers. You can do S&W in Special dies, but there are two problems. First, it overworks the brass (you resize it smaller than it needs to be) so brass life is short, and the crimp shoulder on the Special seat/crimp die is not low enough to crimp the S&W.
So, yeah, if you shoot both calibers you need both sets of dies.
You can, if you have S&W dies, just buy a Special sizer die, then do the belling/seating with the S&W dies. But then, since the diameter of the S&W is larger than the Special, the crimp shoulder on the S&W die may not put enough of a crimp on the Special to hold the bullet.
I feel your pain. When I first reloaded 45 ACP, I sized 'em in a 308 die, belled 'em with a 44 Special, used the bottom of a 38 Special die (just barely screwed into the press) as a seater, and crimped 'em, after a fashion, by slightly running them back into the 308 die again.
Worked, kinda, but was a thorough pain in the butt. Things went a lot easier when I came up with the additional 25 bucks to get another set of dies.
List em in the buy/sell/trade forum here on TFF. Im sure someone will comealong needing a set of S&Ws and either buy them or swap you out..
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