Hello all,
I just got started in reloading, and decided to begin with .38 special using a Lee Loader. So far, so good!
It took a little while for me to figure out how much force I needed with the hammer, especially during priming, but everything worked as advertised. It made sense to me to prepare all the brass first, so I wiped my brass down with a disinfectant kitchen wipe (because it was available) followed by a wet paper towel. Then I de-primed 50 cases. After that I tried to resize, prime, and flare a couple of cases. It was harder than I thought -- especially knocking the cases out of the die during priming.
At that point, I took a break and bought some Lee case lube. The case lube really helped. I put a wee little bit on my finger and that amount would cover 3 to 4 cases.
So then I sized, primed, and flared the rest of the 50 cases.
I also purchased a Lee Perfect Powder Measure and a Lee Safety Scale. The prices for everything were really good, and I know I'll use the scale and powder measure with any other loaders or presses I get in the future, so it seemed like a good investment.
I bought 158 gr. cast LSWC bullets, 125 gr. cast RNFP bullets, Trail Boss powder, and Winchester primers.
Last night I finally loaded 30 rounds with the 158 grain bullets: ten each of just above the minimum load, a middle load, and just below the maximum load.
I plan to load three different loadings of the 125 grain bullets too, with a similar spread of loads. I plan to go to the range Friday or Saturday and test each load for accuracy.