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dillon dies


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This is probably a stupid question, but is there any reason Dillon carbide pistol dies in .38 special could not be used in a single stage press? The reason I ask is I have a smith&wesson 52 coming and I want to reload the hbswc bullets and I have read where the crimp has to be right for reliable feeding. Thought working up the load on a single stage would be handy. Thanks for any suggestions or ideas. Ron

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Dillon dies are designed to use on a press that flairs with the powder funnel. Other kits come with an expander die. You can use the dillon resizing die, bullet seating die and crimp dies.

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Yep: I learned this one the hard way. Even though I already "knew" it, I just hadn't thought about it until after I had resized a couple hundred cases (I didn't want to change the XL650 press over from the thousands of .45 ACP it does every few weeks).

Edited by MAC702
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Just thought of something. How would I bell the case?

The workaround would be, with the 38/357 Powder Funnel (from the Caliber Conversion Kit), installed in an AT 500 Powder Die - that Powder Die has a set screw in the side of it that will allow you to lock down the Powder Funnel inside the Powder Die - you could use that setup to bell the case.

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I think a larger issue would be that you are wanting to load a SWC bullet. I am almost certain that the headspace on the 52 is for 148 gr wadcutter bullet which is seated flush with the case. I am not familiar with a HBSWC.

Edited by BaggerJoe
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I did something similar. I picked up the Dillion 38/357 die set to use on my lee classic turret press. I use a lee expander/powder thru die to bell the case and mount my powder measure. The Lee powder thru die is pretty cheap(~$10 IIRC)

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Sorry guys, I misspoke. The bullet that I will be using is a hollow-base wadcutter. Also, I read about a m-die that I believe someone makes that only bells the case.

lyman makes the m die. Get the right size expander if you go this route.
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